Daegu Becomes the Heart of South Korea's Robot Industry... Secures National Robot Test Field Innovation Project

Establishing a Full-Cycle Corporate Support System from R&D to Demonstration and Regulatory Improvement, Testing, and Commercialization Support

Aerial view of the Robot Test Field.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Daegu is becoming the heart of South Korea's robot industry.

On the 13th, Daegu was selected as the final site for the "National Robot Test Field Innovation Project," beating competing cities.

Six metropolitan cities and provinces including Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Gyeongnam, and Chungnam fiercely competed, and the Technopolis site proposed by Daegu was finally chosen, plunging Daegu into a festive atmosphere.

The National Robot Test Field Innovation Project is a national project aimed at creating new markets in the service robot sector and promoting various commercializations by establishing a certification system for service robot regulatory innovation and building infrastructure based on real environments.

From 2023 to 2029, over seven years, a total project cost of 300 billion KRW will be invested to build a robot data center and test field (160 billion KRW) and support the development of common base technologies for service robots (140 billion KRW) in this large-scale national project.

Once the National Robot Test Field is established in Daegu, a full-cycle support system for robot companies will be completed, starting from research and development (Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement, Korea Institute of Robot Convergence, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Daegu Machinery Parts Research Institute, etc.), to demonstration and regulatory improvement (5G-based advanced manufacturing robot demonstration, regulatory free zones), and testbed commercialization support (Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement, Daegu Machinery Parts Research Institute).

Daegu will stand tall as the central city of South Korea's robot industry.

It appears that Daegu received high marks for its continuous efforts in creating robot industry markets, strengthening parts competitiveness, expanding the robot industry value chain, and establishing a win-win system, supported by substantial city funds and ecosystem development.

To attract the National Robot Test Field Innovation Project, Daegu City formed an attraction planning committee led by Deputy Mayor for Economy Hong Eui-rak, and planned the project together with experts from Daegu Gyeongbuk Research Institute, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Daegu Machinery Parts Research Institute, Daegu Digital Industry Promotion Agency, and Daegu Gyeongbuk Design Center.

Related organizations such as Korea Land and Housing Corporation and Daegu Gyeongbuk Free Economic Zone Authority also actively cooperated, with industry, academia, research, and government all "all-in" on the National Robot Test Field Innovation Project.

The participation of over 360 robot-related companies and institutions, including Hyundai Robotics and Ajinextek, which invested 5 billion KRW, was also a great support. The full support expressed by the neighboring metropolitan government Gyeongsangbuk-do and the 2 billion KRW local government fund contribution from Dalseong-gun also gave wings to Daegu City's attraction efforts.

Location map of Robot Test Field.

Daegu City will provide the newly planned Daegu City Hall new building and the downtown convergence special zone, which are under construction, as real environment test fields where robots, autonomous driving, AI, and other technologies converge, to activate the National Robot Test Field and develop the service robot industry.

It also plans to discover new service robot business models through service robot demonstration competitions.

Daegu expects to grow into a leading robot industry city where humans and robots coexist, with 662 local robot companies, 11,799 employees, and sales of 4.1 trillion KRW by 2030.

Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin said, "This is the fruit of Daegu City's strong will to foster the robot industry and continuous efforts to create a robot industry ecosystem," and expressed his determination, saying, "We will revive the stagnant local industry through the robot industry."

Mayor Kwon added, "I feel a serious responsibility for the national recognition and encouragement, and I will contribute to the development of the national robot industry through win-win cooperation with Gyeongbuk."

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