[Asia Exclusive] "Digital Transformation Smart Green Industrial Complex to Expand to 25 Sites by 2027"

Energy Innovation and Human-Friendly Initiatives Promoted Together

Kim Jeonghwan, President of the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation, is being interviewed by Asia Economy. / Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

"Since small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies make up the vast majority of industrial complexes, it is essential to support these companies in transitioning to new industries, and the core of this is digital transformation." One of the urgent tasks for industrial complexes that Kim Jeong-hwan, the president of the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation (KICOX), points out is digital transformation. Considering the global trend of accelerating the digital economy, it is important not only for creating new growth engines for companies but also as a solution to attract young people to manufacturing sites. Additionally, digital transformation utilizing sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), and 5G technology helps advance carbon neutrality in industrial sites. This is why President Kim places significant emphasis on the ‘Smart Green Industrial Complex’ project, a representative initiative promoting digital transformation in industrial complexes.

According to KICOX on the 28th, the Smart Green Industrial Complex project is being implemented across a total of 10 industrial complexes, including the newly designated Busan Noksan, Ulsan Mipo, and Jeonbuk Gunsan complexes this year. The original plan was to expand to 15 complexes by 2025, but through the new government’s national agenda, an additional goal has been set to expand to 25 complexes by 2027.

President Kim explained, "The Smart Green Industrial Complex project is being promoted around three pillars: digital transformation, energy innovation, and the creation of human-friendly industrial complexes." He added, "Currently, specialized projects tailored to each complex are underway, centered on 10 major representative projects such as the establishment of the Process Innovation Simulation Center and the Smart Energy Platform." Results are already emerging. By the end of last year, the third year of the project, a total of 37 core infrastructures had been established and operated in seven industrial complexes, supporting 1,198 cases of digital and eco-friendly transformation for companies residing in these complexes.

President Kim views digital transformation not simply as the digitization of production processes but as creating innovation through the smartification of all corporate activities, including manufacturing processes, products, and business models. He believes the key to this lies ultimately in ‘data.’ He emphasized, "First, useful data from industrial sites such as production, logistics, and energy must be collected, stored, and analyzed to identify problems and find solutions." He continued, "By smartly utilizing manufacturing and energy data, we can create innovation through convergence and explore new business opportunities."