The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (Minister Won Hee-ryong) created an integrated Korean pavilion at the Barcelona Smart City Expo for three days from the 15th to the 17th to effectively promote and raise global awareness of Korean smart cities, and pioneered overseas markets for small and medium-sized businesses. and achieved results in widely publicizing the Korean smart city.
<About '22 Barcelona Smart City EXPO World Congress>
The Barcelona Smart City Expo is the world's largest smart city international event, held from 11 to next year, with more than 3 people (as of 21) participating in governments, companies, academia, and researchers around the world to cooperate with smart cities overseas. It is becoming a venue for expanding networks and exchanging policies and experiences with government and private organizations.
In previous expos, local governments and companies in Korea promoted individual exhibitions, but in this expo, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport created a 480m2 integrated Korean pavilion, allowing smart city-related public institutions, local governments, and companies to gather in one place. Provided support for exhibitions and consultations.
Two public institutions of LH and K-water, four local governments of Busan, Incheon, Daejeon, and Bucheon, and 2 companies and universities* participated. It exhibited its innovative technologies and received great attention on the international stage, with more than 4 people visiting the Korean Pavilion for three days.
* 11 SMEs, 2 large corporations, 1 university
In particular, in cooperation with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), to increase the possibility of Korean companies' overseas expansion, a space for 1:1 consultation is set up separately in the Korean Pavilion, and briefing sessions are held to promote the excellent technologies of participating companies and support for expanding the global network is provided. 'Korea Pavilion Networking Reception' (11.16) was held for
Through this, domestic companies have conducted business consultations with over 100 foreign investors and governments, and 'NeoStack', a domestic sprout company that provides wireless smart lighting solutions, is a Spanish solar streetlight company 'STARIA Technology'. and signed an MOU for a pilot project worth $10.
<Overseas investment MOU (worth 10 USD, Korean sprout company NeoStack-Spain STARIA Technology>
In addition, the Korea-Spain-Netherlands Smart City Cooperation Seminar and the Korea-EU Smart City Joint Seminar were held at the Korean Pavilion (November 11.15) to exchange various policies such as smart city promotion strategies, data standards, and R&D support, and promote smart cities. It was used as an opportunity to strengthen international cooperation between local governments (Busan-Barcelona) and related organizations (KOTRA-RECi (Spain Smart City Network), KAIA-European Institute of Innovation and Technology, etc.).
<Korea-Netherlands Joint Committee (11.15)>
In addition, at a conference with world-leading digital twin companies such as Dassault and Microsoft, domestic digital twin achievements such as Incheon, Daejeon, LH, and LX were introduced, and best practices of Korean digital twins were shared with the world.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport held bilateral meetings with high-level government officials such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland to request cooperation so that Korean companies can participate in local smart city projects, and to help Korea become a smart city in the international community. A plan to hold a round table with international organizations such as the World Bank and OECD was also discussed to set the city agenda and lead international cooperation.
<Korea-UK Digital Department Bilateral Meeting (11.16)>
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Director Gil Byeong-woo said, “Through this expo, it was confirmed that Korea’s excellent smart city technology is receiving a lot of attention from around the world, providing new export opportunities to Korean companies and addressing the problems facing Korean cities. It was an opportunity to get policy ideas to help solve the problem,” he said. “Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport prepares the foundation for overseas expansion of our companies and international cooperation in the field of smart cities so that Korean smart cities can lead the global market. We will continue to expand,” he said.