A bridge between public contracting authorities and domestic suppliers
The Korean Artificial Intelligence and Commercial Software Association organized a meeting between public contracting authorities and domestic companies in the sector: according to ETNews, the event was held on November 12 at the Government Sejong Convention Center with around 800 participants, including those responsible for IT procurement and AI transformation at central ministries, municipalities and public bodies, and representatives of IT companies. The forum was co-organized with the Council of Public-Sector Contracting Authorities and the Council for Government Informatization.
The relevant news is not the meeting itself but the format: placing side by side those who write the tenders and those who offer solutions, in a format that this year's edition has renamed from the former Global Commercial SW Masterpiece Exhibition. The new acronym chosen by the promoter is GIX 2026, now in its twelfth edition, to align the name with the spread of AI agents. The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT, NIPA, NIA and ITSA.
Technology and use cases at the center
The program opened with a talk by Professor Lee Kyungsang on the evolution of AI-based public services and technological strategies. Park Changwoo, an executive at Saltware, illustrated the use of ontological AI to ensure data sovereignty in closed-network environments typical of the public and financial sectors.
The second session saw nine companies present solutions and strategies: TmaxTibero, Mantec Solution, SAT Information, Raonwiz, Datastreams, Gaon I, IdeaTech, MayMust and Daiquest. The topics covered, according to the source, were successful cases of public AI transformation, data platforms for AI use, and ways of applying agents to work processes. The presentations were accompanied by forty exhibition stands from companies specializing in AI and commercial software, with demonstrations dedicated to process intelligence, intelligent infrastructure and SaaS services, and one-on-one consultations providing adoption guidance.
Awards and stated prospects
Within the 2026 GIX Award, seven companies were honored: the grand prize, the award of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, went to PCSN for OZ AI in the AI SW category, to Mantec Solution for MDRM in commercial software, and to Whatap Labs for the cloud performance management service in SaaS. The Public Contracting Authorities Council award was given to Openmade Consulting for OpenPop Query Medic and to WISE iTech for WiseIntelligence v7.0, while the association award went to Entels for TarzanDB AI DBA and to Pintel for PREVAX 4.0.
The association's president, Yoon Ho, said, according to the source, that the event aims to serve as a dialogue platform where public demand and private supply can test verified domestic solutions and discuss tailored adoptions, and as a piece of a virtuous cycle for expanding Korean AI and software in global markets. This is a programmatic statement, not a measured result.
What is not known
The material does not clarify which contracts were initiated or signed as a result of the meeting, nor does it quantify the value of the public procurement involved or the adoption timelines for the solutions presented. It does not indicate the selection criteria for the nine presenting companies or the seven award winners, and the total number of companies represented beyond the forty exhibition stands is not specified.
