Selected for the 'Technology Commercialization Collaboration Platform Construction Project' Contest
Application of Blockchain Technology, Demonstration, and Promotion of Logistics Digital Transformation
Industry-Academia-Research Consortium
Busan City was finally selected in February in the nationwide competition for the ‘Technology Commercialization Collaboration Platform Construction Project’ targeting five national research and development special zones hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The ‘Technology Commercialization Collaboration Platform Construction Project’ is part of the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ‘2023 Research and Development Special Zone Promotion Project.’ It aims to create a self-sustaining regional research and development (R&D) ecosystem through a virtuous cycle of ▲discovering and transferring (investing) public technologies ▲technology commercialization (productization and startup creation) ▲and corporate growth by establishing an industry-academia-research collaboration platform.
The city formed a consortium with the lead organization Busan Technopark, participating institutions including Pusan National University and Pukyong National University, and companies related to blockchain and coffee. They applied for the project with a plan to build a ‘blockchain-based coffee industry specialized logistics platform’ that applies blockchain technology to the coffee industry promoted by Busan, and to promote digital transformation in the regional logistics sector through technology verification using the platform.
With the final selection in this competition, Busan secured 8.25 billion KRW in national funding and plans to invest a total of 11 billion KRW over three years to carry out the project.
The specific implementation details are as follows: First, develop technologies for platform construction such as blockchain technology to ensure the safety of the coffee logistics supply chain, artificial intelligence (AI) green bean analysis technology, and smart roasting solution technology.
Second, the demonstration phase utilizing a coffee data hub built to support the coffee industry specialized logistics platform and blockchain-linked big data. By enabling systematic traceability throughout the entire process from green bean production to consumer tasting, it secures trust among logistics contract parties and simplifies transaction processes, resulting in time and cost savings.
Finally, in the technology commercialization phase, the project aims to strengthen the technological competitiveness of the blockchain industry and revitalize the regional logistics industry by transferring developed technologies to prospective entrepreneurs and supporting startup linkage.
Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, “The platform construction project applying and verifying blockchain technology in the coffee industry is the world’s first attempt by our city,” and added, “Through building such a platform, reliability will be given to origin information and distribution processes, and Busan is expected to emerge as Asia’s coffee green bean hub port.”
He also said, “It is very meaningful that we were selected for a national competition at the time when we launched the ‘Coffee City Busan Forum’ on April 10 and are working to establish Coffee City Busan,” and emphasized, “By integrating blockchain technology into the creation of Coffee City Busan, we will do our best to become a cutting-edge coffee city.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
