Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin, center, speaks during the Smart City Expo World Congress headline session, themed "Shaping the Digital Future Ethically," at Fira Barcelona in the Catalan city, Spain, Tuesday (local time). Courtesy of Seongnam City

BARCELONA, Spain — Seongnam, located in Gyeonggi Province, is one of South Korea's leading cities in offering a range of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital services to its residents. According to Mayor Shin Sang-jin, this initiative is one of his key policies.

Shin introduced the city's digital features at this year's Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona, Spain.

He was one of the six panelists in one of the SCEWC's headline sessions, "Shaping the Digital Future Ethically," moderated by global urban development nonprofit organization Leading Cities' board member Jennifer James, on the event's first day, Tuesday (local time). Some 150 industry insiders, including Helpful Places founder Jacqueline Lu and Fiware Foundation chief operating officer Clara Pezuela, attended the session.

"It is imperative for a city to feature ethically healthy digital services provided for all ages," Shin said during the session.

"As part of Seongnam's efforts, it launched the Smart Village Project, which offers services like online hobby classes, dementia prevention robots and virtual sports experiences for senior citizens. We also use drones to create heat maps to help older people as well as other citizens affected by heat waves, while drones and robots safely deliver essential items like food and medical supplies to hard-to-reach areas."

According to a city official, the local government delivered groceries and medical items to people who visited the city's central park 584 times this year. Last month, it also hosted the 2024 Seongnam Drone Light Show using some 2,200 drones at the Tancheon Sports Complex and 1,500 at the Seongnam Sports Complex.

Along with the project, the city opened Korea's first Mind Fitness center — a mental health AI experience center that uses virtual reality technology to help treat depression and promote mental wellness for residents. It also offers various services to counter game addiction, cyberbullying and deepfakes via a school program for prevention, recovery and counseling.

The mayor also emphasized the importance of close collaboration with residents to foster more ethical digitalization for the city.

"As cities become more digital, issues like loneliness and social isolation may emerge," Shin added.

"However, by working with citizens to establish new roles and ethics, I believe both the city and its people can grow sustainably. One way to achieve this is using innovative technology to enhance safety and convenience."

As part of Seongnam's efforts, it installed AI-powered cameras in its intra-city buses to check and maintain road conditions in real time. Seongnam City also showcased related technology engineered by local road safety service provider Dareesoft at the Seongnam Pavilion during the expo.

Attendees visit the Seongnam Pavilion during the Smart City Expo World Congress at Fira Barcelona in the Catalan city, Spain, Tuesday. Courtesy of Seongnam City

Along with Dareesoft's camera devices, various high-tech companies based in the city showcased their latest innovations at the booth during the three-day expo. One of them was unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) maker Preneu, which showcased its drone lineup and related software solutions there.

Shin said Seongnam is now in talks with various tech firms to foster future mobility to help boost convenience for citizens with public transportation. It is moving forward with the Lotte UAM Consortium to develop urban air mobility within the city.

It will seek similar cooperation with IT companies to help develop a car-sharing service, smart parking system and autonomous cars in the city.

Seongnam was nominated as a finalist in the innovation category at the World Smart City Awards, marking the first time a Korean local government has been listed.

Shin said he still has a lot to accomplish for the city, as he still has a year and a half remaining.

“It has been a bumpy road as a mayor in my mission to modernize Seongnam's infrastructure and services for residents,” Shin said during a follow-up interview with The Korea Times.

“However, the city has so much potential. It can become an even better place to live, visit and do business. If possible, I would love to serve another four years for Seongnam and its citizens.”

He also visited Wroclaw in Poland after the expo to meet its Mayor Jacek Sutryk to sign an MOU for the two cities' friendship. Shin will then visit Dusseldorf to join the MEDICA, the world's largest trade fair for medical technology and equipment, to support Seongnam-based medical firms that opened a booth there.