Operated Across Public, Public Interest, and Private Sectors
"Startups and SMEs Will Gain Opportunities for Growth"
Park Jumin, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who has declared his candidacy for Seoul mayor, unveiled a policy to establish a large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputing center in Seoul, with participation from the city’s academic, industrial, and research sectors.
On December 22, Assemblyman Park announced his “Seoul Hangang AI” initiative. He plans to operate the center across three sectors-public, public interest, and private-to drive administrative innovation, support education and research, and foster the growth of startups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) simultaneously.
Assemblyman Park stated his intention to create a “Seoul Hangang AI” model that surpasses “New York Empire AI,” the first state-led AI infrastructure consortium in the United States. The New York Empire AI consortium is a project led by the State of New York to overhaul state administration with AI, and to provide AI computing resources for public interest purposes such as education and research, thereby nurturing the AI industry.
In the public sector, key administrative functions such as transportation, welfare, climate, disaster response, housing, and urban planning will be transformed into an AI-based city operating system (OS). For example, the system will enable route and dispatch optimization based on traffic congestion forecasts, address underserved areas through a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, facilitate early detection of households in crisis, and provide customized welfare guidance. Citizen feedback and data will be reflected in the annual citizen participation budget of 500 billion won, helping to resolve public grievances.
In the public interest sector, the center will provide AI-based services throughout the entire life cycle and support AI research conducted by universities, research institutes, and social enterprises for public interest, basic science, and solutions to social issues.
In the private sector, startups and SMEs will be able to participate in the “Seoul Hangang AI” infrastructure, supporting the development of their services and products. The “AI 50 Challenge” project will also be launched to select 50 AI solutions that directly impact daily life.
Assemblyman Park also proposed upgrading the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), in which Seoul has played a major role, to “WeGO AI,” fostering exchanges with New York’s “Empire AI” and California’s “CalCompute,” and hosting a “Seoul AI Summit.”
Assemblyman Park stated, “Through Seoul Hangang AI, startups and SMEs will gain opportunities for growth, and solutions to social problems will be found. Seoul Hangang AI will become the ‘second Miracle on the Han River’ that ushers Seoul into the AI era.”
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