Government to Support Return of 20 Overseas Korean AI and Tech Talent Teams

The government is set to support the return of 20 teams of overseas Korean technical talent, recognized for their expertise in "super-gap" technology sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), to South Korea.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) announced today, July 10, that they officially launched the "K-Tech Pioneers (KTP)" program and held an orientation session in Myeong-dong, Seoul.

KTP is a talent recruitment initiative designed to proactively address the brain drain of top-tier talent in national strategic technology fields.

The core objective is to facilitate the return of overseas-proven Korean talent and support their integration into the domestic high-tech industrial ecosystem.

The 20 teams selected are distributed by region: 10 teams from the U.S. West Coast, 6 from the U.S. East Coast, and 4 from the Asian region.

By technology sector, AI accounted for the largest share, followed by robotics, manufacturing AI, advanced biotechnology, and aerospace.

In addition to the selected teams, approximately 100 people attended today's orientation, including representatives from domestic companies such as Hyundai Motor Group, LG Sciencepark, SK Innovation, Toss, and Kakao Mobility, as well as officials from venture capital (VC) and corporate venture capital (CVC) firms.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and NIPA will support the selected teams in achieving commercialization results through proof of concept (PoC) and joint research and development with major domestic companies.

They also plan to provide support for legal, patent, and accounting consulting, as well as facilitate connections for investment from VCs and CVCs and cooperation with the financial ecosystem, including the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund.

Park Yoon-kyu, President of NIPA, stated, "We will mobilize all of NIPA's relevant infrastructure and capabilities to provide close support throughout the entire settlement process, ensuring that the selected teams can quickly establish themselves in the domestic market and scale up into global unicorn companies."

Park Tae-wan, Director General for ICT Industry Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, emphasized, "KTP is more than just a talent recruitment program; it is a stepping stone project that helps Korean tech startup talent, proven on the global stage, grow into key partners within the domestic high-tech industrial ecosystem."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.