Building a Smart Flood Management System by Next Year... Accelerating SOC Digitalization

[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] The government is accelerating the digitalization of social overhead capital (SOC), including establishing a smart flood management system by next year. SOC digitalization is one of the core tasks of the Digital New Deal.

On the 8th, the Ministry of Science and ICT held the 10th joint Digital New Deal Task Force meeting at Vernect, chaired by Minister Choi Ki-young, with participation from related ministries and affiliated organizations involved in the Digital New Deal.

At the meeting, progress on 'smart infrastructure' such as railway and dam management and 'digital twin' technologies like 3D maps was reviewed to advance SOC digitalization. The budget allocated for SOC digitalization this year is 1.8 trillion KRW, accounting for 24% of the total Digital New Deal budget.

First, Vernect, which applied digital twin technology to industrial sites, demonstrated actual use cases through solutions such as data-linked monitoring systems using digital twins.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to establish a smart flood management system for river disaster prevention by 2022 and build an integrated wireless network (LTE-R) for railways by 2025 through smart infrastructure and digital twin projects. They are also promoting tasks to realize a digital twin national land by constructing nationwide 3D maps, precision road maps, and integrated underground space maps.

The Ministry of Environment will establish a smart dam safety management system using drones, artificial intelligence (AI), and other technologies to manage dams smartly. They plan to invest a total of 106.1 billion KRW by 2025. Through this, real-time monitoring of 37 national dams and drone-based safety inspections will be conducted to prevent disasters and promote efficient dam management.

The Ministry of Science and ICT presented the basic directions for promoting digital twin technology to reduce dependence on foreign solutions and revitalize the domestic industrial ecosystem, including ▲building a digital twin open platform commonly usable by companies ▲discovering innovative success cases to expand demand in the digital twin market ▲developing future core technologies to strengthen global competitiveness ▲standardization for interoperability as policy directions.

The meeting also discussed expansion plans for AI-utilized projects to solve social issues. The Ministry of Science and ICT shared the status and support plans for 10 leading projects using AI to address social problems such as tracking missing persons like children, preventing voice phishing damage, and detecting illegal copies. They plan to design and promote new projects in various fields with high public impact, including environment, safety, and education.

Minister Choi Ki-young of the Ministry of Science and ICT stated, “To create new changes that can be felt across all industrial sectors and in the daily lives of citizens, the government will take the lead in breaking away from past practices and accelerating innovation. We will strengthen inter-ministerial cooperation to nurture digital twin and smart infrastructure as new future growth engines for Korea, and continue on-site communication with related ministries through the Digital New Deal Task Force.”