Incheon mayor shares smart, green vision at CES 2024

Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok, left, on Tuesday, local time, speaks during the opening ceremony of the Incheon-IFEX booth held at CES 2024 in Las Vegas. [INCHEON METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok shared his vision to transform the city into a human-centered, eco-friendly smart city at CES 2024 in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

His remarks were made during the opening ceremony of the Incheon-IFEZ booth held at the North Hall of the CES exhibition center in Las Vegas on Tuesday, local time.

“Incheon and IFEZ [Incheon Free Economic Zone] are here at CES to showcase how to leverage technologies, create a better environment for citizens and address various social problems,” Yoo said, adding that the city aims to “incorporate advanced technologies and bolster its future vision through partnerships with other cities and companies worldwide.”

Incheon, the country's city with the second largest economy, is the only locality hosting a booth in the convention center's main hall despite being the first year to attend the global exhibition. With a population of around three million, the city is home to some of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical companies, including Samsung Biologics and Celltrion. It also hosts Korea’s first and largest free economic zone.

With the establishment of the Overseas Korean Agency in June, the city hopes to become one of the top global cities and a “key business hub for seven million Koreans living abroad.”

Acknowledging that some of the critical themes of this year’s CES are AI and human security via technology, the mayor shared the city’s vision to “make life better for people” through advanced technologies.

“We will establish an AI-powered social safety net that citizens can feel, designate a self-driving pilot zone, and develop a special innovative system through the digital twin platform,” Yoo said.

The metropolitan government said it will showcase its smart transportation service that uses AI and a digital twin platform for traffic control at the booth. The service collects transportation data on-site, which will be analyzed in a virtual setting through digital twin technology.

A digital twin is a virtual replica of the actual physical world, be it a person or an entire city, that updates itself in real-time using technology such as sensors and cameras.

According to Yoo, the city has been applying advanced technologies to improve the lives of the residents for years, adopting technologies like the IoT and big data.

He explained the city optimized traffic flow and built a prompt emergency response system through the “analysis of traffic information with sensing technology and big data.”

The AI-driven Incheon Transportation Information Center, in particular, has addressed constant traffic jams and prevented accidents, resolving lingering traffic issues in the old downtown area.

“Building a smart city is an ultimate global task that all cities worldwide must pursue and implement,” Yoo said.

Products and technologies of 28 institutes and companies will be found at the Incheon-IFEZ booth. Sixteen startups based in Incheon participated to showcase their latest technologies at the K-startup booth run by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

On the same day, the mayor visited other Korean company booths, including HD Hyundai, and discussed measures to support startups in Incheon.

He also met with Shinhan Bank CEO Jung Sang-hyuk, who visited the city's booth to discuss further the startup training program the city and the bank have been developing. On Wednesday, the mayor will visit the booths of other major conglomerates, including Samsung and SK.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]