‘ICT Leading City Seoul’ to Host ‘Seoul Smart Life Week’ in October 7th to 9th at COEX This Year

As part of Seoul’s 3-Year Roadmap, the event’s inaugural edition will showcase Seoul’s AI technology leadership in welfare, tourism, safety, and more.

SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — On January 9th, at 1:40 PM local time, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the La French Tech booth at CES 2024 to exchange opinions with the representative and discuss cooperation.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced ‘Seoul Smart Life Week’ at the ‘Seoul Innovation Forum 2024’ held in Las Vegas, USA. The three-year roadmap outlines Seoul’s plan to use its smart city network as a foundation to promote innovative tech companies globally and lead future technology trends.

Seoul Metropolitan City revealed that ‘Seoul Smart Life Week (Exhibition + Awards + Forum)’ will be held from October 7th to 9th, Monday to Wednesday, at COEX this year.

Leveraging Seoul’s Global Recognition as a Leading Smart City as the winner of the ‘Barcelona Smart City Award’ in 2022 and Host of the ‘Seoul Smart City Prize’ in 2023, the city aims to establish its unique competitiveness. This foundation will aim to secure pathways for innovative companies, attract investments, and develop a global business platform for sharing advanced technologies of the future.

Seoul City, embodying the governance philosophy of ‘Accompanying the Vulnerable,’ organized the inaugural ‘Seoul Smart City Prize’ in September last year. Based on the city’s vision for a future smart city that addresses urban polarization issues and promotes inclusive growth, this event saw the participation of 47 countries and 93 cities worldwide. The aim is to spread the global vision to resolve urban disparities and foster inclusive development.

Establishing the Roadmap for ‘Seoul Smart Life Week’: Utilizing the Brand’ Smart Leading City Seoul’ to create a platform for sales and exchanging innovative technologies. The roadmap focuses on showcasing Seoul’s excellence in smart city solutions, fostering sales for innovative tech companies, and facilitating the exchange of technological trends.

The city envisions ‘Seoul Smart Life Week’ evolving beyond a simple electronics industry product showcase at CES. It aims to transform itself into a global hub for innovative technologies, with diverse participants from businesses, governments, and organizations. The roadmap plans to present specialized thematic exhibitions annually, aligning with the latest technologies and lifestyle trends, catering to world city officials and global companies attending the event.

During ‘Seoul Smart Life Week,’ Seoul will curate its exhibition space to showcase Seoul’s excellence in smart city solutions and the advanced innovative technologies of domestic companies. It aims to provide opportunities for experiencing daily life in the smart city of Seoul, securing overseas expansion channels for businesses, and attracting investors.

The current roadmap emphasizes activating the city government network, expanding the exchange of innovative products among businesses, and presenting the vision for the future smart city. The goal is to establish ‘Smart Leading City Seoul’ as a prominent global convention for the mutual exchange and collaboration of cutting-edge innovative smart city technologies among cities and companies worldwide.

This year, the focus is on showcasing Seoul’s expertise in smart city technology to the world through the existing ‘Seoul Smart City Prize.’ It serves as a platform for the city and businesses to demonstrate their proficiency in smart city solutions, laying the groundwork for companies to expand internationally.

Seoul City plans to establish a Smart City Seoul Zone by showcasing examples of the city’s leading adoption and utilization of AI technology in areas such as welfare, tourism, safety, and civic issue analysis. Through these cases, the aim is to demonstrate how the quality of services and the lives of Seoul citizens are evolving.

On the other hand, a Smart Life Zone will showcase a comprehensive array of smart technologies from Korean companies. This zone will cover recent trends, including AI technology, and encompass various areas such as mobility, Big Data, smart homes, digital twins, digital healthcare, IoT, and robotics.

Next year, the event will expand to more than twice its size this year through the coordination of international events held in Seoul. This expansion aims to provide a platform for sharing and collaborating on the status of smart cities and technologies worldwide.

In 2026, the plan is to expand advanced technological developments into everyday life across various fields, allowing for the experience of smart living in the present and the future. Technologies that everyone can feel intimately in their homes and daily lives will take center stage, with the participation of numerous global companies, establishing themselves as icons and leading the trends in future smart life technologies.

Furthermore, leveraging the ‘Seoul Smart City Prize,’ a specialized organizing committee called the Seoul Smart Life Week Organizing Committee, consisting of government, industry, and academia experts, will be formed. The committee will put effort into attracting domestic and international companies and buyers and inviting renowned figures to participate in the event.

Additionally, the city plans to gradually expand and connect various events to provide a comprehensive experience of smart city life in Seoul. Simultaneously hosting multiple programs, the goal is to establish ‘Seoul Smart Life Week’ as a leading international event in Asia, aiming to ultimately surpass CES in terms of significance.

In addition, by 2031, the city plans to utilize the 100,000㎡ Jamsil Sports•MICE Complex, part of the Seoul International District, incorporating distinctive design and advanced technology, as a premier platform to share future smart life technologies with the world.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon expressed his ambition, stating, “As evidenced by the 143 innovative awards received by Korean companies out of over 700 participants in this year’s CES, the innovation ecosystem of South Korea and Seoul has reached a level of pride that everywhere in the world can feel.” He added, “Now, I will launch ‘Seoul Smart Life Week’ to showcase the products and services of companies leading the innovation ecosystem in Seoul. I aim to challenge and develop it within three years, akin to the growth of CES.”

