The South Korean government has announced an ‘AI Bio National Strategy’ aimed at accelerating drug development and fostering innovation in the bio industry by establishing an integrated AI bio ecosystem. This strategy focuses on five key areas: drug development, brain and anti-aging, medical devices, bio-manufacturing, and agricultural food (green bio).
The Ministry of Science and ICT confirmed the approval of the strategy during the second meeting of the Science and Technology Ministers Council on the 18th. The initiative was first proposed by Vice Prime Minister and Minister Baek Gyeong-hoon in July, who emphasized the need to position South Korea as a global leader in AI bio technology.
In the field of drug development, the government plans to develop a bio-foundation model and an agentic AI system that can autonomously design and validate candidate substances. A national AI bio research institute will be established to build multimodal-multiscale models and develop frameworks for AI-driven tasks throughout the drug development process.
To support this ecosystem, the government will establish AI bio innovation research hubs involving universities, research institutes, companies, and hospitals. Starting with a pilot hub in synthetic drugs next year, the plan aims to expand to multiple fields by 2027. Infrastructure for high-performance computing and secure data analysis will also be developed, including a closed-network cloud and regulatory exemptions for sensitive data.