Science ministry picks 12 teams to build AI services at Seoul launch event

The science ministry said Thursday it has selected 12 teams for the finals of its "Everyone's AI Lab" AI service competition, drawn from 390 ideas submitted from across the country, and will hold a launch ceremony for them in Seoul on Oct. 1.

The competition is part of the Everyone's AI Growth Ladder project launched in August, which is designed to help people move beyond learning and experiencing AI to building their own ideas into working services, with strong entries pushed toward startups and commercialization. A call for ideas held from Aug. 18 to Sept. 6 drew 390 service proposals, which were judged on problem definition, necessity, creativity, appropriate use of AI and feasibility. Fifty teams advanced to the regional preliminaries, and presentations held at Everyone's AI lounges in five regions produced the 12 finalists.

The finalist ideas span everyday inconveniences and industrial, regional and public-sector problems: a gas station recommendation service that analyzes travel routes and fuel costs, verification of the scientific basis for supplement advertising claims, personalized public housing recommendations, forecasting of greenhouse gas emissions permit demand, optimization of port arrivals, and demand and order-volume prediction for small businesses. Participants range from high school and university students to graduate students, office workers and public officials.

At the launch ceremony at the Space Share Euljiro Center in Seoul, about 60 people will attend, including officials from the ministry and the National Information Society Agency, the 12 teams, and representatives of mentor companies Kakao, Naver Cloud, NHN Cloud, LG Uplus and SK Telecom. The teams will present their service ideas and the results of matching with mentor companies, after which participants and mentors will discuss development directions and next steps.

From October, the finalists will receive about two months of intensive coaching and mentoring on service planning and technical implementation from AI and IT experts at the mentor companies, refining their ideas into usable AI services. The ministry will also provide public and private data and APIs, AI tokens for vibe coding, cloud resources and development support tools through Everyone's AI Lab. It plans follow-up support so that strong services discovered through the program can lead to startups and commercialization beyond the competition.

"The fact that 390 ideas gathered from across the country shows the strong interest among the public in using AI to directly solve problems in their lives and workplaces," said Lee Do-kyu, head of the ministry's information and communications policy office. He added that the government will actively support finalists in developing their ideas into working AI services with experts from major domestic AI and IT companies and connecting them to startups and commercialization.

The ministry and the agency are also recruiting participants for the 2026 Everyone's AI Lab AI service development project, which will select up to 100 projects from individuals or teams that want to turn everyday inconveniences, repetitive tasks, regional problems or startup ideas into AI services. Applications are open from Sept. 21 to Oct. 8, and selected projects will receive AI development points worth 1 million won ($736) and cloud resources worth 300,000 won ($221) per month, along with expert mentoring. Outstanding projects will be named "Top-Tier" at a results-sharing event and receive follow-up support totaling 100 million won ($73,551) for service advancement and commercialization.