The Korean government will systematically support the domestic return and settlement of overseas Korean tech talent who have been active in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), advanced robotics, biotechnology, and aerospace.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) said they held the 'K-Tech Pioneers (KTP)' orientation on the 10th, marking the domestic return and start of collaboration for 20 talent teams.
KTP is a talent attraction project designed to counter the outflow of outstanding talent in national strategic technology fields overseas. It is being pursued in connection with the current government's "Securing Leading Technology and Talent for Cutting-Edge AI" policy, which is being promoted as a key state task.
The core aim is to support the return of outstanding Korean talent whose capabilities have been verified overseas, so they can stably settle into Korea's advanced industry ecosystem.
A total of 20 teams were finalized for this project, taking into account regional balance, diversity of technology fields, and synergy with the domestic industry ecosystem. By base region, 10 teams were selected from the U.S. West Coast, six from the U.S. East Coast, and four from Asia. By field, in addition to AI, which accounted for the largest share, the selection included robotics and manufacturing AI, advanced biotechnology, and aerospace.
MSIT and NIPA plan to provide a full-cycle growth ladder so the 20 teams can establish themselves as key players in Korea's advanced industry ecosystem. They will create tangible technology commercialization results through technology proof of concept (PoC) and joint research and development with major domestic demand companies.
The government also plans to support legal, patent, and accounting consulting needed for domestic settlement, as well as investment attraction linked to VC and CVC and cooperation with the financial ecosystem including the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, thereby building a funding foundation that enables sustained growth.
Park Yun-kyu, president of NIPA, who prepared the event, said, "We will mobilize all of NIPA's relevant infrastructure and capabilities to closely support the entire settlement process, so the selected teams can quickly settle into the domestic market and scale up into global unicorn companies."
Park Tae-wan, director-general for information and communication industry policy at MSIT, stressed, "K-Tech Pioneers goes beyond a simple talent attraction program; it is a stepping-stone project that helps Korean tech entrepreneurial talent verified on the global stage grow into key partners of the domestic advanced industry ecosystem." He added, "Starting from this orientation, we hope tangible technology collaboration and business results between the selected teams and domestic demand institutions will quickly materialize."
