Gwangju Hosts 'AI Startup Competition'... Provides Total of 750 Million Won to 10 Teams
Source: AI Times (https://www.aitimes.com)
A platform has been established to showcase the creative ideas and technical skills of aspiring entrepreneurs who will lead the future artificial intelligence (AI) industry.
Gwangju City (Mayor Kang Gi-jung) hosted the "K-Digital Challenge: AI Startup Competition" from the 19th to the 21st at COEX in Seoul, providing aspiring AI entrepreneurs with a launchpad for their startups.
This competition is part of the AI-centric industrial convergence complex creation project, jointly promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Gwangju City, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, and the AI Industry Convergence Business Group.
This year’s "AI Startup Competition" featured 64 aspiring entrepreneur teams, with 10 teams making it to the final competition after preliminary, semi-final, and final rounds.
The 10 finalists will receive support ranging from 35 million won to a maximum of 200 million won, totaling 750 million won, for the development of AI prototypes and services. They will also benefit from regulatory consulting, connections to startup camps, and access to data centers and test equipment.
In the final competition, HOMI AI won the grand prize for its project on "a video generation engine based on real-life videos utilizing Bridge Diffusion." DataFly won the excellence award for its "AI demand forecasting-based manufacturing process improvement solution," and Detector also won the excellence award for its "image protection solution against deepfakes."
The grand prize-winning team, HOMI AI, continued its success by signing an investment memorandum of understanding with Y&Watcher Honam Center, a global accelerator, for business commercialization.
Throughout the competition, participants received comprehensive support, including AI startup and commercialization training, management support through investor matching, and mentoring in areas such as legal, financial, and intellectual property matters.
One participant from a prospective startup team shared, "During the competition, I was able to address shortcomings in my business idea through consultations and improve the business model, which was an invaluable opportunity. I will strive to grow my company based on what I learned from this competition."
This competition was held in conjunction with the "2024 Smart Tech Korea AI & Big Data Show." At the event, a promotional booth for the AI Data Center was set up to widely publicize the AI convergence cluster project to domestic and international audiences.
Kim Yong-seung, Director of the AI Industry Division, stated, "This competition has provided a stepping stone for aspiring entrepreneurs with creative and innovative ideas and technologies to grow and leap forward in the future AI industry. We will continue to support the activation of the AI startup ecosystem and the growth of innovative startups."
