The National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Hub is reaffirming the importance of building an AI innovation ecosystem rooted in basic research, while highlighting the value of collaboration among academia, industry, and research institutions.
At the opening ceremony of the “AI Innovation Showcase @ NAIRL 2025” held on the 19th at Seoul AI Hub, Kim Ki-eung, Director of the National AI Research Hub, explained the center’s founding background and operational goals, emphasizing the need for joint growth with the industrial sector. The event marks the first open lab–style public event since the hub’s establishment.
Kim stated, “This event goes beyond simply presenting research achievements — it is an opportunity to collectively design the future of Korea. I hope it becomes a platform that plants the seeds of innovation through the convergence of basic research and industry.”
He summarized the hub’s strategic direction in three key pillars:
Public-led, high-risk and high-difficulty AI research;
Building a world-class, theory-based research program; and
Proposing technologies for next-generation AI models.
Through these efforts, the center aims to serve as a focal point where top domestic and international researchers collaborate, thereby elevating Korea’s global standing in AI technology.
Kim added, “By 2027, we intend to play a central role in advancing Korea into the world’s top three AI powers. To achieve this, the hub will focus on foundational technologies that are difficult for the private sector to handle, while companies strengthen the system that connects these technologies to real-world demonstration and commercialization.”
Building strong relationships with partner companies was another key message. “Participating companies are not just spectators — they are the true users of our research outcomes and the driving forces behind commercialization,” Kim said. “The hub’s results are already leading to tangible technology transfers and joint developments with industry, forming a genuine model of academia–industry cooperation.”
Following Kim’s remarks, Jang Eun-jung, Director of the AI Digital Convergence Division at the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP), delivered congratulatory remarks, calling the open lab a meaningful milestone that marks the official beginning of the National AI Research Hub’s journey. She noted that it was especially symbolic that, just eight months after its launch in October last year, the hub is now sharing its research outcomes with both domestic and global audiences.
Jang emphasized that strengthening the AI ecosystem through industry–academia–research collaboration and expanding global joint research would be key directions for the hub’s operation.
“The Fifth Industrial Revolution is no longer a declaration — it’s our reality, and AI stands at its center,” she said. “AI is a force that drives transformation across technology, society, and culture. I hope today’s event becomes the historic starting point of that change.”
The open lab showcased the hub’s achievements across its three core research areas, serving as a platform to explore collaboration between researchers and industry. The detailed presentation topics included:
Optimization of next-generation models based on neural scaling laws,
Development of robot foundation models, and
Research on ultra-high-dimensional multimodal generative AI.
Concluding the event, Kim Ki-eung stated, “I hope today’s gathering is not just about networking, but the beginning of deep and meaningful collaboration.”
