Park Young-sun, "Creating a 1 Trillion Won Fund... Building 21 Innovation Clusters and Creating Jobs"

'Seoul's Great Transformation' 5th Pledge... Blueprint for 21 Innovation Clusters Unveiled
'Mokdong for Sports, Yangjae for AI' Detailed
Seoul-style Digital Currency 'KS-Coin' Also Presented

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party of Korea's preliminary candidate for Seoul mayor, who pledged a '21-minute multi-nuclear city,' presented innovative industrial clusters applicable to 21 different districts. The plan is to create a foundation where venture companies can thrive through innovative clusters that leverage the characteristics of each district's industry. She also announced plans to establish a fund worth 1 trillion won and to focus investments on companies residing in these innovative clusters. Through this, she aims to create new jobs and transform Seoul into a hub city for blockchain and protocol economy in the digital age.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 23rd, candidate Park Young-sun held the fifth 'Seoul's Great Transformation' non-face-to-face policy presentation at the Anguk Building camp in Jongno-gu, announcing plans for 'Startup Seoul' and 'Youth Entrepreneurship and Job Transformation.'

On that day, Park said, "The three most important factors for the success of an innovation ecosystem are talented individuals armed with strong entrepreneurial spirit, clusters where these talents can interact and grow, and stable funding to support all of this." She added, "The Seoul Metropolitan Government and its affiliated organizations will invest to create a Seoul City Mother Fund worth 500 billion won, and combined with private funds, establish a Seoul Great Transformation Fund worth 1 trillion won."

She also revealed a detailed blueprint for a total of 21 clusters, aiming to build 'Startup Seoul' by establishing 21 innovative growth clusters.

Looking at the '21 Innovative Growth Clusters' announced by candidate Park, the plan includes building bio and metaverse (3D virtual world) clusters in Hongneung and Changdong, and a realistic media cluster in Sangam-dong.

In Hongneung and Changdong, startups in advanced manufacturing utilizing core technologies from local universities and research institutes will be attracted, along with bio and healthcare companies in cooperation with nearby university hospitals. Additionally, in Changdong, an online performance hall based on the metaverse will be completed to create a new dimension of Hallyu culture diffusion platform where culture and media technology converge. In Sangam-dong, collaboration will be strengthened with universities and research institutes near DMC and media companies located in DMC to foster a startup campus in the field of realistic media based on virtual convergence technologies such as AR and VR.

In the Mokdong software and sports cluster, an innovation campus will be established in advanced technology fields such as future transportation, sportainment, bioinformatics, and fintech. The Magok R&D cluster will support spin-off startups by researchers. Guro and Geumcheon will be designated as game industry and subscription economy clusters to nurture them as meccas of the game industry, while Sillim and Dongjak will build a specialized municipal library for startup business and establish advanced technology commercialization clusters in cooperation with local universities such as Seoul National University.

Other proposed clusters include Yangjae and Seocho R&D city clusters, Gwanghwamun, Seongbuk, and Jung-gu cultural content clusters, Yongsan smart farm cluster, and Seodaemun and Eunpyeong medical and healthcare clusters. Yeongdeungpo will be developed as the largest smart medical cluster in Northeast Asia, Yeouido as fintech, Gangdong as regenerative engineering, Gangbuk as urban smart workshops, Dongdaemun as fashion distribution, Jungnang as fashion manufacturing, and Seongsu-dong as a hub for social enterprises. Additionally, Songpa will have MICE and ICT security clusters, Jung-gu urban industry clusters, and Gangnam blockchain clusters.

Along with this, candidate Park emphasized that Seoul will enable the use of the digital currency 'KS-Coin' related to blockchain.

She explained that KS-Coin, a 'stable coin' based on the Korean won, will be circulated to make Seoul a hub city for blockchain and protocol economy. The Bank of Korea is preparing legal grounds to introduce 'digital currency' (CBDC) and plans to conduct pilot tests within this year, specifying issuance forms, transfer methods, and interest payment issues.

Candidate Park stated, "Seoul citizens will be able to use the digital currency KS-Coin at any online and offline store throughout Seoul and for paying local taxes and other tax payments."