Citizen-Centric Innovation Milieu Project to Be Launched from October to December
Busan National University (President Choi Jaewon) will hold the “Student-Citizen Contest for Building a Citizen-Centric Innovation Milieu,” aimed at solving community issues, from October to December 2025 as part of the Regional Innovation-Centered University Support System (RISE) project.
Busan National University held an orientation for the local community problem-solving contest and is taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Busan National University
This contest is organized by the Busan National University Community Innovation Headquarters and implemented by Public Plan. It is designed as a citizen-centric living lab project, where teams composed of local university students and citizens identify and analyze regional issues and propose practical solutions. The contest features two divisions: one for university students and one for citizens.
To this end, a total of 17 teams-10 teams of university students from the Busan area and 7 teams of citizens-were recruited in advance. An orientation was held on October 2 at the main auditorium of the university’s Language Education Center. The participating teams will take part in four hackathons by November, and an awards ceremony and achievement-sharing event will be held on December 19.
The contest topics combine a policy-based (top-down) approach with a participant-proposed (bottom-up) approach.
The top-down topics are set based on the policy needs of Busan City and the results of Busan National University’s regional issue analysis. These include: improvement of community spaces, convergence of Busan-style Aging in Place (AIP), future society big data, and promotion of Busan-style personal mobility (PM).
The bottom-up topics are open themes in which citizens and students directly identify and creatively propose solutions to local issues, actively reflecting their experiences and perspectives from everyday life.
Through this process, the policy perspective of administrative agencies and the real-life viewpoints of citizens and youth will intersect, allowing for a multi-dimensional interpretation of regional issues and the development of practical solution models. Furthermore, it is expected that this will strengthen a citizen-centric regional innovation governance involving universities, local governments, and citizens.
This program operates in three stages: ▲AI Neighborhoodism ▲RE:ACT Hackathon ▲Achievement Sharing Session. Participating teams will strengthen their regional innovation capabilities through on-site mentoring, local branding, and policy-linked projects.
In particular, a collaborative global-local ideathon involving “citizens + international students + local players” will also be held, providing an opportunity to shed new light on regional issues from a multicultural perspective.
After the achievement sharing session, the results of the living lab projects by outstanding teams will be exhibited to the public in the lobby of the Busan Design Promotion Agency, with the aim of further spreading sustainable urban innovation governance.
Hwang Seonguk, Head of the Community Innovation Headquarters at Busan National University (Director of Planning and Professor of Media and Communication Studies), stated, “This contest is a new type of regional innovation platform that combines the university’s expertise with the creative perspectives of citizens. Through the process of Busan’s youth and citizens jointly identifying and solving local issues, we will establish a truly citizen-centric innovation ecosystem.”
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