MOLIT provides up to one billion won in support for an overseas smart city project that wishes to adopt Korea’s smart city model.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korea (MOLIT) released the public notice announcing the beginning of the project selection process for its “K-City Network: Global Cooperation Program 2022.”
The K-City Network: Global Cooperation Program (hereinafter the K-City Network Program) is a government-to-government cooperation program MOLIT launched in 2020 to develop collaboration with foreign cities or countries on their smart city projects and to give Korean companies opportunities to participate in such projects. Since its launch, MOLIT selected 21 smart city projects in 19 countries out of the 191 projects submitted for application in 2020 and 2021*.
* (K-City Network Program 2020) Application : 80 applications received from 23 countries, Result : 12 projects in 11 countries selected (Total funding: KRW 3.3 billion)
(K-City Network Program 2021) Application : 111 applications received from 39 countries, Result : 11 projects in 11 countries selected (Total funding: KRW 4.2 billion)
Divided into the ‘Smart City Development’ and ‘Solution Demonstration,’ the K-City Program differentiates the amount of funding and the types of technological support it offers. For the Smart City Development, a grant ranging from KRW 200 million to one billion will be given per project to develop a master plan or feasibility study for either smart city planning or solution demonstration to address traffic, environmental and energy issues afflicting a city.
As for the Solution Demonstration, a Korean solution company gets a funding of KRW 300 million to 500 million to pilot its smart technology, solution or service in a foreign country.
This year, in addition to the central as well as local governments, the only eligible applicants in 2020 and 2021, the international organizations such as the World Bank can apply too. Another change introduced from this year is the differentiation allowed in the funding amount (KRW 200 million to one billion) and project implementation period (one to two years) in reflection of the nature of the projects selected.
The application period of the Smart City Development is by April 29 and the deadline for the Solution Demonstration is due May 20.
MOLIT will select the Smart City Development projects based on 1) document evaluation (in consideration of the potential value, priority and feasibility of the project in the host country) and 2) negotiation with the host cities and governments with the successful projects due to be announced by May.
As for the Solution Demonstration projects, Korean companies providing smart solutions or services will be assessed based on their 1) application documents and 2) presentations. After 3) confirmation from the foreign country on its willingness to collaborate on the demonstration, the successful companies will be chosen by June.
Details of the K-City Network Program 2022 can be found at the MOLIT web site (www.molit.go.kr) and the portal of the Smart City Korea (www.smartcity.go.kr).
MOLIT Director General for Urban Policy Kim Bok-hwan says “The K-City Network Program gives MOLIT opportunities to share Korea’s smart city technologies and development experience by developing partnerships on overseas smart city projects.”
“To promote Korea’s smart city model globally, MOLIT will continue to provide support under the K-City Program.
Please refer to the attached PDF.