Jongno-gu Wins Presidential Award at the 'Korea Knowledge Awards'

Positive Feedback for Various Projects Promoting Smart City Concepts Across All Sectors Before Lunar New Year to Enhance Resident Welfare

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu (Mayor Kim Young-jong) was honored with the highest award, the ‘Presidential Award,’ at the ‘10th Korea Knowledge Awards’ hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to promote a knowledge-based administrative and management culture.

This year’s Knowledge Awards selected the final winning organizations through a non-face-to-face written review considering the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a public review to ensure fairness, and a prior public verification process.

In particular, knowledge activities related to national and public issues such as COVID-19 response measures, job creation, carbon neutrality, the Digital New Deal, and big data utilization were evaluated with emphasis.

As a result, Jongno-gu achieved the remarkable feat of winning awards for two consecutive years, receiving the Minister of the Interior and Safety Award last year and the Presidential Award this year. The district received high praise for introducing the smart city concept across all areas of district administration and promoting projects that enhance residents’ welfare.

Notably, Jongno-gu actively carried out knowledge-based activities at each stage of work promotion (idea discovery, policy decision and execution, communication, learning club activities of affiliated employees, etc.) and also received excellent evaluations in terms of knowledge activity outcomes (improving policy quality, efficiency of work methods and resident satisfaction, realization of social value).

To improve residents’ quality of life and strengthen urban competitiveness, Jongno-gu has continuously strived to create a smart city, led by the establishment of the Smart City Division, based on the creative administrative platform of the Jongno Thinking Development Center. Examples include the enactment of related ordinances and the operation of capacity-building education to resolve the digital divide through living labs and public-private cooperation.

Additionally, to prevent solitary deaths among residents, the district introduced the ‘Smart Band,’ which detects real-time movement, and the ‘Smart Plug’ project, which monitors power consumption and illumination changes, and also established an IoT smart snow removal box management system.

Furthermore, various projects such as the ‘Wai-ri Jongno Project,’ ‘Gentle Real Estate Agent,’ and ‘Jongnoon Shopping District’ were implemented to revitalize the local economy and support small business owners. The activation of resident participation in ‘Jongno Urban Planning 2100,’ a long-term urban planning initiative looking ahead 100 years, was also highly evaluated.

Meanwhile, the best practice cases of award-winning organizations, including Jongno-gu, will be posted on the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s website and the Onnara Knowledge Management System, and will also be used as educational materials for administrative and public institutions nationwide.

Mayor Kim Young-jong said, “We will continue to seek ways to help vulnerable groups and small business owners struggling due to COVID-19 through creative and innovative knowledge administration,” adding, “We will establish a systematic knowledge discovery and accumulation system based on meticulousness that misses nothing, communication and participation with residents and employees, and make it a driving force for the development of district administration.”

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