Jo O-seop Preliminary Candidate "We Must Grow the AI Cluster to 1 Trillion Won"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jo Oseop, the Democratic Party preliminary candidate for the National Assembly election in Buk-gu (Gap), Gwangju Metropolitan City, claimed that “the AI industrial convergence complex project being promoted in Gwangju Advanced 3 District should be expanded to 1 trillion won.”

On the 29th, Gwangju held the ‘AI-Centered City Gwangju Vision Declaration Ceremony’ and presented 20 key tasks under four major strategies: ▲ Establishing an AI cluster (5 key tasks) ▲ Creating a Gwangju-type AI business ecosystem (6 key tasks) ▲ Building a ladder for AI talent development (5 key tasks) ▲ Making a citizen-participatory AI city (4 key tasks).

The National Balanced Development Committee requested 17 metropolitan local governments to apply for preliminary feasibility exemption projects, and Gwangju applied for the AI-centered industrial convergence complex R&D project, which was confirmed as a government project exempted from preliminary feasibility study in January 2019.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Science and ICT and Gwangju plan to invest 406.1 billion won over five years starting this year in the Gwangju Advanced 3 District to promote a world-class AI industrial convergence complex project.

However, among the projects exempted from preliminary feasibility studies at that time, the following were selected: ▲ Gyeonggi-do 1 trillion won ▲ Gangwon-do 900 billion won ▲ Chungnam 900 billion won ▲ Chungbuk 1.5 trillion won ▲ Gyeongnam 4.7 trillion won ▲ Jeonbuk 1 trillion won ▲ Jeonnam 1.1 trillion won ▲ Daejeon 700 billion won ▲ Sejong 800 billion won ▲ Ulsan 1.2 trillion won ▲ Daegu 1.1 trillion won ▲ Busan 800 billion won.

Preliminary candidate Jo argued that since most other metropolitan local governments were selected for preliminary feasibility exemption projects exceeding or approaching 1 trillion won, Gwangju also needs to expand the AI industrial convergence complex project to 1 trillion won accordingly.

He emphasized, “We need to secure 700 billion won for data-centered open infrastructure creation, 200 billion won for building an AI-centered business ecosystem, and 100 billion won for AI talent development and global leader cultivation.”

He added, “Gwangju has been disadvantaged in competition with other cities because its existing industrial infrastructure was weak and had to focus on value-centered industries. With the strong ruling party’s power, Gwangju has a groundbreaking opportunity to leap into a world-class city through AI industry, and the scale should be expanded significantly beyond the preliminary feasibility exemption projects of other cities and provinces.”

He also stated, “We will additionally develop industries linked with AI, such as the dementia DB center, ultra-realistic digital-based dementia prevention theme park in the bio-medical industry, disaster prediction optical technology industry, and safety-related industries like the smart safety watch platform.”

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