KISTI Hosts the "2026 DATA·AI Analysis Competition"

- Held from August 11 to November 25, divided into two tracks: "Problem Discovery" and "Problem Solving"

- Bonus points awarded for cross-domain data integration tasks; total prize pool of KRW 13 million, with the Grand Prize being the National Assembly Speaker Award

□ The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (President Sik Lee, hereafter KISTI) announced on August 11 that it is hosting the "2026 DATA·AI Analysis Competition," leveraging DataON, the National Research Data Platform, to discover societal and scientific challenges and solve them using AI.

□ Now in its 7th year, the competition was established to expand the sharing and utilization of research data and foster a problem-solving culture powered by data and AI. Organized by KISTI and co-hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the National Research Council of Science and Technology (NST), the National Assembly Library, Daejeon Metropolitan City, the Korea Coast Guard, K-water, and the Daejeon Jung-gu District Office, the competition will run through November 25.

□ The competition operates across two distinct tracks: "Problem Discovery" and "Problem Solving." In the Problem Discovery track, participants propose challenges in research, industry, and local communities that require resolution. In the Problem Solving track, participants develop AI models designed to solve the selected challenges. 

□ Applications for the Problem Discovery track open on August 11. Participation is open to any individual or institution seeking to resolve challenges using data and AI. Participants can their entries via the DataON Competition website, outlining the background and purpose, resolution goals, evaluation criteria, and the type, scale, and samples of relevant data.

□ Notably, this year's competition awards bonus points to proposals that integrate heterogeneous data across different domains. Additional points will be awarded to new problems proposed by combining research data available on DataON with data or analytical methods from other fields. Through this initiative, KISTI aims to stimulate creative problem discovery grounded in data convergence.

□ The total prize pool amounts to KRW 13 million. The Grand Prize winner will receive the National Assembly Speaker Award alongside a cash prize of KRW 3 million, while the First Prize winner will be awarded the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Award with KRW 2 million. High-performing awardees will also be granted opportunities to present at academic conferences and participate in follow-up joint research projects. 

□ DataON is Korea's National Research Data Platform operated by KISTI, facilitating the centralized search and utilization of research data scattered across domestic and international institutions. Launched in 2020, the platform currently connects major domestic research organizations with global platforms, including Europe's OpenAIRE, the U.S.'s Harvard Dataverse, Australia's ARDC, and Japan's RCOS, offering access to approximately 4.5 million datasets. 

□ Further details regarding application procedures and schedules can be found on the DataON Competition website (https://dataon.kr/competition).