Visit to Incheon Songdo Smart City
"Smart City is the Future of Urban Life"
President Moon Jae-in is speaking at the "Korean New Deal-linked Smart City Promotion Strategy Report Meeting" held on the afternoon of the 22nd at the Smart City Integrated Operation Center in Songdo, Incheon. President Moon Jae-in said on the 22nd, "The government will invest 10 trillion won in the 'Smart City' project by 2025 and create more than 150,000 jobs."
On the same day, President Moon visited the Integrated Operation Center of the Songdo Smart City in Incheon Metropolitan City and said, "We aim to become the world's best 'Smart City' nation through the Korean New Deal."
President Moon's visit to Songdo this time was made to check the progress of the Smart City project, which is being promoted as a representative task of the Korean New Deal, and to encourage those involved. Incheon Songdo is recognized as the first city to introduce the concept of a smart city into urban management and has continuously developed it over the past 20 years to make residents' lives safer and more convenient. It is currently considered one of the leading models that other local governments promoting smart cities can refer to.
President Moon said, "Connecting cities as one through digital technology improves the quality of living environments and public services such as quarantine, safety, transportation, care, and medical services," adding, "Natural disasters like heavy rain and typhoons can also be responded to more safely by advancing urban infrastructure." He emphasized, "Smart cities have become an inevitable future for cities to save energy and create eco-friendly cities that respond to climate change."
President Moon also said, "The government will accelerate the construction of smart cities as a core project of the Korean New Deal that combines digital and green." Furthermore, he said, "The global smart city market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of over 14% to 820 billion dollars by 2025, and it is also an excellent new economic growth engine for us."
President Moon Jae-in is inspecting the Smart City Integrated Operation Center in Songdo, Incheon, on the afternoon of the 22nd.
President Moon also presented three execution strategies to advance toward becoming a smart city nation. First, he said, "We will realize smart cities nationwide and faster," and announced that the data integration platform distribution will be expanded to 108 local governments nationwide by the end of this year. He added, "We will spread urban problem-solving technologies that have already proven effective, such as smart crosswalks and advanced unmanned drone delivery, to other local governments."
Secondly, President Moon promised, "We will digitalize public infrastructure such as roads and railways." He said, "We will attach IoT sensors to roads, railways, bridges, etc., nationwide to analyze real-time situations, manage them safely, and drastically reduce maintenance costs." He also said, "We will establish remote control systems for rivers, dams, water supply and sewage, and roads to protect the lives and safety of the people from natural disasters such as monsoons, heavy rain, landslides, and fires."
In addition, to digitalize logistics and delivery, he announced plans to create a 'Smart Logistics Pilot City' utilizing robots and drone delivery by 2022 and to build 100 smart logistics centers by 2025. President Moon said, "By 2025, we will install base stations and sensors on major roads nationwide and create 3D precision road maps for roads with four or more lanes nationwide to establish a vehicle-road cooperative driving system," adding, "Through this, we will commercialize level 4 fully autonomous driving for the first time in the world by 2027."
As the third strategy, President Moon said he would expand national smart city capabilities in cooperation with companies. He said, "We will nurture a 'smart city industrial ecosystem' where startups and venture companies create new services by sharing urban data," adding, "We will expand smart functions to surrounding areas through a regional balanced New Deal so that national pilot cities and existing cities are not disconnected." He also added, "From national pilot cities, citizens will directly participate in smart city planning and operation to solve urban problems together, improve quality of life, and gather wisdom on personal information protection."
President Moon Jae-in visited Kanevicom, a digital SOC company in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, on the afternoon of the 22nd and encouraged an employee inspecting defective products.
President Moon emphasized again, "We have sufficient capabilities and confidence to build the world's best smart city," and said, "The answer to leading the world economy, balanced national development, and a 'country where everyone prospers together' lies in smart cities." He said, "Regardless of the location and size of the city, smart cities will play a reliable role in enjoying safety and a high quality of life," and added, "The government will work with the people, companies, and local governments to turn the imagined future into reality."
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