Gwangju City Selected for Ministry of the Interior and Safety's 'Disaster Safety R&D Public Project'

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 15th that it was finally selected for the ‘2020 Regional Customized Disaster Safety Problem-Solving Research and Development (R&D) Project’ hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

This contest was conducted targeting 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, where the Ministry of the Interior and Safety encouraged local governments to proactively plan, conduct research and development, and demonstrate projects reflecting regional disaster safety characteristics to solve local disaster and safety issues.

Gwangju proposed a project to develop an abnormality detection and traffic accident prevention system for urban road facilities and was selected as the grand prize winner. Out of the total project cost of 2 billion KRW, 1.6 billion KRW in national funds will be supported, and the project will be carried out until 2022.

This project involves the development and demonstration of optical fusion sensors (distributed optical sensors, LiDAR sensors) that can be used for traffic detection across road facilities, and the development of a system that prevents major accidents by preemptively recognizing various traffic accident causes within urban roads through artificial intelligence data analysis.

Unlike existing sensors with limited monitoring sections, distributed optical sensors can measure several kilometers at once, and LiDAR sensors are unaffected by weather conditions and lighting, serving as the eyes of autonomous drivers.

Through this project, Gwangju will promote technology development and demonstration to prevent accidents such as black ice incidents on bridges, which have recently become a social issue, accidental accidents caused by illegal parking and wrong-way driving on interchange (IC) entry and exit roads, and accidents caused by falling objects that are difficult to detect at tunnel entrances and exits during nighttime and rainy weather.

In particular, to ensure practical operation at disaster and safety sites and achieve effects that citizens can feel, the project will be conducted in a living lab format involving local experts, regional companies, residents, and traffic-related specialized institutions.

Since the 7th local government administration, Gwangju has made continuous efforts by positioning the fostering of the disaster safety industry as a core pledge in innovating the disaster and safety management system centered on 4th industrial revolution technologies and creating safety jobs through this.

First, to foster the disaster safety industry, since February last year, a safety industry promotion strategic planning team has been organized and operated to discover promotion strategies and national fund projects.

In July, to establish systems and infrastructure, the Safety Industry Promotion and Support Ordinance was enacted, and in September, participation in the Korea Safety Industry Expo, and in November, the Disaster Safety Industry Conference and Idea Contest were held to build networks with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, companies, research institutions, and experts and develop policies.

This month, through organizational restructuring, a Safety Industry Team was newly established, and initiatives such as a safety industry new technology contest, support for establishing a disaster prevention graduate school, and support for local company participation in the Safety Industry Expo were promoted. A plan to create a safety industry cluster centered on the 4th industry was established, aiming to foster the safety industry as Gwangju’s future growth engine.

Regarding this contest, since October last year, a research and development (R&D) subcommittee was formed within the disaster safety industry strategic planning team, which includes local universities, research institutions, and companies. Twelve tasks were discovered, and through internal review, the contest project was selected and the project plan was submitted to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Jung Min-gon, Director of the Citizen Safety Office of Gwangju City, said, “Through this project, Gwangju is expected to secure traffic accident prevention safety technology and create new markets through technology dissemination targeting related companies in the optical industry, artificial intelligence, and automobile sectors, as well as achieve effects linked to the fostering of upstream and downstream industries.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.