Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

「1st Military AI CompetitiON (MAICON) 2022」

Soldiers and civilians will compete for the development of military AI at MAICON
With total prize money of 77 million won, every awardee will have the opportunity to be employed or start up a business

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) and the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) will hold the ‘1st Military AI CompetitiON (MAICON) 2022’ with the aim of strengthening the artificial intelligence (AI) and software (SW) capabilities of soldiers needed to build an armed forces based on advanced science and technology.

As a part of the “project to strengthen soldiers' AI and SW capabilities” that is being carried out in collaboration between the MND and MSIT, MAICON will serve as a place for competition where soldiers and civilians can focus on exploring new technologies in the area of defense AI, and become a competition that attracts public attention to defense AI.

This event is targeted at military service members (officers, soldiers, cadets, etc.) and college students (including graduate students and students on leave of absence) of Korean nationality, and will be managed and screened by category in consideration of position and conditions.

Each participating team will solve a defense-related problem at each stage by using the given data and AI technology, and the final winner is determined after the online preliminary round followed by the offline final round.

A total of 77 million won in prize money will be awarded, and the best team in each category will receive the MND Minister’s prize and MSIT Minister’s prize and a prize of 20 million won, and the excellent unit with the most soldiers who advance to the final round will also be rewarded.

A mentor group of field experts will also provide employment and start-up counseling and mentoring in the area of AI technology to all the winners, as well as sharing cases close to practical business and coaching based on a roadmap for growth.

The event will also provide to the winners in all categories a benefit in being selected in external education (boot camp, training education, etc.), and will provide soldier winners the opportunity to interview for an internship with sponsors, including Kakao Enterprise, NAVER, and Elice.

Registration will begin on September 30, and you can check the details of the schedule and other information at the competition's official site (https://maicon.kr), the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (https://www.iitp.kr/) which hosts the competition, and the Korea Open Source Software Association (http://www.kossa.kr/).