Korea, First Non-EU Country to Host 'Gaia-X' Hub... "Preventing Dependence on Specific Platforms"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] South Korea has become the first non-European Union (EU) country to participate in the establishment of a Gaia-X hub. Gaia-X is a data sovereignty project initiated by Europe to counter the data ecosystems led by American companies such as Amazon and Google.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) has agreed with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) to participate in Gaia-X, and on the 4th, at the Glad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Group under MSS and the Gaia-X Association (AISBL) will sign an agreement to establish the "Gaia-X Korea Hub."

With this agreement, South Korea will actively participate in Gaia-X to ensure that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are not dependent on specific countries or platforms when trading or utilizing manufacturing data.

Gaia-X is a project initiated by Europe, centered in Germany, to secure data sovereignty and self-determination rights by establishing rules and technical infrastructure necessary for data interconnection, promoting international standardization.

The Gaia-X hub is an organization that acts as a channel between the association and companies or institutions in each country when developing Gaia-X related technologies or collecting user feedback. It has been established in 16 European countries, with only one hub allowed per country.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The establishment of the Korea hub is a significant achievement, as the EU highly evaluated Korea's manufacturing innovation capabilities as an Asian hub country. It is the first for a non-EU country and will be installed within the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Group, the MSS’s smart manufacturing innovation headquarters.

With the Korea hub in place, it will become easier to develop projects that reflect the opinions and requirements of Korean companies when developing Gaia-X related technologies or standards, facilitating cooperation with global companies and expanding opportunities for overseas market entry.

The signing ceremony will be held online, with Cha Jeong-hoon, Director of the Startup Venture Innovation Office at MSS, and Winfried Hotzmann, Director of Industrial Policy at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, attending to celebrate the agreement and reaffirm the commitment to inter-country cooperation.

Through this agreement, the two institutions will promote cooperation in various fields, including sharing know-how on the establishment and operation of the Gaia-X Korea hub, developing Gaia-X standards and business models, developing manufacturing-related data and cloud technologies, and conducting demonstrations for companies.

Director Cha said, "This agreement is meaningful as it marks the development of a foundation where our SMEs, in cooperation with the EU, can avoid dependency on specific platforms and have the decision-making rights over the trading of their own data."

He added, "The era of MyManufacturingData, where our SMEs will utilize manufacturing data to further increase productivity and generate profits, will be accelerated."

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