Reviewed by Lexie CornerSep 3 2024
Researchers in Korea are advocating for the creation of a new AI-based policy intelligence research initiative aimed at supporting public decision-making and policy implementation for both domestic and international local governments.
AI-Based Policy Intelligence System. Image Credit: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)
On July 1st, 2024, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the Electronics and Communications Research Institute (ETRI) announced their decision to create a collaborative system to advance research on the development of an AI-based policy intelligence system to support public policy decision-making.
The ETRI research team, in collaboration with IIASA, intends to establish a policy intelligence system that will aid the government in implementing public policies in practice. They also intend to broaden the field of public policy intelligence and focus on the development of new sustainable technologies.
Through this agreement, the two institutions will increase their global collaboration to solve global concerns such as population growth, climate change, and environmental change, beginning with the development of the MABM (Macro Agent-Based Model).
This technical collaboration between ETRI and IIASA is anticipated to enable the establishment of a virtual nation with shared economic/social foundations, allowing for innovative experiments that will assist us in addressing complicated policy components that are difficult to deal with in practice. This strategy is anticipated to allow local and national governments to make sound policy decisions based on scientific facts.
For example, when monitoring reveals changes in economic indicators within a real national economic system, technologies such as digital twins could be employed to conduct policy simulations and forecasts within a virtual national economic system that mirrors the real world. In this virtual environment, macro and micro data are input and synchronized with financial data.
AI decision-making agents can then run experiments to determine the most effective policies. This fiscal and economic digital twin framework actively supports decision-making, facilitating effective policy planning and implementation.
ETRI specializes in R&D in the following areas: analysis and prediction of national economic and social phenomena, AI technology for policy decision-making, and policy intelligence convergence platform technology.
Meanwhile, IIASA is dedicated to researching a wide range of complex challenges, including the environment, energy, climate change, economy, technology, and policy. By employing advanced system analysis, IIASA aims to address these issues and develop sustainable solutions.
Through our technical cooperation with IIASA, we will be able to improve our capacities in various areas, such as systemic analysis of complex issues, scientific prediction, and modeling research for the development of a sustainable policy intelligence solution.
Lee Yeon-hee, Director, Fiscal and Economic Policy Intelligence Research Center, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
Poledna Sebastian, Leader of the IIASA Exploratory Modeling of Human-natural Systems (EM) Research Group, added, “The signing of a new cooperation agreement with ETRI will serve as a wonderful opportunity for both institutions to expand the scope of the recently developed monetary policy model into other areas such as policy analysis based on government function and future decision-making activities.”
ETRI's goal with this project is to create high-quality policy intelligence capable of proposing and verifying public policies, such as national fiscal policies and public policies, using social/economic big data and artificial intelligence technologies.
They are also developing other technologies, such as a virtual national economy simulation program with virtual experiments and large-scale data collection features to monitor the real-world economy, an AI-based decision-making system to generate optimal policies, and a financial/economic digital twin framework.
At the Telecommunication Standardization Sector Study Group 11 (Protocol & Test Standards) Meeting of the International Telecommunications Union, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, in May of last year, the data framework management interface created by the ETRI researchers was accepted as the new global standard.