2024 SNU FastMRI Challenge

Opening Day Event 
@ Klim SNU office

'The SNU FastMRI Challenge' is an artificial intelligence competition that kicks off with the summer holidays of the Seoul National University. Because of our belief in the social value of FastMRI technology, we have been a sponsor of the challenge since its inception. This year, the Klim Ventures' office at the Seoul National University Station hosted the 4th annual Opening Day event.

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SNU FastMRI Challenge

The SNU FastMRI Challenge is a deep learning algorithm competition held during the two months of summer vacation for undergraduate students at Seoul National University. The first edition of the competition in 2021 had 177 participants, which is a testament to the high level of interest in AI. The number of participants has increased each year, and this year 261 students from 31 departments registered, the highest number ever. A total of 881 students have taken part in the four years of the challenge. The enthusiasm is growing year on year.

FastMRI is a technology that contributes to a healthier world. It acquires less data than conventional MRI processes and thus cuts scan time in half. Deep learning algorithms solve the problem of noise (aliasing) caused by having less data. With FastMRI technology, MRI is more accessible to patients, allowing hospitals to perform more MRIs. When MRI scans become more widely available, the chances of detecting cancer at an early stage and ultimately curing it will be greatly increased.

The contestants will develop their own deep neural network using the provided MRI image data. We believe this is an opportunity to explore the use of AI technology for the benefit of human health.

SNU FastMRI Challengers’ Connect 

This year we're taking the launch event from online to offline for the first time. There are three main parts to the event.

-  2024 SNU FastMRI Challenge  
-  FastMRI technology and global commercialization
-  AI Conference

http://fastmri.snu.ac.kr

The participants in the challenge are very diverse. They come not only from engineering schools but also from social science, business, medical schools, and more. It's inspiring to see that students from so many different backgrounds are interested in AI. We're very excited to be bringing together 90 like-minded students and AI experts to share ideas, ask questions, and discuss the technology of AI. This is what the SNU FastMRI Challengers' Connect is all about and why we prepared an offline event.

Professor Jongho Lee of Seoul National University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, SNU LIST Lab, and the challenge’s T.A.s organized the entire event, while Klim Ventures prepared the venue and hosted the event on the day. AIRS Medical also attended and gave presentations.

Event highlights  

We had over 90 students attend the event, which was more than we expected considering it was during final exams at Seoul National University and it wasn’t even mandatory. At the start of the event, it was difficult to find an empty seat as more than half the seats were taken 30 minutes before the event began.

The event kicked off with an opening speech by Prof. Jongho Lee from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, the organizer and director of the SNU FastMRI Challenge. This was followed by brief presentations from AIRS Medical, Klim ventures, and last year's winners, who are also the teaching assistants for this year's competition.

This is followed by an AI conference session to satisfy students' intellectual curiosity. We invited two PhD students from the SNU LIST Lab and two researchers from AIRS Medical to present their AI papers.

After the entire program, a question and answer session followed. As this is the fourth edition of the competition, several teams asked pointed questions based on their analysis of the algorithms used by previous winners. It's a tough competition to finish without giving up, so who's going to win this year? We will share the results in two months.

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Tech and talents  

It is our hope that this competition will be a catalyst for participants to find meaning and fulfillment in AI technology in a way that creates social value. Building an intersection between technology and talent is the reason why we opened the Klim ventures office at SNU Station. We are looking for this place to be full of inspiration and we will continue to experiment with new ideas in the process.

With everyone who prepared the opening day event.

(feat. Klim ventures, SNU List Lab, SNU ECE, AIRS Medical)