The Ministry of Science and ICT is launching a new dispatch training program in collaboration with major global universities to cultivate key talents in the field of AI semiconductors. From April 10 to May 21, the ministry will solicit domestic agencies to operate the training program.
This training program is an extension of the ‘Digital Innovation Talent Short-Term Intensive Capability Enhancement’ project, which has been ongoing in collaboration with institutions like Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S., the University of Toronto in Canada, and the University of Oxford in the UK. It will specifically focus on the AI semiconductor field. The project aims to enhance international research capabilities through a six-month overseas theoretical education and practicum for domestic master’s and doctoral students.
A total of 218 master’s and doctoral students completed the previous project, some of whom achieved results such as publishing SCI-level papers, presenting at international conferences, and entering the industry. The graduates are also contributing to the actual industrial field through tasks like AI model development and process advancement.
When this course is added, a total of four courses will be offered, annually selecting 120 trainees to be dispatched to top-level universities in each field. The selected domestic implementing institutions from the call for proposals will be responsible for designing the curriculum and selecting trainees, receiving an annual budget of about 2 billion KRW for up to six years.
Prior to the call for proposals, the Ministry of Science and ICT collected opinions from AI semiconductor industry, academia, and research experts regarding the competencies required by domestic master’s and doctoral students and the training programs that need intensive development through overseas dispatch.
Park Tae-wan, director of Information and Communication Industry Policy, stated, “We will provide extensive and in-depth educational opportunities to talent who can lead the development of high-performance, low-power, and high-efficiency AI semiconductors. We will actively support young people to grow with confidence through international cooperation programs.”