Science ministry to launch national self-driving laboratory consortium

The science ministry said it will launch South Korea's first self-driving laboratory consortium, bringing together more than 80 institutions to establish a national ecosystem for AI-driven science and technology innovation.

At a Tuesday ceremony in Seoul, the ministry will launch the consortium. K-Moonshot is a national project that uses AI to improve research productivity and address national missions. The labs can test hypotheses generated by AI. AI can use the results to generate further hypotheses.

Self-driving laboratories link experimental equipment, robots and AI to repeat tests without human intervention. They can operate around the clock and explore multiple experimental conditions at once, cutting research times from years to months and improving reproducibility. The ministry said the systems are spreading globally in materials, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, while the United States and Europe invest at a national level. Demand for the systems has risen quickly in domestic biotechnology and materials fields, the ministry said. Infrastructure to support the systems remains insufficient. Equipment, data and operating standards also differ by institution. Independently built laboratories remain disconnected.

Supply companies and 50 demand companies will join more than 30 universities and research institutions. The consortium will develop technology, platforms and standards, build reference laboratories, support shared use of infrastructure and data accumulation, establish interfaces, and support demonstrations by demand companies and private-sector adoption. It will hold regular meetings and an annual conference to identify policy agendas. Professor Jeong Yu-seong of Seoul National University will chair the consortium, with the National Science AI Research Center (NAIS) and the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) serving as joint secretariats.

The ministry said it will provide policy and institutional support for the ecosystem.

"Self-driving laboratories are core infrastructure supporting national missions such as K-Moonshot, and are expected to make a breakthrough contribution to accelerating scientific discovery and verification," Gu Hyeok-chae, first vice minister of science and ICT, said.