Daejeon and Chungnam Anticipate Innovation City Designation 'UP'... Securing Public Institutions and Regional Growth Engines

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon and Chungnam have taken a step closer to being designated as innovation cities. This follows the passage of the amendment to the Special Act on Balanced National Development (the Balanced Development Act), which will serve as the basis for the additional designation of innovation cities in both cities, through the plenary session of the National Assembly.

According to Daejeon City and Chungnam Province on the 10th, the National Assembly held a plenary session on the 6th and passed the amendment to the Balanced Development Act as originally proposed. Accordingly, the amendment will go through procedures such as the revision and promulgation of enforcement ordinances and will take effect from the end of June.

Around that time, the mayors of Daejeon and Chungnam Province can apply to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for innovation city designation, and after review and resolution by the National Balanced Development Committee, finalize the designation of innovation cities.

The additional designation of innovation cities is also expected to resolve the long-standing controversy over reverse discrimination raised by Daejeon and Chungnam. Previously, since the enactment of the Balanced Development Act in 2004, the government has designated 10 innovation cities across 11 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide.

A total of about 150 public institutions have relocated to the areas designated as innovation cities, and the local governments in charge have received administrative and financial benefits. However, Daejeon was excluded from innovation city designation due to the presence of the Government Daejeon Complex in the area, and Chungnam was excluded because of the construction and launch of Sejong City. Because of this, there have been continuous complaints in the region about experiencing reverse discrimination compared to other cities and provinces.

However, both local governments believe that this reverse discrimination will be resolved if the Balanced Development Committee approves the additional designation of Daejeon and Chungnam as innovation cities in the second half of this year.

Moreover, with the second phase of public institution relocations currently anticipated, expectations for Daejeon and Chungnam are growing. The government is promoting the second phase of the innovation city project, which involves relocating about 230 additional public institutions, and the direct and indirect effects arising when some public institutions are attracted to the Daejeon and Chungnam areas are expected to be significant.

First, Daejeon expects that the designation as an innovation city will activate corporate attraction amid a sharp population decline following the launch of Sejong City, and through this, the effects of youth employment and population increase will become visible. Additionally, as an extension of the innovation city designation, the mandatory employment of local talents from Chungcheong region universities, which will begin in May this year, is expected by the city to create a synergy effect where local youth do not leave for other cities and provinces but instead take root in the local community.

Chungnam envisions growing Naepo New City into a central city of the Pan-Yellow Sea region through the innovation city designation. In particular, Chungnam aims to attract many public institutions included in the government's second phase innovation city project that align with the province’s administrative direction and growth engines, such as marine, energy, and agriculture sectors, placing strong emphasis on public institution attraction efforts.

To this end, Chungnam has already established plans to fully exempt local taxes for five years for public institutions relocating to the region and to grant priority for occupancy in national rental housing to their employees.

Heo Tae-jung, mayor of Daejeon, said, “It is meaningful to have created an opportunity to achieve the long-standing regional wish of innovation city designation,” and added, “The city will strive to secure new growth engines that will lead Daejeon’s next 100 years through the innovation city designation and successfully complete the innovation city together with its citizens.”

Yang Seung-jo, governor of Chungnam Province, said, “If Chungnam is finally designated as an innovation city in the second half of this year, we expect significant direct and indirect effects such as population inflow due to corporate relocation and an increase in youth jobs,” and added, “We will join forces to improve living conditions so that public institutions and their employees do not hesitate to relocate to Chungnam.”

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