The Nation's Only 'AI Free Economic Zone' Opening Ceremony on the 27th... Full-Scale Operations Begin

Production of 10.3 Trillion Won, Added Value of 3.244 Trillion Won, and Employment Effect of 57,000 People

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The Gwangju Free Economic Zone Authority will hold an opening ceremony on the 27th at the multipurpose auditorium of the Gwangju Innobiz Center in Advanced District 3 and officially begin its operations.

The opening ceremony is expected to be attended by Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City; Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy; Kim Yong-jip, Chairman of the Gwangju City Council; and local members of the National Assembly.

According to Gwangju Metropolitan City on the 26th, the Gwangju Free Economic Zone was designated and approved by the Free Economic Zone Committee of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on June 3 last year, following the Ministry’s 2nd Basic Plan for Free Economic Zones. Gwangju City established and applied a plan to foster eco-friendly automobiles, energy, and AI industries centered on Bitgreen Industrial Complex, Energy Valley, and Advanced District 3, enabling innovative growth for domestic and foreign companies.

The designated zones cover four districts totaling 4.371㎢: ▲Future Automobile Industry District ? Bitgreen National Industrial Complex ▲Smart Energy Industry District I ? Energy Valley General Industrial Complex ▲Smart Energy Industry District II ? Dochim National Industrial Complex ▲AI Convergence District ? Advanced District 3.

Accordingly, the Gwangju Free Economic Zone Authority was launched on January 1 as a branch office under Gwangju City, staffed with a director equivalent to grade 1, a head of Innovation Growth Headquarters (grade 3), three departments (department heads grade 4), and nine teams (team leaders grade 5), totaling 45 personnel.

The three departments are the Planning and Administration Department, Investment Attraction Department, and Business Support Department. They are responsible for attracting domestic and foreign investments, fostering innovative new industries, and supporting new industry investments including regulatory special cases activation.

The Gwangju Free Economic Zone sets its vision as a “Win-win and AI-based Convergent New Industry Hub” and operates as the nation’s only “AI Free Economic Zone” by restructuring Gwangju’s future food industry structure based on “Gwangju-type jobs” and “AI.”

Development plans for each district include the Future Automobile Industry District, which will advance autonomous driving and electronic components technology using AI technology in collaboration with Gwangju Global Motors, a Gwangju-type job project. It will establish an eco-friendly car parts cluster and an eco-friendly car parts certification center, making it a mecca for eco-friendly automobiles.

Smart Energy Industry Districts I and II will focus on energy ICT convergence, utilizing and linking AI technology to improve energy efficiency and specialize in smart grid fields, fostering smart convergent energy new industries.

The AI Convergence District plans to promote quantitative expansion and qualitative advancement of industries through AI technology convergence by core industries centered on the AI industrial convergence complex. It will focus on healthcare by integrating big data analysis technology and management platform construction technology into future core industries such as automobiles, energy, and biomaterial components.

The Gwangju Free Economic Zone Authority is actively pursuing investment attraction by partnering with leading companies and regional institutions from China and Japan simultaneously with its opening.

On this day, three agreements are planned: ▲A cooperation agreement among the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Korea Branch, Gwangju City, and Gwangju Technopark to utilize a global network for Gwangju’s key growth industries and foreign company attraction ▲A technology and capital investment agreement between Gwangju City and Japanese advanced regenerative medicine developer Shangri-La Medical ▲An agreement to establish an innovative ecosystem for the Free Economic Zone involving the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Gwangju City, Korea Electric Power Corporation, and 10 industry-academia-research institutions.

Following the agreements, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Korea Branch, Gwangju City, and Gwangju Technopark will match the bank’s customers and Korean companies online to provide and support trade and investment opportunities.

Additionally, Japan’s J.Shangri-La Medical Co., Ltd. will invest approximately 15 billion KRW in the advanced medical industry sector utilizing AI data.

Furthermore, 10 institutions including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Gwangju City, Chonnam National University, Chosun University, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Electric Power Corporation, Gwangju Global Motors, Gwangju Technopark, Gwangju Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency, and Gwangju Green Car Promotion Agency plan to jointly cooperate on infrastructure support, technology development, and professional workforce training to build an innovative ecosystem for the Gwangju Free Economic Zone.

Going forward, to enhance expertise and efficiency in investment attraction, customized investment attraction organizations by industry will be formed, and professionals will be hired to proactively respond to domestic and foreign company attraction, aiming for tangible investment attraction results.

Moreover, by clustering and organically linking the four districts and adjacent innovation institutions, an industry-academia-research innovation ecosystem will be established, and a global new industry hub strategy will be pursued to attract a total investment of 1.6279 trillion KRW by 2027.

Through this, it is expected to generate effects such as production of 10.3 trillion KRW, added value of 3.244 trillion KRW, and employment of 57,000 people in the future.