Promotion of ‘Seoul Smart Life Week,’ visiting the CES exhibition hall for global technology benchmarking: Utilizing technology for vulnerable groups and lifestyle improvements in line with the city’s policy of ‘Accompanying the Vulnerable’

Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited the CES exhibition hall from the 9th to the 10th, Monday to Tuesday. During this time, he promoted Seoul Smart Life Week to the government and businesses, seeking ways to utilize global innovative technology in line with the city’s policies.

On January 9th at 1:30 PM PST, Mayor Oh visited the CES National Startup Exhibition Eureka Park, showing his encouragement and support at the KOTRA booth (Ministry of Industry), the Startup Promotion Foundation booth (Jung-gu Office), as well as other domestic and international booths. Additionally, he explored various startups from countries like Japan, the Netherlands, and France, displaying technologies akin to Seoul’s policies, such as assistive technologies and lifestyle-related innovations.

Eureka Park featured 113 companies from the KOTRA’s Korea Pavilion (representing Gyeonggi, Ulsan, Gangwon, Chungnam, etc.), 100 from the KISED K-Startup Pavilion, 93 from the France’s La French Tech Pavilion, 61 from the Netherlands’ NL Pavilion, and 30 companies from the Japan’s J-Startup Pavilion.

The ‘FINTIN V1,’ developed by the Korean startup ‘ONECOM’ and showcased at the KOTRA Pavilion, has achieved the world’s first implementation of blind typing based on tactile recognition for smooth smartphone use by visually impaired individuals. This innovative technology, allowing users to input keys without confirming the key positions, earned the device the top innovation award in the mobile device category.

ZKRYPTO, a Korean blockchain technology startup affiliated with the Startup Promotion Agency, was awarded the top innovation award at CES 2024 for its ‘zkVoting Booth.’ zkVoting ensures the secure transmission of voting information without disclosing the voter’s identity and ballot content.

A standout product among the 30 startups participating in the J-Startup Pavilion is WILLTEX’s product called “WILLCOOK.” It is a bag-shaped microwave that offers easy food cooking and storage functions simultaneously, catering to the busy lifestyle of modern individuals. This product received the top innovation award in the home appliance category.

The NL Pavilion, participating for the 8th consecutive year, stood out for its healthcare systems, considered among the best in Europe. Most medical device markets comprise small and medium-sized enterprises, resulting from collaborations with medical research and healthcare institutions. WHISPP’s product, Whispp, utilizes AI-based real-time voice assistance technology and a communication app. It helps patients with vocal cord damage and speech disorders by converting whispered or poorly pronounced words into clear, natural-sounding speech.

On January 10th, at 10:00 AM local time at LVCC Central Hall, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited LG Electronics’ booth. The mayor experienced LG’s latest future mobility concept, Alpha-able, while hearing explanations from the LG’s representative.

On the following day, January 10th, Mayor Oh’s group toured the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Central Hall and West Hall intensively in the morning and afternoon. After exploring the LVCC Central Hall – showcasing key technologies related to smart cities, healthcare, environmental-friendly solutions, lifestyle, and creative industries – they moved to the LVCC West Hall. In this section, the mayor directly experienced innovative technologies from domestic and international companies in the mobility sector. The focus was on exploring collaboration opportunities, including open innovation, to support the growth of Seoul-based companies into global enterprises.

The LVCC Central Hall featured innovative technologies and products in consumer electronics, games, metaverse, and XR. At the same time, LVCC West Hall provided insights into vehicle-related technologies such as autonomous vehicles, electric cars, and robotics.

The Seoul mayor’s group saw Bosch’s gun-detection system that utilizes motion sensors for detecting actions. They considered that this system could integrate into crime prevention efforts to create a safer and smarter Seoul in the current social context, where issues like street crimes and dating violence are prevalent.

They also particularly paid attention to Sony’s carbon-neutral electric scooter, SK Group’s AI-based environmentally friendly waste management system, Samsung Electronics’ mobile health management app, and LG Electronics’ wireless portable display without spatial constraints.

At last, the mayor’s group toured the booth of Supernal, an independent eVTOL subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group specializing in urban air mobility in the United States. They explored S-A2, Supernal’s eVTOL vehicle product concept, and experienced firsthand arriving at and boarding the Vertiport (UAM landing site). The UAM market involves various fields, such as battery technology, electronic control systems, communication, and AI, being a high-value-added business.

Amazon, Mercedes-Benz, Qualcomm, Hyundai Motor, and other leading companies are examining the latest technological trends poised to dominate the global market. Additionally, they are exploring ways the city of Seoul can support sustainable technological development for these companies. The mayor expected Seoul to become a crucial hub for emerging industries.

On January 10th, at 3:30 PM PST, Mayor Oh met with the Vice Chairman of HD Hyundai for a regular meeting and toured the HD Hyundai booth, where he observed future construction equipment. During the meeting, Mayor Oh expressed his agreement with HD Hyundai’s innovative direction of applying advanced technology to the construction industry to enhance safety and productivity, utilizing renewable energy for eco-friendly sustainability. He emphasized the importance of coexisting with environmental sustainability for the company’s activities and future. Mayor Oh also sought HD Hyundai’s interest and participation in ‘Seoul Smart Life Week,’ which explores new economic avenues under the theme of ‘Smart Life’ through future advanced technologies.

SOURCE Seoul Metropolitan Government