Seoul City, Korea: “Aim to be the central city for blockchain in the next 5 years” Intentions to Utilize Technology in the Administration
Park Won-soon, the mayor of Seoul who is currently visiting Europe, gave a lecture in Zug, Switzerland’s “Crypt Valley,” revealing plans to make Seoul a global blockchain hub.
“In Seoul, there are plans to create a blockchain ecosystem to make it a city that will be recognized as the center of blockchain in the world. We would like to gather blockchain experts in Seoul, just like Zug. To do that, however, we need to establish a friendly environment for innovative blockchain companies.”
Block chain affiliates are gathered in Zug City, a city with a population of 30,000, located in the outskirts of Switzerland’s largest city Zurich. It is famous as being the base for the Ethereum Foundation.
Also, in June this year, the city carried out demonstration experiments on voting systems utilizing blockchains, and came to be known worldwide as “Crypt Valley,” for its passion for promoting blockchain technology.
Mayor Park, who was reelected in June this year, pledged to support blockchain and announced concrete plans to introduce blockchain technology in Seoul over the next five years. His expression of a strong will to aim to become a global blockchain hub is impressive.
“Blockchain is an innovative technology with the power to change society and is gaining the world’s attention as a technology to enhance the competitiveness of the urban economy. Seoul already has strengths in the ICT field and has the potential to lead in this field in the world through the use of blockchain technology.”
Mayor Park, who insists that blockchain will be the center of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that will form the future ICT industry, has placed his trust in this technology and is promoting a support plan with the city.
The plan revealed is as follows.
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1. Invest 60.3 billion won (about 6.03 billion yen) by 2021 and construct two business facilities that can accommodate more than 200 blockchain companies in the western and southwestern part of the city
2. Operate two training centers within this business facility aiming to train 730 experts over the next 5 years
3. Seoul will establish a fund of 100 billion won (about 10 billion yen) jointly with the government and the private sector and will invest in blockchain start-up companies by 2022
4. Establishment of a support fund for SMEs related to blockchain that are difficult to launch. For companies judged to be eligible, up to 1 billion won (100 million yen) will be loaned.
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In addition, the city of Seoul is considering introducing blockchain technology to administrative areas and is planning to carry out the demonstration experiment of 14 projects over the next five years.
Mayor Park said, “Although introducing blockchain technology to the city’s administrative process is part of the plan, this will be a precedent for all cities in Korea. Seoul is truly a city that will be the basis of technology, and I think the city will guide the innovation.”
One example is a project to incorporate blockchain technology into existing online voting and online policy recommendation platforms developed by Seoul.
In Seoul, the following explanation was made in a statement.
“By applying blockchain technology to voting platforms, we can prevent tampering with online voting, which will increase confidence in the voting results of voters and residents in Seoul.”
Mayor Park says the use of blockchain technology raises the number of people voting if it is recognized that the results of the vote can be trusted, which then leads to a direct participation type democracy.
Also, since various government agencies can safely share information on the blockchain, procedures are simplified even in application procedures such as basic pension and welfare assistance related to disabled people welfare, saving citizens the hassle of submitting forms.
In April, Mayor Park also revealed the plan to issue Seoul’s unique cryptocurrency “S Coin,” and in “Block Festa,” a blockchain event held in Seoul in August, it was said that a “Block Chain / Integrated Master Plan” that includes “S Coin” is to be released by the end of the year..
While the Korean Government maintained its position of a full ban on ICO, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has repeated policy exchanges with Switzerland. Mayor Park will strengthen economic cooperation with Zurich during this visit to Switzerland and will sign a memorandum of understanding. The future progress of Mayor Park and Seoul in its journey to promote blockchain technology will continue to attract attention.
