The Korea Intellectual Property Administration (KIPA) announced Wednesday that "Ideas for All," the public idea contest held from January 8 to April 15 this year, received approximately 27,000 final idea submissions. The website recorded 5.45 million cumulative visits during the same period.
By category, the open call for policy ideas received the most submissions at approximately 10,000. This was followed by designated challenges with 9,264 submissions and open call for technology ideas with 7,156 submissions.
In the open call category, land and transportation led the policy field with 1,736 submissions. In the technology field, manufacturing received the most submissions at 1,345. Among the 10 designated challenges, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's "Making Public Services More Convenient with AI" task attracted the highest participation with 1,617 submissions.
Ideas for All is KIPA's flagship project since its establishment. The nationwide open innovation platform discovers creative ideas from citizens and connects them to startups and research and development while reflecting them in government policies. The high number of submissions reflects citizens' desire to directly address everyday inconveniences through institutional improvements, technological innovation, and commercialization.
Submitted ideas will undergo first-round expert evaluation by field through the end of May to select outstanding ideas. The evaluation will be conducted across 30 subcategories in policy and technology fields. Experts will conduct intensive reviews over approximately 10 days. To prevent idea theft and leaks, evaluators must sign confidentiality agreements and access submissions only through the designated system in specified locations for limited periods. Each idea is evaluated by three reviewers. A total of 100 outstanding ideas will be selected through this process.
Selected ideas will go through advancement programs by the end of September to lead to startups, commercialization, or policy adoption. Starting with expert consultation and idea scale-up by field, policy ideas will receive selective support up to pilot testing, while technology ideas will receive support up to patent applications and prototype production. For policy ideas, officials from relevant ministries will directly participate as mentors to increase the likelihood of policy adoption.
After selecting 60 winners by October, a championship round will determine the final winners to be revealed to the public. Policy ideas will then be reflected in laws and regulations, while technology ideas will be realized through startups and commercialization via cross-ministry cooperation.
"Through the tremendous success of Ideas for All, we confirmed the public's desire for innovation and their enthusiastic participation," KIPA Commissioner Kim Yong-sun said. "We will carefully ensure that these valuable ideas from citizens lead to startups and are reflected in each ministry's policies to become reality."
