The Ministry of Science and ICT, together with the Korea Data Agency (K-DATA) and the Korea Association for ICT Promotion (KAIT), will begin recruiting participants on September 1 for the three divisions of the ‘2026 Data+AI Innovation Challenge’ — the Data Safe Zone, Data Problem-Solving, and Big Contest divisions. The core of the initiative is to bundle data competitions that had until now been held separately by each agency into a single, citizen-participation brand, so that any member of the public can take on social and industrial challenges using data and AI.
 [코리안투데이] Poster for the ‘2026 Data+AI Innovation Challenge’ © 장형임 기자 |
The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon), the Korea Data Agency (President Yang Jae-soo), and the Korea Association for ICT Promotion (Chairman Jung Jae-heon) announced that the integrated call for applications for the three divisions of the ‘2026 Data+AI Innovation Challenge’ would open on Tuesday, September 1.
This year’s challenge is an integrated data-competition brand that consolidates data contests previously run in a scattered fashion by individual agencies. By unifying the point of entry so that participants can choose a challenge suited to their interests and abilities in one place — rather than seeking out multiple competitions one by one — the initiative is significant in lowering the barrier to entry for citizens interested in data and AI.
The competition aims to go beyond simple data-analysis contests, seeking solutions to real social and industrial problems through diverse approaches such as the use of unreleased data, data-based problem-solving, and corporate-data analysis and AI utilization. The goal is to strengthen participants’ capacity to use data and AI while discovering outstanding ideas and talent.
Any citizen may apply, either as an individual or as a team (up to five members; up to four for the Big Contest). Each division selects winners through preliminary rounds such as document and technical evaluations followed by a presentation-based final round, awarding a total of 53.9 million won in prize money and 40 award certificates.
The ‘Data Safe Zone’ division, organized by K-DATA, uses data safe zones where unreleased data not made available to the public can be analyzed securely, in order to uncover creative analysis ideas and use cases. Participants use unreleased data across 11 data safe zones, including K-DATA, to analyze social and industrial problems and submit proposals containing solutions, with finalists selected through document and technical evaluations. Winners of the excellence award or higher are given the benefit of passing the document screening for NICE Zini Data’s 2027 new-employee recruitment. Applications are accepted from Tuesday, September 1 to Thursday, October 22 at dsz.kdata.or.kr.
The ‘Data Problem-Solving’ division, also organized by K-DATA, uses the ‘AI·Data Problem-Solving Bank Portal’, which provides data use cases and analysis tools. It is divided into two tracks: ‘Data Recipe Proposal’, which proposes solutions based on the use cases accumulated in the portal, and ‘Problem-Solving Analysis Tools’, which derives solutions by analyzing data with the provided tools. Applications are accepted from Tuesday, September 8 to Thursday, October 22 at kdata.or.kr/datahub, followed by a preliminary round (document) and a final round (presentation) that comprehensively assess planning quality, specificity, and effectiveness.
The ‘Big Contest’ division, organized by KAIT, is a competition in which participants use data provided by companies to analyze pressing social and industrial issues and present solutions using AI and data technology. It is divided into the ‘AI·Data Analysis’ and ‘AI Data Utilization’ fields, and this year’s themes are ‘Analysis of the Impact of the Climate Crisis on Vulnerable Commercial Districts’ and ‘Development of a Model for Preventing and Responding to Social Isolation’. Sponsor companies including SK Telecom and Shinhan Card are taking part to support the provision of data by field. Applications are accepted from Tuesday, September 8 to Monday, October 26 at bigcontest.or.kr.
The grand-prize winners (teams) in each of the three divisions receive the award of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT along with 3 million won (2 million won for one grand prize in the Data Problem-Solving division). The grand-prize and top-excellence-award winning works from each division will present their achievements at the ‘2026 Cloud·Data Promotion Week’ in December, together with an integrated awards ceremony. Applicants may apply to more than one division, but in the case of winning in multiple divisions, they must choose only one.
Choi Dong-won, Director-General for AI Infrastructure Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, ‘Competitiveness in the AI era depends not only on the technology itself but on how well data is used to create new value’, adding, ‘We hope this innovation challenge will become an arena of opportunity where any citizen can directly use data and AI to take on the problems of our society and industries, and develop their own ideas into real-world solutions’.
Meanwhile, the ‘2026 Data+AI Innovation Challenge’ is operated across four divisions in total, of which the ‘Data+AI Creator Camp’, organized by the National Information Society Agency, began recruiting participants this past May and is currently holding its preliminary round.
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