Chungnam Province is formalizing its efforts to attract public institutions. The strategy is to bring the previously behind-the-scenes attraction activities to the forefront in order to secure major public institutions.
On the 6th, the province announced that it has selected a total of 34 public institutions as key targets for attraction within the Chungnam Innovation City and will begin full-scale attraction activities.
The key targets include 13 institutions subject to the draft system (priority selection rights) and 21 institutions in Chungnam’s specialized functional groups such as carbon neutrality, culture and sports, and small and medium ventures.
The draft system was first proposed by Governor Kim Tae-heum of Chungnam, who argued that priority should be given to attracting public institutions considering Chungnam’s unique situation. Chungnam was excluded from the first designation of innovation cities due to the construction of Sejong New City but was designated as an innovation city in the second round in October 2020.
Since last year, Governor Kim has repeatedly requested President Yoon Seok-yeol and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong to apply the draft system to Chungnam Innovation City.
The public institutions targeted for attraction under the draft system include those with more than 500 headquarters employees such as the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, Korea Environment Corporation, Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences, Social Security Information Service, Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Korea Post Finance Development Institute, Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, and those with more than 100 headquarters employees such as the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, Korea Post Business Promotion Agency, Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, and Korea Fisheries Infrastructure Public Corporation.
The total number of employees at these public institutions is about 9,000. The province plans to focus on attracting relatively large public institutions to expand the scale of the innovation city.
Alongside selective attraction of public institutions tailored to specialized functional groups, the province also presented plans to promote sustainable development in Chungnam.
First, the public institutions targeted in the carbon neutrality sector include 10 organizations: Korea District Heating Corporation, Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation, Korea Petroleum Quality and Distribution Authority, Korea Environmental Preservation Association, Korea Energy Technology Evaluation Institute, Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement, Aviation Safety Technology Institute, Korea Water and Wastewater Works Association, Korea Energy Foundation, and Korea Construction Equipment Safety Management Institute.
The province explained that the target institutions were selected considering that half of the nation’s coal-fired power plants are concentrated in Chungnam, most of which are gradually being shut down, and that Chungnam declared itself a special carbon-neutral economy province last year in response to this situation.
In the culture and sports functional group, the targets include Korea National Sport University, Academy of Korean Studies, Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, Korea Arts & Culture Education Service, Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, and Korea Culture & Tourism Institute. In the small and medium venture functional group, the targets include Public Home Shopping, Small and Medium Business Distribution Center, Korea Venture Investment Corp., and Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development.
The province will conduct government appeals and institution-specific attraction activities while simultaneously improving residential conditions in Naepo New City (Innovation City) to attract these public institutions.
To improve residential conditions in Naepo New City, administrative efforts will focus on establishing specialized educational facilities such as a gifted high school, preparing housing measures for relocated employees, opening a general hospital in 2026, and attracting shopping malls or large marts.
Additionally, the province plans to sequentially open a sports center within this year, an art museum in 2025, and an arts center in 2026 to expand local sports and cultural infrastructure.
Song Mu-gyeong, head of the province’s public institution attraction team, said, “The province will respond with full force to attract large public institutions that will lead the sustainable development of Chungnam Innovation City with a customized strategy in line with the second wave of public institution relocations to innovation cities in the metropolitan area.”
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