Incheon City is establishing a Pseudonymized Information Utilization Support Center to lay the foundation for fostering the data industry.
On the 17th, the city announced that it was selected for the "Pseudonymized Information Utilization Support Center Establishment" public project organized by the Personal Information Protection Commission.
Pseudonymized information refers to information in which some personal data has been processed (such as deletion) so that individuals cannot be identified without additional information.
Recently, data including personal information has high value but also carries risks of infringement, leading to increasing demand for pseudonymized data processing in research and industrial fields.
Especially since data is a core resource in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era, it is urgent to create infrastructure and an environment that can safely utilize personal data, which accounts for 75% of all data, to revitalize the data economy.
The Pseudonymized Information Utilization Support Center will be the fourth to be established in Incheon, following Seoul, Gangwon, and Busan. The Incheon Center is scheduled to be entrusted and operated by Incheon Technopark through an agreement this month.
The center plans to create a safe and legal environment for utilizing pseudonymized information by providing consulting and technical support to public institutions, small and medium enterprises, and startups that lack pseudonymization technology and experts. Specialized education will also be promoted for prospective personnel and practitioners to strengthen expertise and train human resources related to pseudonymization.
Additionally, the center will support businesses lacking pseudonymization technology and infrastructure and operate a performance testing ground (test bed) to promote data utilization and convergence.
To differentiate itself from other cities and provinces, the city plans to discover demand for pseudonymized information utilization and new business models in specialized industries such as bio-pharmaceuticals, logistics, and healthcare, thereby creating high value-added jobs and fostering a startup environment.
An official from Incheon City stated, "If personal information held by various institutions is pseudonymized and combined and analyzed, very useful data can be created," adding, "We will establish a multifaceted support system to ensure there are no difficulties in pseudonymization and pseudonymized information combination in industrial sites."
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