A Review of the 2025 Industrial Intelligence Conference
I attended the AW2025 Smart Factory / Automation Industry Exhibition, which was held at COEX from March 12 to 14, 2025. Although it’s an annual event, this was my first time visiting.
Why I Attended
I’m currently working on manufacturing AI at Samsung Electronics, and since 2025, I’ve also been exploring Generative AI services. I believe autonomous manufacturing will become a key issue in the manufacturing field going forward, and understanding how Digital Twin and AI technologies are being applied will be a great help in developing future services. That’s why I decided to attend this year’s exhibition.
Exhibition and Conference Attendance
The event was held on the 1st and 3rd floors of COEX, and pre-registration allowed free entry, so I signed up in advance. However, I felt that simply browsing the exhibition wouldn’t be enough to gain deep insight, so I also registered for the conference.
The conference I signed up for was organized by the Korea Industrial Intelligence Association, and it featured a variety of presentations related to manufacturing AI and smart factories. Topics like digital twins, generative AI, and autonomous manufacturing, which I’m particularly interested in, were included, so I was looking forward to it.
The conference was held over two days, but I attended for just one day. The registration fee was 250,000 KRW, and just when I was hesitating, my supervisor immediately paid for it—thanks to that, I was able to attend without worry.
One regret, though, is that because I only had a one-day pass, I had just about 1.5 hours to explore the exhibition outside of the conference. Next time, I might get a two-day pass so I can take my time.
At the Conference
The conference took place at Hall E on the 3rd floor of COEX, with a series of presentations covering a wide range of topics. It was a very valuable opportunity to learn about the latest trends in manufacturing AI and see how it’s actually being applied in the field.
One small disappointment was the lucky draw event at the end of the day. I forgot to bring my business cards, so I couldn’t participate. There were prizes like mechanical keyboards and more… but they ended up being out of reach for me. Next time, I’ll be more prepared!
Highlights from Presentations and Exhibition
The most impressive presentation came from MICUBE Solution, which focused on their autonomous manufacturing strategy. Until now, the concepts of smart factories and autonomous manufacturing felt a bit vague, but this session helped clarify the boundaries. I was especially impressed by the point that digital twins and manufacturing AI must be integrated into smart factories in order to realize autonomous manufacturing.
Since I attended the conference with an interest in generative AI services, I was pleased to get some useful insights from both the technical sessions and the exhibition. One common theme that stood out was the need to simplify complex systems in order to achieve autonomous manufacturing. It seems that more and more cases are now using generative AI to do just that.
The case presented by NEXSTOM included many of the ideas I’ve been thinking about. While they haven’t introduced full-fledged AI Agent concepts yet, it was very interesting to see how they used technologies like LangChain, routing, and Text2SQL to reduce system complexity.
Hyundai AutoEver also showcased a similar approach with their SD Brain platform. I found it especially interesting that they’re planning to link it with digital twins. The engineer who gave the presentation explained it well, making it easy to understand. What caught my attention the most was the feature that generates Python code on the fly to retrieve information that doesn’t exist in the system. This approach minimizes hallucinations, and I thought it was a brilliant idea.
Laon People seemed to be introducing a system that incorporated AI Agent concepts. While I haven’t fully grasped AI Agents yet, the way their system provides information through user-defined flows was a very intriguing approach. I believe this could play an important role in future generative AI-based systems.
Final Thoughts
By attending AW2025 Smart Factory / Automation Industry Exhibition, I gained a better understanding of how manufacturing AI and digital twin technologies are evolving, and it gave me insight into how I should approach future directions.
In particular, it was a great opportunity to think deeply about how generative AI can be applied to manufacturing sites, and I plan to continue exploring these technologies further. I’m already looking forward to the AWS Summit Seoul in May.