Startup ideas using procurement data and AI draw attention as agency accelerates AI transformation
The Public Procurement Service held an awards ceremony Monday for its 2026 Public Procurement Data and AI Startup Competition, open to the general public.
Led by the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the competition ran for about four months across two categories — idea planning and product and service development. Entries were evaluated on their use of public procurement data, originality and effectiveness, with one grand prize, one excellence award and two merit awards selected per category.
In the idea planning category, the grand prize went to Team VitAlGuard for its "Construction Site Safety Management Cost Verification Platform Based on Integrated Biometric and Environmental Monitoring." The system combines smartwatches, on-site IoT devices and AI to detect in real time whether safety regulations are being followed at construction sites and to verify that safety management funds are being properly spent.
In the product and service development category, Team Ninetynine took the grand prize for its "AI-Based Platform for Predicting Public Construction Costs and Timelines." The system can estimate appropriate construction costs based on inputs such as floor area, construction period, number of floors, site area and parking capacity — or work in reverse, using a given budget to suggest suitable floor counts and areas.
Other recognized entries in the idea planning category included a system merging digital twin technology with procurement data to provide early warnings on aging facilities, a tool to support mandatory purchasing by local governments, and a service to reduce procurement costs linked to the OnBid platform. In the product and service development category, standout entries included a service for detecting specific specifications, a tool for reviewing contracts for legal violations, and a service that recommends suitable bid announcements to businesses.
All winners will receive the commissioner's award and a cash prize, while grand prize winners in each category will advance to the Ministry of Interior and Safety's national final competition, which carries a total purse of 100 million won.
The Public Procurement Service plans to review the top ideas identified through the competition and actively incorporate them into the agency's future AI transformation of procurement administration.
Kim Ji-wook, director general of the agency's Digital Fair Procurement Bureau, said the agency would "actively support the outstanding ideas discovered in this competition so they can be applied to actual procurement administration, not just remain as proposals," adding that it would "work to realize a successful AI transformation of public procurement on that basis."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
