Poland and South Korea Launch AI Regulatory Sandbox Program

"We will jointly examine the impact of AI development on our companies and speed up its adoption, because it is one of the most important challenges for the competitiveness of our economy," Standerski said.

What the sandboxes are for

Regulatory sandboxes give companies a safe, supervised environment to test innovative AI solutions and bring them to market more easily. South Korea has considerable experience here: its sandbox programmes have already approved more than 2,500 projects across various sectors. Talks also covered obligations under the EU AI Act and Poland's act on artificial intelligence systems.

Polish and Korean experts will work on three areas: analysing the legal environment and rules for AI sandboxes, designing a governance and operating model, and preparing a long-term plan for their development. The project will support the Commission for the Development and Safety of Artificial Intelligence in creating and managing the sandboxes.

Next step: AI in industry

If the KSP succeeds, a further multi-year programme, the Economic Innovation Partnership Program (EIPP), is planned for autumn 2027. It is to be funded by South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance and run by KDI with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).

The Ministry of Digital Affairs is to pick the sector for the EIPP. Planned elements include developing physical AI infrastructure for a chosen industrial complex after assessing its needs and readiness, using AI to optimise and automate production, and helping small and medium-sized enterprises adopt AI, potentially by sharing data with Polish and Korean experts. Using AI to address selected social challenges will also be considered.