Research & Business

Overview of the Humanities & Social Sciences Research Institute Support Program

• Project Title: Establishment of a Korea–ASEAN Multidisciplinary Public-Private Network-based Smart City Export Hub Platform
• Project Period: September 1, 2020 – August 31, 2023 (3 years) + α (3 years)
• Total Budget: Approx. 600 million KRW (3 years)

Research Objectives

• Discovery of smart city technologies and selection of exportable technologies and partner countries (Area Studies)
  • To successfully develop the "Korea–ASEAN Smart City Export Hub Platform and establish living labs," the project aims to assess the status and challenges of smart cities at home and abroad, identify domestic smart city technologies, and select exportable technologies and partner countries.
• Analysis of the geographic and social characteristics of ASEAN countries and convergent research through public, private, academic, and research collaboration
  • To understand the diverse urban conditions of ASEAN countries and to match desired smart city solutions with exportable supplier technologies, the project conducts convergent research on the Smart City Export Hub Platform and living-lab models through collaboration among the public sector, private sector, academia, and research institutes.
• Establishment of a web-based Smart City Export Hub Platform
  • Through collaboration with current and former students, public officials, and private companies of various ASEAN countries affiliated with our research center, the project builds national datasets and a pool of usable human resources. A two-stage convergence process is then used to establish a smart city export living-lab model along with an implementation plan.

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  • Phased Research Plan

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• Phase 1 Annual Research Plan
  • Phase 1 Task: Development of the Smart City Export Hub Platform

  • Task Objective (Phase 1, Year 1)	Identification and selection of smart city export technologies
    Period (YY.MM)	Key Activities	Notes
    ‘20.09. – ‘21.03.	∙ Smart city policies and implementation status at home and abroad   - Survey and analysis of Korea's smart city policies and pilot projects   - Analysis of smart city policies and cases in advanced countries (USA, Europe, Japan, etc.) ∙ Identification and selection of domestic and overseas smart city technologies   - Survey and analysis of smart city–related technologies at home and abroad   - Classification of smart city technology types and design of a selection scheme for exportable technologies   - Matching of demand-side desired technologies with supplier-side exportable technologies
    ‘21.03. – ‘21.08.	∙ Building a Korea–ASEAN human network for smart city exports   - Mutual cooperation and strategic response among government, NGOs, and the private sector for sustainable smart cities   - Hosting Korea–ASEAN smart city export workshops (seminars, forums, etc.) ∙ Selection of exportable smart city technologies

  • Task Objective (Phase 1, Year 2)	Selection of ASEAN smart city export hub countries (Area Studies)
    Period (YY.MM)	Key Activities	Notes
    ‘21.09. – ‘22.03.	∙ Country-by-country status analysis and conceptualization of cooperation platforms for ASEAN   - Analysis of social, economic, urban, and political conditions of each ASEAN country   - Conceptualization of smart city export cooperation platforms by country ∙ Specifying governance cooperation areas by country and demand-survey analysis   - Designing multidisciplinary linkages with smart city–related institutions and private companies, and deriving ASCN linkage measures - Demand surveys on smart cities in ASEAN countries
    ‘22.03. – ‘22.08.	∙ Selection of smart city export hub countries (Area Studies)   - Designing smart city export cooperation strategies for the selected countries   - Hosting Korea–ASEAN smart city export workshops (seminars, forums, etc.)   - Building a smart city export network for selected countries

  • Task Objective (Phase 1, Year 3)	Development of the Smart City Export Hub Platform
    Period (YY.MM)	Key Activities	Notes
    ‘22.09. – ‘23.03.	∙ Survey of smart city infrastructure and export demand in hub countries   - Survey and market analysis of social, economic, urban, and environmental smart city infrastructure in hub countries   - Smart city export demand survey: matching desired solutions with supplier exportable technologies   - Hosting Korea–ASEAN smart city export workshops (seminars, forums, etc.) ∙ Building a web-based smart city Data Hub   - Structural analysis and design of the web-based Smart City Export Hub Platform   - Hierarchy- and function-level testing of the Data Hub model for collecting and managing smart city big data
    ‘23.03. – ‘23.08.	∙ Development of operational manuals for the Smart City Export Hub Platform   - Urban application testing of the Hub Platform   - Development of operational manuals for the web-based platform service

Expected Outcomes

• This research is expected to enable ASEAN countries to respond to climate change, foster citizen participation in urban administration, secure social safety nets, and realize digital social welfare through smart city exports. The combination of top-down urban management and bottom-up user services is expected to catalyze the activation of smart communities.
• The integrated smart city—organically connecting various smart city infrastructures (society, economy, transportation, environment, energy, etc.) of ASEAN cities—is expected to contribute to leading smart city construction projects in ASEAN countries. Building on successful domestic smart city technologies, this initiative can grow into a global testbed of Korea–ASEAN public-private cooperation through smart city exports to ASEAN countries.
• The various smart city linkage models pursued in this research can be innovatively advanced in ASEAN countries through the Korea–ASEAN network, and once applied to real cities, they are expected to establish themselves as world-class technologies.
• It is expected that the roles of interdependent Korea–ASEAN actors (consumers, governments, businesses, etc.) will become clearly defined. Through the Korea–ASEAN multidisciplinary public-private network-based Smart City Export Hub Platform, consumers will drive change, governments will establish institutional frameworks, and businesses—in cooperative relationships with ASEAN countries—will undertake investment and implementation of the project.
• In particular, smart city exports allow quantitative prediction of the effects on ASEAN countries' future-oriented urban policies (TOD, compact city, urban regeneration, mixed-use development, polycentric concentrated cities, walkable cities), thereby reducing unnecessary energy use and identifying directions for cutting environmental and economic costs.