Deputy Minister Park Yoon-kyu of the Ministry of Science and ICT Visits Pohang to Discuss Regional Digital Ecosystem Development
Visits Innovative Digital Infrastructure Including POSTECH Apple Developer Academy and ChangeUP Ground
Pohang Ci
Park Yoon-kyu, the 2nd Vice Minister, and Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang, during a meeting with representatives of digital companies in Gyeongbuk.
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] On the 14th, Pohang City held a tour of major local digital innovation sites and a meeting with local software company representatives at Pohang Jigok Valley, attended by more than 50 people including Park Yoon-gyu, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Mayor Lee Kang-deok, and Jang Sang-gil, Director of the Science Industry Bureau of Gyeongbuk Province.
The Ministry of Science and ICT is promoting a series of continuous visits to local digital innovation sites to communicate with local governments and companies in order to reflect field voices in regional digital policies. This visit to Pohang was postponed from September to December due to Typhoon Hinnamnor damage in September.
Pohang City introduced the POSTECH Apple Developer Academy as a digital innovation infrastructure.
Opened in Pohang last March as the first Apple Developer Academy in East Asia, it has launched 70 iOS-exclusive apps through various category app projects over nine months and achieved top results, including winning the Minister’s Award at the My Fintech Service Hackathon hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.
Park Yoon-kyu, the 2nd Vice Minister, and Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang, touring the POSTECH Apple Developer Academy.
The visiting group toured the education site and encouraged the award-winning teams, mentors, and trainees.
They then visited Change Up Ground, a startup incubator, where resident companies Midas H&T and Polaris 3D demonstrated products applying healthcare sensor control technology and autonomous driving robot technology, showcasing the digital technology capabilities of companies in the Gyeongbuk region.
Change Up Ground spans a total floor area of 28,000㎡ from basement level 1 to the 7th floor and is equipped with a system supporting promising startups’ stable growth by providing research and development (R&D) and business spaces, investment linkage, and business networks.
Next, at the Future Convergence Center within Pohang Technopark, they received a briefing on the digital innovation hub creation project and held a meeting with representatives of digital companies in Gyeongbuk.
At the company meeting, 14 competitive leading software companies and startups, which will play a pivotal role in establishing the ‘Gyeongbuk Regional Digital Innovation Hub,’ participated to share field voices.
The digital entrepreneurs expressed their expectations for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s regional digital policies and presented various on-site opinions regarding difficulties companies face locally and the roles of the government and local governments in fostering the regional digital ecosystem.
Participating companies included ▲Midas H&T, OneSoftDime (Healthcare) ▲Polaris 3D, VSpace, Euromotors, Rehigh (Mobility) ▲Carrot Fund, VR Crew (VR, AR) ▲Poined, StradVision (AI video recognition) ▲Heaventree, GamsoSoft (Smart manufacturing) ▲UroTest (SW education tools) ▲C&H Communication (AI location recognition technology).
Vice Minister Park Yoon-gyu said, “The Ministry of Science and ICT is promoting national balanced development through the creation of regional digital innovation ecosystems. We will actively cooperate in creating digital ecosystems so that future intelligent automobile and aircraft parts industries, bio industries, and agtech industries, which Gyeongbuk Province and Pohang City are focusing on nurturing, can achieve digital innovation.”
Mayor Lee Kang-deok encouraged local digital entrepreneurs at the meeting and said, “Pohang City, together with Gyeongbuk Province, will devote all administrative capabilities to build a new digital ecosystem through digital convergence and digital innovation and to become a successful model of the regional digital industry through the establishment of a digital innovation hub.”
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