To solve urban problems, Seoul connects things to things and things to people.
A little support for connecting the various spaces and things in the city goes a long way in solving urban problems through IoT.
Seoul and citizens, Seoul and companies come together to make Seoul the global leader in IoT applications.
Seoul was different from the start.
City provides the infrastructure, upon which citizens and private companies come together to solve urban problems.
We set out to create a self-sustaining data based IoT ecosystem led by the private sector.
In 2015, we proved the possibilities for solving urban problems through 18 IoT service field tests in our first field test area, 북촌.
In 2016, we added more field test areas.
First, we recruited private companies.
Then chose Geumchon-Gu and 5 tourism / commercial areas through meetings and on-site surveys of interested local districts.
Followed by extensive meetings with local citizens to choose location specific services.
Residential district services, divided into environment, safety, healthcare and convenience and tourism and commercial district services, divided into tourism, commercial, and convenience were field tested.
Of the 23 services field tested, 11 were done in the residential test field.Active participation and discussions with local citizens allowed private sector led, citizen participation cooperative developments.
We could see how much electricity we were using on our smart phone.
We could also control things we had forgotten using our smart phones when we were out, that was great.
Coming back from the market, we had to put our packages down, press the keys to open the door, and pick up the packages again.
Using this (IoT service) the door opens automatically when we approach, no need to put the packages down.
12 enterprises participated in the tourism/commercial area field tests.
Since it was difficult to find a 1:1 solutions to all the problems, we focused on finding data based solution, rather than building additional infrastructure.
Services that provided personalized custom tourism information to visitors and helped merchants provide suitable services to visitors were field tested.
"I like it because it makes it easier to choose menus and pay for them."
"Using this (IoT service) led to more tourists coming in, and made it easier for me to help my customers choose menus."
Seoul is participating in Smart City Expos and Digital Festivals to help spread the word on the field tests both in and out of Korea.
For a more professional and structured approach to IoT services, we have setup the Seoul IoT Center to support discovering promising companies and to help with bringing technologies to market both in and out of Korea.
Seoul will expand the IoT field test areas to all of Seoul by 2020 and build an IoT Seoul.
A brave new world, Seoul the global leader in IoT applications.
