SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, Dec. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Digital Innovation Network (GDIN), in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), announced strong first-year results from the 2025 AI and Digital Transformation Global Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Support Program, highlighting the growing global competitiveness of Korean deep-tech companies through successful overseas pilots.
Launched this year as a new government-backed initiative, the program enables Korean AI and digital transformation (DX) companies to validate their technologies directly within overseas operating environments. Eight companies—Robotware.AI, Monit, Quve17, Tilda, Codepresso, Classum, Tetrasignum, and Triplet—were selected, with most already executing pilot projects alongside international demand partners across education, agriculture and livestock, digital healthcare, and advanced manufacturing.
Unlike conventional overseas expansion programs focused on promotion or exports, the GDIN-led initiative adopts a market-driven global pilot model. Participating companies are required to demonstrate how their solutions address real operational challenges faced by overseas institutions, producing measurable outcomes under local regulatory, environmental, and business conditions. This approach enables startups to validate performance, scalability, and commercial readiness in a way that directly supports global market entry.
A defining feature of the program is its designated-demand structure. GDIN curated a portfolio of pilot opportunities from 29 overseas public and private institutions, allowing startups to apply directly to pre-identified, high-relevance use cases. By removing the need for companies to independently source overseas partners, the program significantly lowers entry barriers, reduces pilot risk, and accelerates execution timelines.
Each selected company receives up to KRW 100 million in funding to support PoC implementation, including personnel costs, prototype development, data generation, and international travel. GDIN provides end-to-end support throughout partner matching, contracting, pilot execution, and performance evaluation, working closely with government agencies to ensure speed and continuity.
Early results underscore the program's effectiveness. Robotware.AI, a provider of AI- and IoT-based smart livestock automation solutions, has launched a pilot with the Selangor Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) in Malaysia, validating its fully automated poultry farming platform under Southeast Asia's challenging climate conditions.
Monit, a digital healthcare company specializing in AI-powered patient monitoring, has begun pilots of its incontinence detection sensor at public hospitals in Singapore, aiming to improve caregiving efficiency and patient outcomes.
Quve17, an AI dental technology company, is conducting pilots in the U.S. and Europe to validate its automated dental prosthetics design and occlusion analysis solutions.
Meanwhile, Tilda, an industrial AI company, is testing its manufacturing process optimization platform at production sites in Germany and Austria, targeting significant improvements in yield, productivity, and energy efficiency.
"These pilots go beyond visibility—they create proof," said Jongkap Kim, CEO of GDIN. "The experience of validating technology across different cultures, regulations, and industrial environments is a critical asset for startups. This program marks an important starting point for objectively demonstrating the global competitiveness of K-Digital innovation."
Despite being in its inaugural year, the program is already gaining recognition as a practical pathway to follow-on investment, local subsidiary formation, joint research, and long-term commercial contracts—positioning Korean digital innovators for sustained and scalable global expansion.
