220 Billion KRW Invested by 2028 to Establish Steel and Metal DX Hub for Traditional Core Industries
Public-Private DX Expansion System Launched Through Business Roundtable and Pilot Company Presentations
Pohang, known as the "City of Steel," has taken the lead in the digital transformation (DX) revolution.
On November 28, Pohang City held the opening ceremony for the Steel and Metal Digital Transformation (DX) Demonstration Center at the Pohang Industry Promotion Agency, launching efforts to build a future-oriented manufacturing innovation ecosystem aimed at accelerating the digital transformation of the region’s manufacturing sector.
The newly opened demonstration center is a large-scale project with a total investment of 22 billion KRW (14 billion from the national government, 1.8 billion from the province, and 4.2 billion from the city) to be implemented by 2028. The center is particularly significant as it provides a dedicated platform where local steel and metal manufacturing companies can directly test and validate digital-based production innovation technologies on site.
Taking the opening of the center as an opportunity, the city will actively promote the transition to industrial artificial intelligence (AI) as a core strategy to improve the structure and restore the competitiveness of the regional manufacturing industry. Over the next five years, Pohang plans to systematically expand AI and smart manufacturing technologies across the industry in line with a step-by-step vision of "demonstration-evaluation-dissemination."
The demonstration center supports companies in independently defining and solving process problems by integrating AI data analysis, digital twin-based process verification, and smart sensor and manufacturing automation technologies. The primary goal is to use digital technology to reduce inefficiencies in existing manufacturing processes, such as quality deviations, defect rates, and energy consumption.
Furthermore, Pohang City expects the pace of technology dissemination to accelerate, as numerous cases have already demonstrated the benefits of DX in terms of cost reduction and process efficiency during previous demonstration projects.
At the opening ceremony, the process of establishing the center and its expected effects were shared, followed by a business roundtable where participating companies presented their demonstration results and discussed challenges faced in the field. On this day, three companies-Jeil Technos, JSmart Solution, and Jeil Abrasive Industry-gave presentations focusing on solution development, AI vision inspection, and process optimization cases.
Pohang City plans to expand process optimization demonstration tests to a greater number of companies each year and to build standard process models for each company based on the accumulated data. In addition, the city will apply entry-level, expansion-level, and advanced DX models according to each company's technological maturity, thereby enhancing accessibility and utilization for companies in need.
A city official stated, "Our goal is to enable companies to develop their own digital transformation capabilities," adding, "We will operate the center as an open testbed connecting solution providers, user companies, and research institutions."
Mayor Lee Kangdeok emphasized, "The future competitiveness of Pohang depends on the speed of digital transformation," and added, "The Steel and Metal DX Demonstration Center, which opened today, will become the innovation engine for the region’s manufacturing sector, helping companies independently develop their own DX capabilities and build a self-sustaining ecosystem."
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