Icheon City to Become a Drone Testbed... Selected for Demonstration City Project Competition

Promotion of Drone Delivery Service and Defense Drone Verification
Mayor Kim: "We Will Build the Best Drone-Specialized City"

Gyeonggi-do Icheon City is establishing itself as a testbed for the drone industry. On the 6th, Icheon City announced that it was finally selected for the '2025 Drone Demonstration City Construction Project Contest' hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Aviation Safety Technology Institute.

The 'Drone Demonstration City Construction Project' is a government initiative to discover drone delivery models tailored to regional characteristics and support public services. Icheon City was selected in the 'New Participation K-Drone Delivery Service Sector' with the 'Park Drone Delivery Commercialization Service and Public-Private-Military Cooperation Defense Drone Verification Project.' With this selection, the city will receive 480 million KRW in national funding to promote the project.

Last month at BEXCO in Busan, a city official introduced key projects to visitors at the Icheon City promotional booth during the '2025 Drone Show Korea.' Photo by Icheon City

This year, the city will carry out two projects. First, it will implement a 'drone delivery service' that delivers food and convenience items to visitors of Seolbong Park and Bokha Stream Waterfront Park via Gyeonggi-do's public delivery app. Alongside this, the city will also promote 'defense drone verification,' demonstrating the performance of domestic civilian delivery drones for military supplies at the drone flight field established around the Army Intelligence School and Cheongmi Stream area. The city plans to collaborate with the Korea Aviation Safety Technology Institute to set optimal drone flight paths and establish a safety management system to provide delivery services.

Previously, the city set up a promotional exhibition booth at '2025 Drone Show Korea' held last month at BEXCO in Busan, conducting major project promotional activities. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Drone Show Korea is an event hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of National Defense, the Space Aviation Agency, and Busan City, and is the largest drone specialized exhibition in Asia.

Kim Kyung-hee, Mayor of Icheon City, said, "With this contest selection, we will strengthen the competitiveness of the drone industry and advance as the best drone-specialized city." She added, "We will continue to build infrastructure that allows citizens to enjoy convenience by utilizing advanced future technologies and apply them across various industrial sectors to create the future city of Icheon."