Busan's Centum City will be developed into a key hub for the artificial intelligence (AI)-based smart city industry.
The Busan Metropolitan Government said Wednesday it had been selected for the "2026 Smart City Specialized Complex Development Project" organized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT). Only two local governments nationwide were chosen in this competition. Busan will pursue the project centered on Centum City, where digital industries, MICE, and cultural and tourism functions are concentrated.
From this year through 2028, the city plans to invest a total of 16.8 billion won, including 8 billion won from the central government, 8 billion won from the city, and 800 million won from the private sector, to build a smart city specialized complex covering 1.2 million square meters in the Centum City area of Haeundae-gu.
The specialized complex will serve as a testbed where AI technologies in the field of "intelligent monitoring and safety" can be tested and commercialized in actual urban environments. Companies can use city data to verify technologies and link them to commercialization. Through this, the city expects to attract leading AI companies and expand the industrial ecosystem.
The city will oversee the project, while the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency will handle project management and operation of the AI Industry Innovation Support Center. In addition, private companies including Ditonic, Smart Planning, Dongrim T&S, BS&Systems, and Shimos Lab will participate to build AI platforms, conduct data modeling, establish testing infrastructure, and operate living labs.
The city plans to build city data-based AI monitoring and safety testing infrastructure and establish a local government-led AI city operating system. It also plans to build a full-cycle support system from technology development to commercialization through research and business development (R&BD) matching, commercialization voucher support, GPU-based AI model training support, certification linked to the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (KOLAS), regulatory sandbox consulting, and domestic and overseas exhibition support.
In particular, the city aims to spread technologies and services verified at the specialized complex to other local governments nationwide and support their entry into overseas cities, growing Busan into a center for the AI-based smart city industry.
"We will develop Centum City into a representative testing hub where AI companies can verify their technologies and grow in actual urban environments," Busan Mayor Park Heong-jun said. "We will do our best to spread the Busan-style smart city model nationwide and lay the foundation for global expansion."
