The South Korean government selected the country’s administrative city Sejong and southern port city Busan as test beds for its smart city project over the next five years.

The Presidential Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution said on Monday that the government will focus its research and development capability and budget on the two cities and ease regulations to attract private investment to develop them into smart cities fed and connected by new technologies including next-generation network, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, smart grid and virtual reality. It also plans to come up with ways to solve urban problems and improve quality of life while carrying out the project, and create an ecosystem for innovative industries.

The government designated an area of 2.74 million square meters in Sejong to focus on energy and transportation project, and a 2.19 million-square-meter area of Busan for logistics project. An official from the government said it aims to complete the city design plan by the first half of 2019 and invite residents by the latter half of 2021. He added that details of the project will continue to be mapped out in cooperation with private companies.

By Lee Ji-yong and Choi Mira

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