What Are the Achievements and Challenges Hong Nampyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City, Gained in Germany?

"Actively Responding to the Major Trend of Digital Transformation

Establishing a Foundation as a Global Manufacturing City"

Hong Nampyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam, returned after a 6-day, 4-night business trip to Germany, achieving significant outcomes such as signing business agreements with global companies for smart factory construction, designating a local global business center in Germany, and becoming the first local government in Korea to sign a business agreement with LNI 4.0, a German government-affiliated organization.

From the first day of the ‘2023 Hannover Messe’ held in Germany, Mayor Hong visited themed pavilions on the Internet of Things, factory automation, carbon-neutral production, and hydrogen fuel cells. He also visited the Changwon joint pavilion booth to encourage participating companies and engaged in sales activities.

The city selected 10 innovative leading companies within its jurisdiction and established the ‘Changwon Joint Pavilion’ at the exhibition hall for product promotion and export consultations for the first time. The joint pavilion consisted of a total of 8 booths and reportedly attracted significant attention from overseas buyers during the exhibition period.

Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam established the 'Changwon Joint Pavilion' for the first time at the German Expo.

Additionally, on the 17th, the city signed a tripartite business agreement with Siemens, a global technology company, and on the 18th, with Dassault Syst?mes, a global leader in 3D software, together with the Korea Electronics Technology Institute.

Through this agreement, the city will continue cooperation with Siemens and Dassault Syst?mes to ▲promote the construction and advancement of smart factories in the Changwon National Industrial Complex ▲mutually cooperate to build smart infrastructure, and other initiatives aligned with the Fourth Industrial Revolution era to establish a smart industrial complex.

On the 18th, the city signed an agreement to designate the KIC Europe Center located in Berlin as the 16th Changwon Global Business Center. The KIC Europe Center is an organization under the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea, which has been based in Berlin since 2014, providing technology support, business consulting, business meeting facilitation, and exhibition participation support for various startups and industries.

The Changwon Global Business Center operates as a local export support partner to assist regional companies in expanding overseas. Since opening its India office in 2020, it currently has 15 centers in 12 countries.

According to this agreement, the KIC Europe Center will become the German office of the Changwon Global Business Center, helping Changwon companies explore European market entry by supporting local market research and buyer discovery.

On the 19th, the city signed a business agreement with LNI 4.0 (Labs Networks Industrie 4.0), a core institution and practical organization that effectively leads Germany’s Industry 4.0 policy, marking the first such agreement with a local government.

Through this agreement, the city and LNI 4.0 will ▲provide technical support for the digital transformation and manufacturing innovation diffusion of Changwon companies ▲continue friendly cooperation through mutual exchange of technical information and human and material resources.

Furthermore, the city plans to benchmark Germany’s industrial standard system and successful Fourth Industrial Revolution transition cases to establish a data utilization system for the digital transformation of the Changwon National Industrial Complex and collaborate on international standard development.

As a follow-up, in May, LNI 4.0 officials are scheduled to visit Changwon to discuss key detailed projects under the business agreement and visit LG Smart Park, a World Economic Forum (WEF) Lighthouse Factory.

Mayor Hong Nampyo stated, “Through this Hannover Messe, we were able to assess the effects and limitations of the smart factory projects we are promoting and gain a good opportunity to examine the future direction of the Changwon National Industrial Complex, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. We will do our best to actively respond to the major trend of digital transformation in cooperation with many companies so that Changwon can establish a foundation to compete with world-class manufacturing cities.”

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