Gwangju City, New Open Lab for Technology Development and Startup Support Established

Built at Gwangju Technopark... 8.5 Billion Won Invested by Next Year

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 16th that it will establish a new open lab on the first floor of the Gwangju Technopark Living Support Robot Center by next year to build a leading base for the advancement of the new energy industry through open innovation.

An open lab is an open research space that solves problems in the field through collaboration and networking among companies.

Since 2018, Gwangju City, in collaboration with Jeonnam Province, has established an open lab in Naju Bitgaram Innovation City to build an open innovation network space and has promoted various corporate support projects such as providing collaboration platforms for companies, operating youth employment and startup programs, and supporting technology development.

With the establishment of the new open lab, local companies will be able to enjoy various support projects not only in the Gwangju-Jeonnam Joint Innovation City but also within Gwangju itself, which is expected to greatly aid corporate activities.

In particular, through mutual growth and cooperation between the existing open lab in the Gwangju-Jeonnam Joint Innovation City and the newly established open lab, it will also contribute to the development of the new energy industry in both cities and provinces.

The new open lab will be established in the Gwangju Advanced District, with a total project cost of 8.5 billion KRW (5 billion KRW national funds, 2.1 billion KRW local funds, and 1.4 billion KRW private funds) invested over two years from this year to next year to implement various corporate support projects.

Through this, effects such as an increase in participating companies' sales by 11.5 billion KRW and the creation of 25 new jobs are expected.

To this end, Gwangju City will recruit member companies targeting tenants of Gwangju Technopark, venture companies, and prospective entrepreneurs, and will promote the discovery and support of new energy industries such as new startups and startup nurturing, establishment of collaboration spaces, and construction of general-purpose equipment necessary for member companies and mid- to long-term R&D projects.

Additionally, it will operate incubation programs, providing step-by-step startup education from basics to theory and practice, supporting young entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs. Furthermore, corporate support projects such as technology exchange meetings, marketing, and technical support will also be conducted.

Moreover, active promotion of linkage cooperation between Gwangju’s core industries, artificial intelligence and energy, will be pursued, including support for the use of AI-based energy demonstration equipment, discovery of AI-based energy convergence technology development projects, and establishment of cooperation networks between energy companies and AI specialized companies.

Hwang Yoon-gil, head of the Energy Industry Division of the city, said, “With the establishment of the new open lab in Gwangju, the foundation of the energy new industry innovation ecosystem is expected to be further strengthened,” and added, “We will accelerate the fostering of the regional new energy industry through linked cooperation with the open lab in the Gwangju-Jeonnam Joint Innovation City.”

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