Solving Parking, Odor, and Urban Regeneration Issues through 'Resident Participation R&D'

It appears impossible for bicycles to pass due to vehicles illegally parked on the bicycle-only road. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A resident-participatory living lab project that applies science and technology to solve local issues such as parking difficulties and odor problems, as well as urban regeneration projects, is set to begin. The government expects that since residents will directly participate in research and development (R&D) with researchers and apply it to real life, tangible solutions to social problems will be achieved.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the social problem-solving R&D promotion plan with these details on the 21st.

45 Billion KRW Investment in Living Labs

Through this measure, the government will work on preparing social problem solutions that resonate with the public. When residents directly raise social issues, they will seek solutions together with researchers and develop scientific and technological solutions to be applied on-site through the 'Living Lab' project, which will receive 4.5 billion KRW in support. While previous social problem-solving R&D invested budgets to find solutions for common social issues, the biggest difference this year is the move toward solutions through resident participation.

The Living Lab will be promoted through three projects. 3 billion KRW will be used for resident empathy-type projects that find solutions to problems raised by local residents, such as parking issues and infrastructure support in remote mountainous and island areas. 900 million KRW will be invested in urban regeneration-linked projects that collaborate with local urban regeneration centers for technology development. 600 million KRW will be spent on building a platform to promote the Living Lab. The Ministry of Science and ICT will be responsible for R&D support, while the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and local governments will support the application of Living Lab outcomes and their expansion to other regions.

Lee Kyung-rim, head of the Public Technology Foundation Team at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "The tasks to be solved through the Living Lab project will be determined in consultation with local governments," adding, "Since local residents raise issues to local governments and solve them together with researchers, solutions with high public consensus are expected."

Continued Promotion of Drug Sexual Crime Detection and More

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Additionally, the Ministry of Science and ICT will carry out the finalization of ongoing social problem-solving R&D projects. This includes nine urgent national safety research projects (5 billion KRW) such as drug sexual crime detection, wildfire spread prediction systems, and safe tap water systems. Nine public procurement-linked national life research projects (3.7 billion KRW), including safety clothing for night workers and portable fundus cameras, will also be conducted. The development of technologies to solve social problems, such as the hazardous information platform for household chemical products and disaster safety platform technology development, will continue.

Choi Won-ho, Director of the Large-scale Public Research Policy Division at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, "For social problem-solving technology development aimed at improving the quality of life for the public, producing research outcomes that the public can feel is of utmost importance," adding, "We will introduce Living Labs and steadily promote existing projects."

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