Dongdaemun-gu Launches 'Solomon TF' Administrative Experiment
in Search of Solutions with AI
Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Lee Pil-hyung) is challenging 'experimental administration' that goes beyond the conventional problem-solving methods that remained habitual or lacked interdepartmental collaboration, by cooperating with artificial intelligence (AI) to find solutions.
At the center of this is the convergent solution laboratory, 'Solomon TF,' where AI, field workers, and administrative experts participate together.
Composed of about 10 members including administrative experts and related department practitioners, the 'Solomon TF' is a district government innovation project that collaborates with AI to derive objective analysis and creative solutions for major projects that have not been resolved for a long time.
In meetings, AI is used to identify the current status and issues of the target projects, analyzing cases and data. The materials are compared with administrative realities to discuss feasible solutions and review their practicability.
In particular, this project started from the need for a flexible administrative organization that re-examines problems with an objective perspective when doubts arise about the effectiveness of a project and finds alternatives through interdepartmental collaboration.
The pilot project selected by the TF is the 'Senior Center Five-Day-a-Week Lunch Program.' Since February this year, the district has been actively implementing five-day lunch service, supporting either self-cooking tailored to each senior center’s situation or delivering side dishes.
Self-cooking has high satisfaction, but it is difficult to implement in senior centers lacking cooking staff or facilities, while the side dish delivery method is convenient but has been criticized for low satisfaction relative to the budget. The district chose this project as the first experimental target of Solomon TF to find a way for all senior centers to provide lunch five days a week.
AI analyzed cases from other autonomous districts, and field workers conducted on-site inspections. The TF set the project direction as a customized two-track strategy of 'expanding self-cooked lunch at senior centers' and 'parallel operation of side dish delivery,' concluding to gradually expand participating senior centers.
Lee Pil-hyung, Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu, said, "The TF method, which shares the difficulties of field workers and finds quantitative alternatives through AI-based analysis, is a new experiment in administrative innovation," adding, "We will embrace failure and encourage challenges, finding solutions one by one starting with projects closely related to residents' lives."
The district plans to compile the achievements of Solomon TF into a casebook and accumulate unresolved issues as policy experimental assets to share the problem-solving process with all departments.
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