Policy Focused on Manufacturing Robots Expanded and Shifted to 'Service'
Development, Production, and Demonstration to Support Entire Cycle from Seedling Stage
"Please call us the Robot City of South Korea from now on."
Daegu City is set to intensify its strategy to foster the 'service robot industry' in response to the rapidly growing service robot market.
The project is named the "Robot Industry Value Chain Expansion and Win-Win System Establishment Project."
Since 2020, the "Robot Industry Value Chain Expansion and Win-Win System Establishment Project" has been Daegu City's flagship robot company development initiative. Focusing on the distribution and expansion of robots through its third year last year, as of 2021, the number of robot companies in Daegu reached 233, with sales amounting to 919.4 billion KRW, marking significant growth centered on manufacturing robots.
The number of robot companies in Daegu ranked first among non-capital regions, increasing from 188 companies in 2018 to 233 in 2021, while robot company sales rose from 702.1 billion KRW in 2018 to 919.4 billion KRW in 2021.
However, due to the recent rapid growth driven by technological advancements and expanded application areas of service robots, Daegu City plans to focus on fostering the service robot industry by expanding and shifting the project from this year’s fourth phase to center on the production and demonstration of service robot finished products.
This year’s major restructuring of the "Robot Value Chain Expansion Project" includes ▲ development and production of service robot finished products ▲ demonstration and distribution of service robots throughout the urban area ▲ fostering of robot ventures and startups, aiming to support the entire lifecycle of service robots.
First, support will be provided for service robot development, production, and technology development targeting consortia composed of companies, universities, and research institutes. To resolve difficulties encountered during the development and production process, customized technical support will be offered based on the specialized technical capabilities of industry-academia-research collaborations both inside and outside the region.
Additionally, through a city-wide service robot demonstration project, Daegu aims to enhance the brand image of Robot City Daegu, expand exchange and cooperation between domestic and international investors and robot companies, foster local robot ventures and startups, and continuously promote the attraction of robot companies from outside the region.
This year’s recruitment will be announced in an integrated notice at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Machinery & Materials starting from the 27th, and participating companies and detailed project information can be found on the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Machinery & Materials website.
Lee Seung-dae, Director of the Innovation Growth Office of Daegu City, explained, "The robot industry is continuously growing alongside innovative technological advancements, and robots will play an increasingly important role in everyday life in the near future."
He also stated, "Through the full-scale implementation of the service robot lifecycle support project, we will nurture Daegu’s representative service robot companies and promote structural transformation and advancement of the local robot industry to make Daegu a Robot City."
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