From Research Planning to Experimentation and Administration... Searching for 'AI Agents' at Government-Funded Research Institutes

NST Launches AI Hackathon for R&D Innovation
Public Invited to Submit Ideas by September 7

The competition seeks to uncover ideas for artificial intelligence (AI) agents that can support researchers not only in identifying research topics and analyzing experimental data, but also in drafting research results and handling administrative tasks.

The National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) and the National Artificial Intelligence Research Center (NAIS) announced on August 18 that they are now accepting participants for the '2026 NAIS AI Hackathon' until September 7.

AI Hackathon Poster. Provided by NST

The competition theme is 'AI Agents Specialized for R&D.' Participants are invited to propose AI agents that can enhance researchers' work and productivity at various stages of the research and development (R&D) process, including research planning and exploration, experimentation and data analysis, results writing and research administration, or any other open topic. Anyone—including those outside the field—can participate either individually or as a team of up to five people.

After a preliminary round, 10 teams will be selected to compete in the finals, which will be held from September 30 to October 1. The top 4 teams will receive awards, including the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Award and the NST Chairman's Award, as well as a total prize pool of 10 million won. Outstanding ideas will also be considered for real-world implementation at research sites and for follow-up research opportunities.

Kim Youngsik, Chairman of NST, said, "We hope this will become an opportunity to link the creative ideas of the public with the research capabilities of government-funded institutes, thereby accelerating AI-based research innovation in Korea."

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