The Ministry of Science and ICT is calling for challenging and innovative research and development ideas related to national strategic technologies such as advanced bio, AI humanoids, and quantum, as well as solutions to national and social challenges. The Ministry announced on the 15th that it will hold the ‘K-Moonshot Project National Contest’ from the 16th to January 15th next year to discover challenging R&D ideas that can change the future of Korea.
The term ‘Moonshot’ originated from NASA’s Apollo project, which launched a lunar probe in 1969, taking on a challenge that seemed almost technically impossible at the time. Today, it is widely used to symbolize innovative and challenging goals. The K-Moonshot Project, promoted as a national task by the new government, is a project that boldly takes on research and development with clear missions to foster future strategic technologies and solve national challenges.
An advisory group of top experts in various technology fields is being formed to plan related projects such as AI-based drug development, clean energy, household and care humanoids, rare earth reduction technology, and next-generation memory semiconductors. Along with expert planning, the national contest will broadly collect ideas from researchers and the general public.
The contest topics include advanced bio, AI humanoids, quantum, space and aviation, semiconductors, displays, secondary batteries, materials and nano, and future energy, all related to national strategic technologies and solutions to national and social challenges. Applications are divided into general public and researcher categories. The general public category focuses on problem definition and ideas, making it easy for anyone to participate, while the researcher category allows for professional and detailed proposals.