The South Korean government has announced the ‘AI Bio National Strategy’ to accelerate innovation in drug development and related fields by leveraging artificial intelligence. The strategy focuses on five key areas: drug development, brain and aging, medical devices, bio-manufacturing, and agricultural food (green bio).
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that the strategy was approved at the second meeting of the Science and Technology Ministers Council on the 18th. It aims to establish an integrated ecosystem of AI models, data, and infrastructure. In particular, the drug development field will shift to a system where AI autonomously designs and validates candidate substances.
To foster an AI bio innovation ecosystem, the government plans to establish collaborative research hubs involving universities, research institutes, companies, and hospitals. Starting with a pilot hub in synthetic drugs in 2025, the plan is to expand to more fields by 2027, while providing computing and experimental infrastructure.
The strategy includes securing 7 million bio-data entries by 2030 and making them accessible through the National Bio-Data Integration Platform (K-BDS). High-performance computing resources, including Supercomputer No. 6, will be gradually made available for AI bio research, with secure environments for sensitive data analysis.