Drone AI company NearsLab won the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award at the 2025 Korea Technology Awards. Hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the awards recognize the excellence of domestic industrial technologies and recognize innovative technologies with significant ripple effects. The awards are comprehensively evaluated based on factors such as technological perfection, marketability, and industrial impact.
Nearslab won the award for its "Nearthwind Mobile" technology, which enables autonomous flight using only a commercial drone and a smartphone app. Unlike the existing drone industry, which has focused on high-performance hardware, Nearslab presented a new technological direction by complementing hardware limitations with software technology. The device was highly praised for significantly reducing acquisition and operating costs by allowing mission functions to be expanded simply through software updates, and for enabling high-difficulty inspections without expensive equipment.
This award is significant not only because it goes beyond the success of a single technology, but also because it officially recognizes NearLab's technological scalability, which evolved from NearWind mobile technology to include the high-speed defense industry interceptor drone KAiDEN and the swarm suicide drone XAiDEN.
CTO Jeong Young-seok, who oversees technology, has previously demonstrated his technological leadership by winning the IR52 Jang Young-sil Award and the Minister's Award for Contribution to the Development of the Machinery and Robotics Industry by 2025. Jeong stated, "These awards are recognition that the future of the drone industry lies in software technology. NEARSLAB will continue to create a safe and efficient unmanned flight environment."
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