TIPA seeks operators for K-food, K-beauty smart manufacturing AI alliances

The AI Innovation Promotion Division of the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs is moving to build a cooperative framework to support the AI transformation of K-food and K-beauty manufacturing.

TIPA announced Thursday it is recruiting operators for a "K-Food Smart Manufacturing Alliance" and a "K-Beauty Smart Manufacturing Alliance." One operator will be selected for each sector — two in total — and each will receive about 1 billion won ($754,000) in government grants.

The core aim of the project is to identify AI application tasks at manufacturing sites through collaboration among food and cosmetics manufacturers, AI and data suppliers, and related organizations. The initiative aligns with the policy direction set out in the government's previously announced 2026 Smart Manufacturing Innovation Support Project, which called for expanded support for manufacturing AI and smart factories.

Selected operators will form a steering committee and five working subcommittees to identify projects based on field demand. The alliances will also link to existing support programs covering smart factories, manufacturing AI and autonomous factories to provide follow-on commercialization support.

In the K-food sector, the alliance will identify AI applications across production, quality control, sanitation and logistics. It will also build a collaborative model connecting and jointly leveraging supply chain data between large and mid-sized companies and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The K-beauty sector will cover the entire cosmetics manufacturing process — from product development and formulation through mass production and quality control. The alliance will pursue standardization of raw material, formulation, process and packaging data, and assess the AI readiness of participating manufacturers.

"We will build a manufacturing AI transformation cooperative framework that reflects the characteristics of the K-food and K-beauty industries, and identify and spread field-centered AI application models," a TIPA official said.

Applications will be accepted through the Smart Factory Business Management System until 5 p.m. on Nov. 5. TIPA held an information session at Seoul Biz Center on Wednesday.