'Regulatory Free Zone' 1 Year... Ministry of SMEs and Startups: "Busan and Gyeongbuk Show Excellent Results"

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is briefing at the government office annex in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 18th. Photo by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that all seven Regulatory Sandbox Zones (Regulatory Free Zones) designated last July are progressing normally after evaluating their performance over one year. The seven zones are blockchain in Busan, smart wellness in Daegu, autonomous driving in Sejong, digital healthcare in Gangwon, smart safety control in Chungbuk, next-generation battery recycling in Gyeongbuk, and e-mobility in Jeonnam.

Last July, the Ministry designated these seven Regulatory Free Zones to establish a foundation for testing and commercializing Fourth Industrial Revolution new technologies that had previously been blocked by legal sanctions and regulatory blind spots. This performance announcement is the first report card received one year after the zones were designated.

To ensure objectivity and fairness in the evaluation, the Ministry formed a panel of seven private experts and conducted written and face-to-face assessments over two days. Considering that the zones have been operating for less than a year, the evaluation focused on the financial and administrative efforts of local governments.

The evaluation grades were divided into ‘Excellent’ for scores of 85 or above, ‘Average’ for scores of 70 or above, and ‘Insufficient’ for scores below 70.

As a result, the Busan (blockchain) zone, which focused on discovering new projects and specialized personnel, and the Gyeongbuk (battery recycling) zone, which was active in investment and corporate attraction, received ‘Excellent’ ratings. The other five zones (Chungbuk, Gangwon, Sejong, Jeonnam, Daegu) received ‘Average’ ratings.

The Busan blockchain zone was evaluated as excellent for the local government’s efforts to enhance business performance, such as establishing a blockchain graduate school and continuously discovering new projects.

The Gyeongbuk next-generation battery recycling zone received an excellent evaluation for contributing to regional economic revitalization, including GS Construction’s investment of 100 billion KRW in January this year despite the short period.

The Sejong autonomous vehicle zone was praised for showing visible results in attracting companies, including autonomous vehicle firms from Silicon Valley participating in the zone’s projects.

The Ministry plans to evaluate the operational performance of a total of 14 zones next year, including the seven zones designated in the second round last November. The evaluation will focus on policy goals, startups and relocated companies within the zones, investment attraction, and regional economic revitalization and ripple effects. The second-round seven zones are unmanned low-speed special vehicles in Gwangju, biomedical in Daejeon, hydrogen green mobility in Ulsan, eco-friendly vehicles in Jeonbuk, new energy industries in Jeonnam, unmanned ships in Gyeongnam, and electric vehicle charging services in Jeju.

The Ministry will conduct post-management through ombudsmen and other means, and for zones with insufficient performance, it will consider reducing financial support or revoking designation, emphasizing post-management in its operations.

Kim Heecheon, head of the Regulatory Free Zone Planning Group, said, “It is important to ensure the safety of zone projects such as hydrogen, energy, autonomous driving, and unmanned ships while producing results within the short two-year demonstration period. To this end, we plan to conduct thorough post-management through on-site inspections.”

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