Promotion of Innovative Growth Data Challenge Project
Data Utilization Business and Innovative Service Development
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dong-guk Lee] Busan City announced the 2023 operational plan for the Busan Big Data Innovation Center aimed at becoming a "Digital Economy City Busan Leaping with Data."
The Busan Big Data Innovation Center (hereinafter referred to as the Center) was established in August last year in Centum, Haeundae-gu (45 Centumdong-ro, Haeundae-gu) to strengthen the self-sustainability of the local data industry ecosystem and support the creation of new value based on data.
The Center has completed its initial preparations through infrastructure development and pilot program operations, and in 2023, it plans to fully equip itself with various programs and expertise to comprehensively promote support projects for revitalizing the local data-related industries.
The Center is operated by Busan Technopark as the executing agency and is fully equipped with spaces for startups and innovative technology development integrated with corporate technology advancement strategies, education and conference rooms, co-working spaces, and data analysis rooms.
The core functions of the Center are to discover and nurture data-specialized companies and innovative technologies, activate data utilization, and strengthen the self-sustainability of the data industry ecosystem through the establishment of industry-academia-government cooperation governance, ensuring continuous growth of related industries.
Busan City has prepared 12 major projects under three strategies (▲Nurturing data-specialized companies ▲Establishing industry-academia-government cooperation governance ▲Activating public and private data utilization) to perform the Center’s core functions in 2023, with a budget of 1.7 billion KRW.
◆ Nurturing Data-Specialized Companies
One of the highlights this year is the quantitative and qualitative expansion of JUNCTION ASIA to hold the largest technology hackathon in Asia. Last year, the city successfully hosted the first JUNCTION ASIA by attracting Junction, Europe’s largest hackathon, to Busan.
In addition, the city plans to introduce the global program Startup Weekend by Techstars from the United States to foster innovative technologies and startups, and operate the DX Sprint, a two-week program supporting the development and market launch of innovative technologies and services.
Outstanding teams discovered through Junction, Startup Weekend, and DX Sprint will receive intensive support through the Center’s DX Camp, collaborating with experts for six months to commercialize or apply the developed business models in the field.
In 2023, the Center will also promote projects that allow ordinary citizens to participate directly in solving social problems based on data.
This involves organizing and supporting Code for Busan, a civic hacking initiative where citizens proactively participate in developing public services to resolve inconveniences or issues experienced in daily life.
Code for Busan is the Busan branch of Code for Korea, a voluntary citizen movement that began with the development of the public mask app in response to COVID-19.
◆ Establishing Industry-Academia-Government Cooperation Governance
To prevent local talent and companies from wandering to the Seoul metropolitan area in search of innovative technologies and advanced information, the Center plans to host “Data Week Busan,” a regular “Data Industry Innovation Forum,” small expert workshops, and meetups for sharing best practices, attracting top domestic and international experts and keynote speakers to Busan.
The Center also plans an industry-academia-government cooperation governance project where local universities and research institutes collaborate to solve technical difficulties faced by companies.
The main contents include supporting the establishment of university curricula to nurture data convergence talent required in the industrial field, and supporting project- and problem-based learning (PBL) programs in the data industry sector where companies, universities, and local research institutes cooperate to solve technical problems in the field and cultivate professional practical talent.
◆ Activating Public and Private Data Utilization
Busan City will expand the function of the Data Open Lab, a secure data analysis space installed within the Center, as a hub and data repository for activating public and private data utilization, as well as a guide for companies and citizens facing difficulties in data use.
First, the Data Open Lab processes and refines unopen data from Busan City and data purchased from the private sector into standardized, high-quality data, providing it within the Open Lab for anyone to use according to their purpose without undergoing complicated processing.
Users can receive technical advice and consulting from resident data experts when needed, and if data export is required, the Center supports exporting data in statistical data form after integrating and processing public and private data.
The Center will also promote projects to discover administrative policies using Open Lab data and to find private innovative services targeting university students and companies.
University students, company officials, and public officials participating in these projects will receive professional consulting on the entire data processing cycle, including data processing and utilization, to strengthen data capabilities and successfully develop innovative services.
Starting full-scale operations in 2023, the Center is expected to become a strong supporter for small and medium-sized enterprises struggling with developing and commercializing new data-related revenue businesses, as well as developers and (preliminary) startups striving to develop innovative technologies and services.
Detailed information on the Center’s operations can be found on the Busan City website (Busan News) or the Busan Technopark website.
Kim Hyung-gyun, President of Busan Technopark, said, “The Busan Big Data Innovation Center, which took its first step last year as a hub for fostering the local data industry, has achieved excellent results in a short time by hosting events such as the DX Challenge and Busan Data Week. This year, we will do our best to further advance the functions of the Big Data Innovation Center and grow it into a genuine control tower for the local data industry.”
Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, “The Busan Big Data Innovation Center is a hub for the local data industry that responds flexibly and creatively to the demands of the industrial field and environmental changes. Amid the rapidly changing technologies brought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the massive digital transformation, it will serve as a catalyst for the leap of the local data industry by internally strengthening innovation capabilities and externally attracting innovative capabilities.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
