Daejeon and Sejong Selected Side by Side as Drone Demonstration Cities

Officials from local governments selected for the '2021 Drone Demonstration City Construction Project' are gathered for a commemorative photo. Photo by Sejong City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon·Sejong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon and Sejong have been simultaneously selected for the drone demonstration city contest project.

On the 25th, according to Daejeon City and Sejong City, both cities were selected in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Aviation Safety Technology Institute's '2021 Drone Demonstration City Construction Project' contest.

The project is conducted in a way that local governments lead and companies (institutions) performing demonstration services participate in a consortium form. This year, a total of 31 local governments applied for the project contest, and among them, 10 local governments were finally selected as project sites.

Daejeon has four drone companies including Hancom Space Co., Ltd. participating in the consortium for this project and will receive 960 million KRW in national funding over the next seven months.

The main projects include ▲Hancom Inspace Co., Ltd.'s multi-drone integrated control system ▲Ucon System Co., Ltd.'s jamming drone for detecting dangerous drones ▲Doositec Co., Ltd.'s urban welfare delivery ▲Narma Co., Ltd.'s night patrol security drone, among others.

In particular, Daejeon’s selection for the drone demonstration city project this year following last year is significant as it provides momentum to strengthen its competitiveness as a drone special zone city.

Myeong No-chung, Director of the Science and Industry Bureau of Daejeon City, said, “Daejeon plans to promote the drone demonstration city project through industry-academia-research-government cooperation involving drone companies participating in the consortium, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, and KAIST.” He added, “Through this project, Daejeon will grow into a hub of advanced aerospace industry and lead a next-generation industrial development model where the region and industry coexist.”

Sejong, selected for the project for the first time this year, will receive 1.05 billion KRW in national funding and plans to take a step closer to completing the ‘D (Data)·N (Network)·A (Artificial Intelligence) drone-based citizen-experience smart city Sejong.’

Earlier, the city formed a consortium consisting of eight institutions including Drone System Co., Ltd., Gyeonggi Aviation Co., Ltd., Awesome Tech Co., Ltd., Seowoo Co., Ltd., Baylis Co., Ltd., SSITM Co., Ltd., and Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH).

These institutions will promote ▲real-time safety management services at construction sites ▲urban wind forest path growth monitoring services ▲illegal outdoor advertising monitoring services ▲smart city integrated delivery services ▲drone-based firefighting services for high-rise buildings ▲AI analysis-based road environment monitoring services ▲3D drone digital twin control platform ▲establishment of drone docking station standards and system construction ▲drone research center and smart construction control center, among others.

Yang Won-chang, Director of the Economic Industry Bureau of Sejong City, said, “Taking this contest project selection as an opportunity, we will supplement administrative power to foster the drone industry and present a commercialization model for smart city drone utilization.” He added, “Through this, Sejong will strive to serve as a catalyst for the nationwide expansion of drone services.”

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