We will leap forward as a global industrial powerhouse by accelerating the use of AI across all industries by 2030.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that on the 13th, it held the first Industrial Digital Transformation Committee meeting at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, representatives from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (private members), and private experts, and deliberated and finalized the 'Strategy for Internalizing Industrial AI.'

The main goal of the strategy is to expand the proportion of companies utilizing AI from the current 1% to 30% by 2030 and to foster 100 global industrial AI suppliers.

While the government's AI policy has been skewed toward finance and administration and focused on the development of core AI technologies, this strategy shifts the focus to internalizing AI into our industries. To this end, emphasis is placed on collaboration, capability building, private sector leadership, and ecosystem creation between AI demand companies, such as steel and automobile manufacturers, and supply companies, such as those distributing AI solutions.

The government stated, “As the control tower for industrial digital transformation policies, we will establish various support programs to achieve policy goals, collaborate closely among relevant ministries, and communicate broadly with the private sector.”

According to the 'Domestic AI Internalization Strategy' announced on this day, the level of digital transformation (DX) in domestic industries is low, and in particular, digital technology investment over the past year showed a large disparity, with 47.3% in the cloud sector but only 1.7% in AI investment.

Furthermore, while Amazon, Microsoft, and Google hold a monopoly, the domestic market remains limited to acting as an agency for Big Tech companies; conglomerate ICT firms such as SKT still lack competitiveness compared to overseas markets and are utilizing their proprietary platforms primarily for their affiliates.

During the discussion, the lack of digital awareness among demand companies and the difficult business environment for supply companies to grow were cited as problems, and it was argued that the private sector should take the lead in creating a sustainable DX ecosystem by targeting those capable of generating and spreading success stories.

The primary strategy involves internalizing AI while simultaneously fostering the supply industry. To this end, projects for the commercialization of industrial AI solutions will be promoted, and cooperation projects between demand and supply companies will be supported at the national level. This amounts to approximately 1 billion won per project in 2023. In addition, it strengthens the technological capabilities of suppliers by securing technologies that promote AI utilization, such as data preprocessing, AI-powered digital collaboration tools, and low-code and no-code technologies.