Pohang City to Enhance Work Efficiency with AI in 2025 and Secure Urban Competitiveness

2025 Major Business Plan Briefing to Be Held ... Five Sessions by Country from 7th to 23rd

Active Exploration of Generative AI Utilization and Business, Laying the Foundation for Becoming an AI Innovation Hub City

Pohang City is accelerating efforts to successfully complete key projects of the second half of the 8th popularly elected administration, discover new core projects for the next 100 years, and push forward with current pending projects.

On the 7th, the city held the ‘2025 Major Business Plan Briefing’ in the main conference room at City Hall, presided over by Mayor Lee Kangdeok, with all senior officials in attendance. Based on this year’s achievements, the city began establishing effective plans that reflect policy changes for the coming year.

This briefing, starting with the Job and Economy Bureau and the Tourism Convention City Promotion Headquarters on the 7th, will be divided into five groups and continue until the 23rd of this month. After the bureau-specific briefings, Mayor Lee Kangdeok will lead discussions on next year’s policy environment and detailed project implementation directions.

Notably, this year’s business briefing utilized generative AI as an auxiliary tool to improve work efficiency, such as analyzing policy conditions and creating conceptual diagrams during the preparation of materials by each department.

The city also focused on identifying AI and big data projects that can be integrated into municipal administration, expanding the base of advanced knowledge industries, and laying the foundation for becoming a hub city for AI innovation.

For next year, the Job and Economy Bureau has set its core strategies as: ▲Establishing a step-by-step corporate support system to create a business-friendly city ▲Building a new regional growth engine through an AI and digital ecosystem ▲Strengthening global city competitiveness through innovation in future growth industries ▲Creating a growth ladder led by local small businesses, youth, and universities.

Major tasks to achieve these goals include: ▲Designation as Regulatory Free Zone 2.0 and Global Innovation Zone ▲Establishment of POSTECH Medical School and Smart Hospital ▲Creation of a Bio-Convergence Cluster and follow-up projects for the Bio-Specialized Complex ▲Establishment of a Digital Innovation Tech-HUB ▲Building a public-private-academic cooperation model for the AI Accelerator Center ▲Expanding financial support for small businesses through the nation’s first public-private win-win cooperation ▲Designation as a youth-friendly city ▲Attracting foreign investment using the 2025 APEC Summit, among others.

The Tourism Convention City Promotion Headquarters has set its core strategies as: ▲Creating a glocal tourism attraction city that leads future tourism ▲Positioning Pohang as a global hub city and a K-MICE industry hub ▲Fostering and enhancing the competitiveness of the MICE industry.

To this end, major initiatives include: ▲Establishing an AI-based smart tourism infrastructure ▲Glocal Festival City Pohang ▲Creating the Homibando Premium Tourism Zone ▲Promoting the Stay-Type Lifestyle Tourism Hub and Hometown Olle Project ▲Establishing the Pohang International Exhibition and Convention Center ▲Hosting the World Green Growth Forum (WGGF) ▲Hosting the United Nations Global Innovation Hub for Climate Change (UGIH) S.I.W. Pohang ▲Phase 1 construction and Phase 2 promotion of the Pohang International Exhibition and Convention Center, all aimed at building a glocal tourism attraction city.

Mayor Lee Kangdeok stated, “With uncertain international conditions and high inflation, next year’s economic environment will be more challenging than ever. We will do our best to create an ecosystem that attracts businesses through the solid implementation of discovered projects, supporting the local economy and laying the foundation for sustainable development in Pohang.”