[인터뷰] Eui-Sik Yoon Head of Urban Economy Division, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Minister Byun Chang-heum) is responsible for creating a smart city through related policy development, project promotion, and budget execution as the smart city department, fostering related industries, and spreading services. Eui-sik Yoon, head of the Department of Urban Economy of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport heard about the plan for the smart city construction project this year.

In the meantime, I think that the foundation for the creation and expansion of smart cities has been laid, such as the creation of a national model city and the wide application of smart technology to solving urban problems.

The national model city started construction of the site last year after going through the planning stage, and the construction of private and public SPCs to build and operate smart services is in progress.

In existing cities, 125 smart services are being tested in 28 locations, and the introduction of demand-response buses has confirmed visible results, such as reduction of waiting time for rides and resolving parking difficulties through shared parking.

In order to make urban operation smart, the integrated platform for sharing city data collected by CCTV and sensors has been distributed to 108 local governments, providing 10 services including women’s safe return.

Furthermore, it is developing a data hub that automatically collects, analyzes, and provides city data for data-based city operation. In particular, it played a big role in quarantine. The data hub was used to converge and analyze information such as card companies, telecommunications companies, and CCTVs, and the time to identify corona confirmed cases was drastically reduced from 24 hours to 10 minutes.

A lot of effort has been put into creating an innovative ecosystem. Last year, a smart city regulatory sandbox was introduced, and more than 500 companies are active in the convergence alliance, a communication channel between companies. In order to support Korean companies’ overseas expansion even in difficult external conditions caused by corona, global cooperation centers have been established in four countries, including Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

■ The background of the increase in smart city budget

This year’s smart city budget was organized to about 206.7 billion won, up 124% from the previous year. In order to spread smart cities to more local governments and to increase the public’s sense of experience, the smart challenge project was expanded, and related budgets increased significantly with the full-scale establishment of a national model city.

In the case of the Smart Challenge project, as part of the Korea PanNew Deal, the solution diffusion business demonstrated by the existing service unit was reorganized into a service supply business, and the project targets were changed from 10 in 2020 to 22 in 2021, and the support budget was from 600 million KRW to 20~ It has expanded significantly to 4 billion won.

In addition, starting this year, it plans to provide up to 1.5 billion won to eight universities by establishing a’Campus Challenge’ that solves urban problems using university research projects (R&D) and intellectual property rights.

The budget required for the national model city increased as service and infrastructure construction began in earnest. In order to attract private investment in various leading projects such as energy, environment, robots, etc. to be implemented in the pilot city, it will continue to support budgets in the form of pick-ups.

■ The status of smart city creation projects

According to urban conditions and conditions, we are promoting the creation of customized smart cities in new cities, existing cities, and old cities. The Smart City National Model City is a project to present a future city model by integrating cutting-edge technology on a blank site. Sejong 5-1 living area, Busan Eco Delta City (EDC) is in progress. Local governments, public and private companies plan to form SPCs to build and operate city creation and smart services, and private companies will finish the selection at the end of this year.

Busan is scheduled to start moving in at the end of the year and Sejong is scheduled to start in 2023, and the achievements that have been successfully demonstrated in the pilot city will be spread to other local governments and our successful experiences will be passed on to overseas cities.

The smart challenge project that solves urban problems with various subjects such as citizens, companies, and universities centered on local governments to make the existing city smart is divided into cities and towns according to the size of the project, and the solution diffusion project and the campus challenge led by the university It was newly introduced.

The’City Challenge’ is a project that demonstrates comprehensive solutions across the city with companies, with an investment of about 21.5 billion won over three years, and is currently being promoted in seven cities. ‘Town Challenge’ is a project that focuses on experimenting with specialized solutions optimized for small and medium-sized cities, with an investment of about 3 billion won per year and is currently being promoted in 11 cities.

The’Solution Proliferation Project’ is a project included in the Korean version of the New Deal, and plans to distribute 9 services that have been proven effective through the projects to more than 15 cities nationwide. Through this, it is expected that citizens will be able to experience smart city services.

The’Campus Challenge’ is a project that discovers and demonstrates urban problem solving services using the university’s research results, and plans to support up to 1.5 billion won each by selecting eight universities.

Smart urban regeneration is a project that solves urban problems by deriving local problems through resident participation in old cities in connection with the urban regeneration new deal project and applying low-cost and high-efficiency smart technology elements. To date, 18 cities have been promoting projects, and up to 3 billion won per city is supported.

■ The policy support plan

As the creation of a national demonstration city begins in earnest, it plans to generate results early and expand the successfully demonstrated technology to surrounding areas and other cities. In addition, we will quickly disseminate excellent smart services, which have been proven effective through government projects, throughout the country, so that the public can feel the feeling.

In order to make urban management smart, it plans to develop a smart city integrated operation platform that combines an integrated platform and a data hub and distribute it in stages to cities nationwide.

In addition, as the global smart market is expected to grow continuously, it plans to seek ways to activate the smart city industry to foster it as a new economic growth engine in Korea.

The government will continue to innovate and endeavor to solve urban problems through smart cities, improve people’s lives from various angles, and strengthen competitiveness of cities and Korea.

■ The smart city’s carbon neutral countermeasures

The national smart city model city aims to become a low-carbon energy-independent city. To this end, it plans to integrate innovative services in various fields such as supplying and managing city power based on new and renewable energy, construction of Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB), and provision of mobility services to reduce carbon emissions.

For example, in a national model city, city power is supplied by utilizing renewable energy sources such as solar, hydrothermal, geothermal, and fuel cells to the maximum, and remote control and real-time monitoring through advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) are implemented. Through this, it is planning to efficiently manage and operate electricity in the entire city.

In addition, it plans to apply state-of-the-art technologies for ZEB, such as passive technologies such as high insulation and high-tight windows, and active technologies such as integrated building solar (BIPV) and geothermal heat to the buildings that make up the urban space. In particular, the smart village (56 single-family housing units) in the Busan pilot city will be built into a zero-energy housing complex that is 100% self-sufficient in energy consumed by houses, and plans to start moving in from the end of this year.

Along with this, it provides a charging service that combines electric vehicle charging stations and renewable power generation facilities, and provides a micro-miniature personal mobility (PM) service that can be used freely within the pilot city, and a free-floating car sharing service that allows rental and return anywhere in the pilot city. In addition, it plans to reduce carbon emissions by providing smart transportation services such as the establishment of an optimal travel plan that includes all means of transportation and an integrated mobility service that enables one-stop reservation and payment.

■ The current status of the Korean version of New Deal and R&D

The smart city is a flagship project of the Korean version of the New Deal, and plans to spread it nationwide more quickly. Nine smart services that have been proven effective through government projects such as smart crosswalks, smart poles, shared parking, and demand-response buses are scheduled to be distributed throughout the country starting this year, and the part that the public will experience is expected to increase.

In addition, the integrated platform for building a CCTV-based smart city safety net was distributed to 108 local governments last year, two years ahead of the original plan, and about 60% of all citizens are receiving services such as women’s safe return home and 112/119 dispatch support. Speeding up the creation of a national model city, Busan plans to start moving in from this year and Sejong from 2023.

The national model city is also playing a role as a test bed for smart technology to solve urban problems. In 2019, through collaboration with relevant ministries, 17 technologies of 8 ministries, such as energy saving, fine dust reduction, and high-speed internet networks, were discovered and are expected to be demonstrated in earnest from this year.

In addition, it supports demonstration project expenses to private companies with excellent technologies, and supports technology implementation through smart city regulatory sandboxes. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to cooperate with relevant ministries to continuously discover and demonstrate various smart technologies and to support private technology development and commercialization.