AI to Boost Science and Technology Research Productivity... "K-Moonshot" Project Launched

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on May 27 that it held the inaugural ceremony for the "K-Moonshot Task Force," a pan-ministerial overarching initiative. The ceremony, which took place at Dragon City in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, was attended by officials from relevant ministries, industry, academia, and research institutes, as well as 12 general managers (PDs) who will lead the missions of K-Moonshot.

K-Moonshot is a nationwide project aimed at doubling research productivity in the science and technology sector by 2030 through the active adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), while also solving 12 major national missions by 2035. The 12 major national missions include accelerating new drug development by a factor of 10 and internalizing general-purpose physical AI models and computing, among others.

Yonhap News Agency

The Ministry of Science and ICT had previously announced the K-Moonshot implementation strategy at the National AI Strategy Committee plenary session in February, and finalized the national missions at the Science and Technology Ministers' Meeting in March. Subsequently, the selection process for each mission's PD was conducted through the National Research Council of Science & Technology and the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation, with the final selection completed on May 21.

The K-Moonshot Task Force will be headed by Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, Baek Kyunghoon. The task force will assess the mission progress of the PDs while consolidating national science administration capabilities through policy coordination with related ministries and collaboration in research and development (R&D). This inaugural ceremony saw participation mainly from ministries that had expressed intentions to collaborate earlier this year, and in the future, additional ministries will join as needed based on the progress of the project.

The event began with the appointment ceremony for the 12 PDs, followed by presentations on the background and implementation framework of the K-Moonshot project and support measures through the National AI for Science Research Center (NAIS). Yoo Yongkyun, Director of NAIS, stated, "We plan to support AI as an innovative engine for scientific discovery for researchers," adding, "We will consolidate scientific AI resources such as training data, computing, and AI models, and develop and disseminate a scientific AI operating system (OS) platform to enhance research productivity."

After the inaugural ceremony, a K-Moonshot workshop was held, where practitioners for each mission gathered to discuss practical matters for advancing the initiative. Osangrok, President of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), and Choi Woonchun, former Chief PM of the Grand Challenge, shared their know-how and experiences in mission-oriented R&D.

Vice Prime Minister Baek Kyunghoon stated, "To stay ahead in the AI supremacy race, it is important to secure AI competitiveness, but it is even more critical to define what we aim to achieve through it and to have an ultimate goal." He added, "K-Moonshot will be promoted not just as a technical effort to integrate AI into science and technology, but with a sense of mission to solve the pressing problems facing humanity."

Meanwhile, the event was also attended by dedicated agencies supporting each mission, such as the National Research Foundation of Korea, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Brain Research Institute, Korea Institute of Fusion Energy, and Korea Aerospace Research Institute, as well as private organizations including Kyungpook National University Hospital, LG Electronics, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Ybrain, and G-Brain.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.