Gwangju City Launches Full-Scale Digital-Based Administrative Innovation

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 17th that it held an Administrative Innovation TF meeting at the City Hall Collaboration Meeting Room with relevant public officials participating, and decided to transform the entire city administration into a digital-centered system to enable timely responses in the socio-economic environment represented by the 4th Industrial Revolution.

The city plans to promote this initiative divided into four areas: digital-based citizen administrative procedure improvement, digital-based city policy formulation and implementation, simplification and automation of administrative tasks (RPA), and bridging the digital divide among citizens.

▲ For digital-based citizen administrative procedure improvement, the city will enhance citizen convenience by utilizing digital (ICT) technologies so that citizens can receive administrative services more easily, simply, and quickly.

Various administrative procedures such as the Daga-chi Green mobile app, mobile safety care services for vulnerable households, immediate notification messages for water bills and library usage information, and mobile notification and payment services for local taxes will be converted to mobile-based platforms. At the same time, the city will promote digital (ICT)-based smart administration systems such as the air pollution prevention emission facility management system, smart water supply network management system, mobile-based 119 search and rescue, electric fire detection smart distribution panels, and intelligent transportation system (C-ITS).

▲ The city will enhance citizen trust through big data-based city policy formulation and implementation by linking public and private data.

By building an integrated big data platform covering welfare volume diagnosis, library usage status, traditional market safety management, disaster safety statistics, culture and arts statistics, and 119 safety maps, the city will implement data-driven policies.

Additionally, an integrated citizen service portal will be established in areas such as senior citizen jobs, smart city analysis, culture and arts, and medical tourism to allow citizens easy access to necessary information.

▲ Through digital-based smart work processing such as task automation (RPA), the city will simplify work processes (Work-Diet) to innovate the ‘way of working’ so that city officials can focus on tasks for citizens. This includes introducing automation (RPA) for simple and repetitive tasks like budget execution and settlement, implementing online report time sharing and reservation systems, establishing smart mayor’s offices and legislative data sharing systems, expanding mobile electronic approval (Onnara), and government remote work services (GVPN), thereby making the work environment more intelligent.

By promoting public officials’ telecommuting, flexible work hours, and video conferencing, the city plans to create a flexible work environment where employees can work anytime and anywhere, improving work-life balance.

▲ The city will actively implement measures to improve citizen information accessibility to ensure no citizens are marginalized due to information gaps.

Measures to address information-vulnerable groups include distributing ‘Love Used PCs,’ providing assistive ICT devices for the disabled, expanding informatization education for marginalized groups (disabled and elderly), and strengthening smartphone overdependence prevention education. The city also plans to diversify citizen participation channels through digital platforms such as Baro Communication Gwangju and the 500-member Gwangju Innovation Participation Group, enabling direct citizen involvement in city administration.

In particular, Gwangju has organized and is operating an Administrative Innovation TF that collaborates among related departments and institutions to fully transition to digital-based administration this year. The city will discover innovation tasks and check progress monthly, and hold quarterly review meetings.

Furthermore, departments or public officials who achieve results in discovering and promoting innovation tasks for digital-based administrative innovation will be reflected in the year-end city innovation evaluation and receive administrative and financial incentives such as performance points, performance bonuses, and commendations.

Lee Jeong-sik, the city’s Innovation Policy Officer, stated, “In the administrative environment represented by the 4th Industrial Revolution, administration must innovate first to lead an AI city with city innovation that meets citizens’ expectations. We will strive to improve the quality of citizen services through digital-based administrative innovation and enhance the internal dynamism of public organizations.”

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