Korea's ARPA-H at Two: A KRW 1.16 Trillion Bet on Health Moonshots, and How Foreign Partners Can Join
Updated: Oct 24
When the United States created ARPA-H in 2022, it promised to bring the DARPA model of bold, manager-led research to health. Korea was one of the first countries to follow. In July 2024, it officially launched the Korean ARPA-H project, and by the end of 2026 it will be funding about 29 projects.
The program is small next to its US model, but it is moving fast, it is already signing partnerships in Europe, and its projects are pulling together Korean hospitals, robot makers and AI companies. For foreign partners, it is a useful map of where Korean health research is heading.
1. A US idea with a Korean design
The Korean ARPA-H project is run by the K-Health Future Promotion Agency (K-HEALTH MIRAE) at the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, under the Ministry of Health and Welfare. It has a total budget of KRW 1.16 trillion (about US$870 million) from 2024 to 2032, about 40% less than first planned. Its annual budget reached about KRW 63 billion (about US$47 million) in 2025.
Like the US agency, it is built around program managers. PMs, often recruited from universities and hospitals, find problems, design projects, select teams and manage them, much like a startup CEO. The program drops the usual pass/fail grading of Korean R&D, tolerates failure, and often funds several competing teams for the same goal before narrowing them down at stage gates.
Its work is organized under five missions: health security, diseases without cures, leading-edge bio-health technology, welfare and care, and essential medical care.
2. What it funds
The first 10 projects, selected in 2024, include STOREx, which aims to extend vaccine shelf life from about three years to more than ten, DeCAFx for mobile, decentralized vaccine production, and HAPPY, a combined therapy for sarcopenia.
Ten more followed in 2025, each worth up to KRW 17.5 billion (about US$13 million) over about five years. They include a personalized cancer vaccine (PAVE), therapies that reduce pandemic severity (PROCUREx), a humanoid surgical assistant robot (PAIR-S), and Yonsei University-led projects on hard-to-treat cancer, epilepsy and retinal disease.
In 2026, the agency announced nine new projects averaging KRW 18 billion (about US$14 million) each, running to 2030, on topics such as next-generation RNA vaccines, AI for rare diseases and quantum-sensing diagnostics. One of the most ambitious is CHAIN, led by Seoul National University Hospital with six university hospitals, which aims to release 1,000 validated AI agents for regional and public health care by 2030, with patient data kept inside hospitals.
3. The surgical robot race
PAIR-S shows how the program works in practice. More than 15 consortia applied; three were selected for the first stage, led by Samsung Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital and Pusan National University Hospital. They compete in parallel, with a competitive evaluation planned at the end of 2026.
Samsung Medical Center's ORchestra team, with Rainbow Robotics building the robot and Aidin Robotics the grippers and hands, held a public demonstration on September 16, 2026. Two robots handed instruments to surgeons on voice command and held the endoscope during a simulated gallbladder operation. The robots do not operate on their own yet, and the team is targeting a first clinical trial in 2029. The goal is practical: Korean hospitals are short of operating room staff.
4. How it compares with the US
The scale gap is large. US ARPA-H received about US$1.5 billion a year in its early years, while Korea's program spent about US$47 million in 2025. Korean projects are typically worth KRW 7.5 to 18 billion, roughly US$6 to 14 million, compared with up to US$175.3 million for a single US program such as AIR.
The focus also differs. In August 2026, US ARPA-H named seven teams for its Autonomous Interventions and Robotics (AIR) program, worth up to US$175.3 million, to build robots that perform stroke interventions autonomously. Korea's surgical robot project aims for assistance, not autonomy.
Both agencies face pressure. In the US, ARPA-H's first director was removed in February 2025, a new director took office in October 2025, and the White House requested US$945 million for the agency for fiscal 2026, well below earlier levels. In Korea, the National Assembly cut the program's 2025 budget request, after the total had already been reduced from the original plan.
5. Partners abroad: Europe moved first
On April 3, 2026, during French President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to Korea, K-HEALTH MIRAE agreed with JEDI, the European disruptive innovation initiative, on six joint programs, including quantum drug discovery, humanoid robots for surgical assistance and AI to prevent frailty. In July 2026, it signed an agreement with nine associations of Korean scientists and engineers across Europe. The agency has said it is expanding its network with counterparts including US ARPA-H, Germany's SPRIND and Japan's AMED, but we found no formal agreement with US ARPA-H so far.
