MakinaRocks (CEO Seong-ho Yoon), an industry-specialized artificial intelligence (AI) company, announced on the 7th that it had been selected as an elite team for the 'Independent AI Foundation Model' development project promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.
MakinaRocks will participate as an industrial expansion partner in the consortium led by Upstage, and will lead the development and field application of AI agents specialized in manufacturing and defense.
The "Independent AI Foundation Model" project is a government strategic initiative designed to expand the practical application of AI in domestic industry and the public sector. Five elite teams were selected from 15 teams through written and presentation evaluations. Among them, the Upstage Consortium, which included MakinaRocks, is the only startup-focused team, and its unique structure combines foundation model development with industry-specific vertical AI technologies.
MakinaRocks plans to develop AI agents that support key tasks in manufacturing, such as process management, quality analysis, and work order automation. Considering that the AI adoption rate among Korea's approximately 2,000 mid-sized manufacturing companies is only 0.1%, MakinaRock plans to expand its application through integration with existing systems like MES and ERP, and to develop customized models for specific industries, such as semiconductors, electronics, and heavy industry. Furthermore, a lightweight SaaS-based model for SMEs and a localized model targeting the Japanese market are also being pursued in parallel.
In the defense sector, AI agent application will begin with non-operational experiments in a closed network environment. Initially, it will be used to automate repetitive tasks such as document summarization and training material generation, with the goal of expanding its scope to include administrative, military, and human resources departments. In the long term, it plans to expand into advanced areas such as command and control (C4I) and weapon system operation, developing diverse mission support functions such as real-time summarization, threat recognition, and maintenance prediction.
MakinaRocks aims to secure security and scalability through a closed-network-based LLM (Large-Scale Language Model) operating environment and a lightweight model deployment strategy that links industry-specific standard prompt templates, and to establish AI technology in industrial settings.
“AI technology demonstrates its value when it solves practical problems in industrial settings,” said Yoon Seong-ho, CEO of MakinaRocks. “Based on proven technology in complex fields such as manufacturing and defense, we will contribute to the industrial expansion of our own AI models and strengthen global competitiveness.”
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