Daejeon City Applies for Designation of ‘Daejeon Station Area and Yeonchuk District’ as Innovation City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon City announced on the 16th that it has submitted an application for the designation of an Innovation City to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, specifying Daejeon Station Area District and Yeonchuk District as the planned sites.

The application for Innovation City designation was made following the passage of the "Special Act on Balanced National Development" by the National Assembly in March and its enforcement on the 8th of this month.

The city expects the results of the Innovation City designation application to be announced within the next 2 to 3 months. Upon receiving the application, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will convene the National Balanced Development Committee for review and resolution, after which the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will designate and announce the Innovation City.

In the "Daejeon Innovation City Development Plan," the city presented the necessity of Innovation City designation, the approximate location of the Innovation City, and the development strategies of the Innovation City as reasons for the designation.

Additionally, as development strategies for the Innovation City, the city proposed attracting public institutions linked to specialized industries, creating clusters of industry-academia-research and concentrating functions, expanding housing supply and cultural, leisure, and transportation infrastructure, constructing a smart Innovation City, and supporting the development of the original downtown area in connection with the Innovation City construction.

Meanwhile, since 2003, the government has designated 10 Innovation Cities nationwide to promote balanced national development and strengthen national competitiveness, relocating 153 public institutions from the metropolitan area.

However, Daejeon has not been designated as an Innovation City so far, excluding it from public institution relocations and mandatory local talent recruitment.