Ulju County in Ulsan has begun earnest efforts to realize its vision of becoming the "Standard Drone City Ulju," with the goal of being designated as a Drone Special Free Zone for the third consecutive year.
On July 3, Ulju County signed the third business agreement for the Drone Special Free Zone at the Ginkgo Hall in the county office, strengthening the public-private cooperation system to promote the drone industry based on demonstration projects.
Ulju County is signing the third business agreement for the Drone Special Free Zone. Photo by Ulju County
The signing ceremony was attended by Ulju County Mayor Lee Soongeol, Jang Byungtae, President of Ulsan Information Industry Promotion Agency, as well as representatives from seven private drone companies: Bololand, Ulsan Unmanned Aviation, Skysis, Aero Research, AMP, Prene, and Genosoft.
This agreement was established to bring together the capabilities of the public and private sectors as Ulju County pursues designation as a Drone Special Free Zone for the third consecutive year, following 2022 and 2023. The participating organizations agreed to cooperate in solving urban issues in Ulju County and expanding resident-oriented services based on drone demonstration projects.
The demonstration projects under this agreement consist of 14 initiatives across four sectors.
In the aviation and defense sector, the projects will demonstrate military-specialized drone operation systems such as hyper-connected control, K-drone delivery, integrated defense, and drone detection. The safe city sector includes public safety initiatives such as AI-based wildfire monitoring, safety inspections, and monitoring of illegal sea foraging.
For ecosystem development, the agreement includes drone pilot qualification training and hands-on drone education programs to foster professional talent and expand citizen participation. In the drone service sector, the projects include resident-focused drone services such as mountain rescue, urban management, crop diagnosis, and radiation measurement.
Mayor Lee Soongeol stated, "Ulju County has created tangible effects that residents can experience by integrating drone technology into administrative services," and added, "With this agreement, we will accelerate our efforts to establish Ulju as the definitive standard city for the drone industry."
The "Drone Special Free Zone" is an area designated under the Act on the Promotion and Foundation of Drone Utilization, where various regulations such as certification, permits, and reporting are relaxed, allowing for demonstration experiments and commercialization tests. Ulju County plans to further expand related demonstration projects in the second half of 2024 to further strengthen the competitiveness of the drone industry.
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