Can foreign organizations take part? Yes, but not as leads. Projects are led and carried out by Korean hospitals, universities and companies. The FAQ for the 2026 call recommends that foreign institutions join as a contractor or cooperating partner of the Korean team, and says joint research with overseas research institutes should be structured as a subcontract of the Korean lead institution. The cost is budgeted under external expert services, which can use up to 40% of a project's direct costs. Any other arrangement has to be agreed with the program manager before the proposal is submitted. Korea's national R&D law, amended in 2024, likewise allows a foreign legal entity to take part only when it works jointly with a Korean institution.
6. Growing pains
The program has had a bumpy start. In 2024, media reported that only about half of the planned budget had been spent; the ministry responded that measured against the revised budget, execution would reach about 90%. A May 2025 government audit of the managing agency found that project plans lacked security classifications and named beneficiaries, and that oversight of staff stock trading was weak, and issued an institutional warning. Commentators have also argued that PMs, hired on fixed-term contracts, have little job security, which can push them toward safer choices. And some areas, such as surgical robots and medical AI, are also funded by other national programs, including a KRW 940.8 billion (about US$707 million) pan-ministerial medical device R&D program for 2026 to 2032.
What this means for research institutions, companies, investors and EDOs
Enter through a Korean lead. Foreign organizations take part as contractors or partners of a Korean hospital, university or company that leads a consortium, funded from that team's budget. New calls have been announced in the spring and selected over the summer, so relationships need to be in place before the call opens.
The US–Korea gap is an opening. Europe has signed first. US universities, hospitals and companies working on similar problems, from autonomous surgery to vaccines, have room to build ties before a formal agency-level agreement exists.
Stage gates send signals. Because several teams compete on the same goal, down-selections such as the PAIR-S evaluation at the end of 2026 are useful signals for investors and licensing partners about which Korean teams and technologies are advancing.
Follow the companies inside the consortia. Rainbow Robotics, Aidin Robotics and AI companies working with hospital consortia gain clinical access and credibility through these projects. Some will look for partners and sites abroad, which matters for economic development organizations.
The bottom line
Korea's ARPA-H is a smaller, faster, more hospital-centered version of the US model. Its budget is modest and its governance still maturing, but it is funding ambitious goals and actively looking for international partners. For foreign research institutions and companies, the best time to connect is while the program is still building its network.
If you are a research institution, a medtech or biotech company, an investor or an economic development organization interested in working with Korean hospitals and research programs, we would be glad to help. Contact us at info@globalrika.com.
About the data
Figures are from Korean government announcements, the managing agency, project partners and Korean media through October 2026. Budget figures are approximate and converted at about KRW 1,330 per US dollar. Project lists are not complete. US ARPA-H figures are from the agency and public reporting; final fiscal 2026 appropriations were not confirmed at the time of writing.
Sources
Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korean ARPA-H launch (July 26, 2024) and project selections (October and December 2024)
Korea.kr, budget and execution clarification (December 17, 2024); Seoul Economic Daily, 2025 budget (January 2025)
Medical World News and Herald Corporation, 2025 project selections; Yonsei University (2025)
Etnews and BioWorld, nine new projects for 2026 (March 2026); Asia Today and Alphabiz, Seoul National University Hospital CHAIN (September 2026)
Pinpoint News, surgical assistant robot consortia (November 2025); KHA News and Kyunghyang Shinmun, ORchestra demonstration (September 2026)
ARPA-H, AIR program awards (August 12, 2026); FABBS and Fierce Biotech, ARPA-H leadership changes (2025)
JEDI, agreement with K-HEALTH MIRAE (April 3, 2026); Rapportian, MOU with Korean scientists' associations in Europe (July 2026)
Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2026 Korean ARPA-H call and FAQ (2026); National R&D Innovation Act Enforcement Decree (amended February 2024)
Medical Times, audit of the managing agency (May 27, 2025); Rapportian and ZDNet Korea, pan-ministerial medical device R&D program
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