Kigongwon Transforms Organizational Operations with Public Ideas

Over 200 Public Ideas Submitted Since 2020
Driving Public Service Innovation Through Citizen Participation

At the Small and Medium Business Technology Information Promotion Agency (Kigongwon) located in Sejong City, plastic bottle caps generated within the agency are collected. Not only employees but also visitors participate in this initiative, and the collected caps are transformed into items such as toothbrush holders and bamboo toothbrush sets. These upcycled products are then delivered to vulnerable groups in the local community. While this is a typical social contribution activity for a public institution, it holds a different significance for Kigongwon. This is because it originated from ideas proposed by the public. To date, Kigongwon has gathered over 200 public ideas and has used them to change its operational methods.

On May 22, Kigongwon announced that it has been incorporating ideas submitted through the annual "TIPA National Innovation Idea Contest" into actual policies and business operations. The contest, launched in 2020 to promote public participation-based innovation in public services, has received a cumulative total of 211 ideas, with 30 selected for implementation. Kigongwon explained that award-winning ideas go through an internal refinement process before being applied to the improvement of systems and services.

Kigongwon

The "Good Education" campaign held in November last year is a representative example. During the contest, ideas were submitted for a book donation and cultural sharing campaign in collaboration with local children's centers and independent bookstores. The purpose was to provide reading opportunities to children through donated books and various cultural programs, and to support independent authors, thereby contributing to the education and culture of the local community. Kigongwon adopted this idea, but due to a shortage of the books children needed at independent bookstores, the initiative was carried out by donating desired items such as textbooks, teaching aids, and school supplies instead. To facilitate this, a preliminary survey of needs was conducted at the Sejong Jungbu Regional Children's Center.

Public ideas are being applied not only to social contribution activities but also to Kigongwon's core operations, leading to system improvements. In the 2023 contest, the grand prize-winning idea, "Care Plus," proposed providing close support throughout the entire cycle of companies conducting research and development (R&D) projects. This idea was actually implemented, with support now provided at the R&D preparation, execution, and post-project stages. As a result, the average amount of non-approved research expenses per project decreased by 17%.

This year as well, Kigongwon is holding an idea contest to discover creative public ideas and reflect them in organizational management. The current contest, open for submissions until June 11, allows anyone to choose one of the following categories?innovation management, ESG management, or communication management?and submit ideas that could lead to practical institutional improvements. In particular, this year’s contest focuses on identifying ideas that are feasible for institutional improvement by strengthening their linkage with the agency’s mid- to long-term strategies. The submitted ideas will be narrowed down to a final ten through a first round of expert review and a second round of national online voting. Kim Youngshin, President of Kigongwon, stated, "Creative proposals based on customer experience are extremely valuable assets for the advancement of organizational management and the innovation of public services."

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