Busan is shifting the focus of its research and development (R&D) investment next year toward artificial intelligence (AI) and marine industries. The city plans to concentrate its R&D capabilities on core technologies set to become future growth engines—such as the Arctic route, smart ports, autonomous vessels, and power semiconductors—to simultaneously drive its vision as a "marine capital" and a major industrial transformation.
Together with the Busan Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning (BISTEP), the city held the "Busan R&D Investment Direction Forum" at City Hall on the 22nd, unveiling its "2027 Busan Metropolitan City R&D Investment Direction (Draft)."
The core of this investment direction is "strategic investment centered on foundational technologies that drive the completion of the marine capital and Busan's AI transformation." The city decided to concentrate R&D investment on fields with high potential for linkage with national R&D and commercialization, among the technologies essential for the region's industrial transition.
In the "Leap to Marine Capital" area, next-generation marine logistics technologies—including the Arctic route, smart ports, autonomous vessels, and ship maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO)—were presented as key investment targets. Eco-friendly energy technologies such as hydrogen, ammonia, and next-generation reactors, along with marine bio, marine data, and polar research, were also included among the priority development fields.
In the "Industrial Future Transformation" area, the city put the AI transformation (AX) of manufacturing and the fostering of data-based convergence industries at the forefront. The plan aims to strengthen the competitiveness of existing key industries and cultivate new growth industries through expanded use of industrial AI and data, as well as the establishment of quantum technology and security infrastructure.
The third pillar, "Growth Structure Restructuring," focuses on fostering high value-added industries such as power semiconductors, advanced packaging, digital health, precision medicine, and radiopharmaceuticals. Technology commercialization and the creation of a regional innovation ecosystem were also presented as major investment directions.
Busan is the only metropolitan government in the country that has established an R&D investment direction for the following year annually since 2017, using it as an official guideline for R&D budget planning. The city plans to finalize the investment direction by reflecting the expert opinions raised at this forum, then use it as the basis for next year's R&D budget allocation and project selection.
Busan's presentation of AI and marine industries as the two pillars of its R&D is interpreted as reflecting the administrative stance of the ninth popularly elected government, which seeks to secure future growth engines by linking its recent marine capital strategy with its industrial AI transformation policy. It also carries the meaning of using R&D investment as a strategic means for industrial restructuring and regional economic innovation, beyond support for individual projects.
"We will concentrate our policy capabilities so that the outcomes of R&D investment lead to job creation, revitalization of the regional economy, and improvement in citizens' quality of life," said Kim Dong-hyun, director general of Busan's Future Technology Strategy Bureau.
