For every world citizen that eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship, there are cities that embrace multicultural demographics. In the philosophy behind globalization, the idea of humanity belonging to a single moral community can only be completed with the springing up of cosmopolitan cities and states. As the first step, the world is now ready to expand the Megacity Region, or metropolitan area, to be prepared for the next global competition.

Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, and London - what do they have in common Living history and business, fast and easy access to the international airport, and many ethnicities, religions, and cultures meet people in close proximity in all of those cities. Gyeonggi has also got all of that, but it also has something extra: Information Technology.

Logistics Hub of Northeast Asia

Korea is located in Northeast Asia, which is home to diverse trading opportunities. To the north is Russia, where primary materials such as timber and minerals are extracted. To the west, northeastern China is home to agriculture, light industry and manufacturing. To the east, Japan has become the leader in a vast array of advanced industries that have been moving offshore to more cost-efficient locations. The center of Korean business and industry is the capital city of Seoul, and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.

A burgeoning logistics hub, Gyeonggi Province offers three main gateways to Korea: Incheon International Airport, Incheon Port, and Pyeongtaek Port which is the nearest seaport to China. Korea's main transportation arteries of Gyeongbu Expressway and the West Coast Expressway both go through the province along with many other national highways and industrial routes.

Gyeonggi Province, Traffic Heaven

A province surrounding the capital city does not mean much if it takes forever to get there by car. Fighting road battles everyday is becoming ancient history for those who live in Gyeonggi Province. While neither public transportation nor highways could save the commuters alone, Governor Kim Moon-soo's new strategies have been bringing a sensational revolution to the traffic crisis. Metropolitan Unity Bus Fare, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and the Great Train eXpress (GTX) are the newly appointed musketeers to guard commuter happiness in Gyeonggi Province.

The ITS project was implemented first in the city of Ilsan, and the impact was huge. The system gained the spotlight at the UITP World Congress 2008 in Australia and was recognized as a great solution to enhance traffic flow. The Bus Rapid Transit Project will bring together intelligent traffic systems and is scheduled to be completed by 2014 with investment of W675.1 trillion (US$569.8 billion). Lastly, three express train lines will be built underground and will shorten the commuting hours between the largest cities in Gyeonggi province and Seoul. Governor Kim Moon-soo stated, "When the GTX project is completed Seoul, Incheon, and all of Gyeonggi province will be within an hour of each other. This means a tremendous amount of money and time savings in the long run, and tripling the size of the capital city of Seoul."

Frontier of Megacity Region (MCR)

Governor of Gyeonggi Province Kim Moon-soo said, "Now is the era of competition between mega cities rather than countries. Which means investors no longer choose between Korea and China. Do I want the Shanghai area of China or is there a suburban area in Korea that could be a hidden key is what today's investors consider before making tough choices." The three express train lines underground will indeed bring the effect of enlarging the size of the capital city. With the further expansion of the Great Train eXpress, Korea must link all the suburbs by high speed travel, so that the huge region can compete against other global cities in Asia.

Home to Global Enterprises and Competitive SMEs

Gyeonggi Province is home to world-leading enterprises including Samsung, LG, and Hyundai-Kia. Fairchild, Axitron, Tokyo Electron, and many other global companies related to semiconductors are located in this province.

World leading display companies are based in Gyeonggi as well: NEC, NHT, Sumitomo, Merck, Hitachi, Mikuni, HOYA, and 3M are only a few.

In addition, one quarter of Korea's small and medium-sized companies are also situated in Gyeonggi Province. Among these, the high-tech industry has a particularly high level of importance, placing Gyeonggi Province at the heart of the Korean economy.

Gyeonggi has served a key role in the development of Korea through its strategic location and vibrant economy. The province accounts for one-fifth of the nation's exports and GDP.

True IT Powerhouse with High-tech R&D Centers

Governor Kim Moon-soo stated, "Our province is the IT Powerhouse where forty percent of the nation's knowledge-based industries are placed. Gyeonggi's wealth of dedicated and experienced R&D personnel ensures success in the global market for value-added industries. A state of the art technology R&D complex can also be found in Suwon's Gwanggyo Techno Valley, which specializes in joint industry, academic, and administrative collaboration."

Gyeonggi province has the Advanced Institute of Convergence Technology that is operated by the Seoul National University. It provides a focal point for technological convergence. The Gyeonggi Bio Center is a cluster of biotechnology R&D institutions that offers networking services for business, academic and research organizations in the biotech industry. It is emerging as a Mecca of the biotech industry in Korea as well as the hub of regional innovation through collaborative projects built on the best R&D infrastructure of its kind.

The province systematically supports business start-ups by providing global marketing consulting, management capability development, and technical support. The prime mission of the Gyeonggi Business Center and the Gyeonggi R&D Center is to enable businesses in the province to build global competitiveness and invade global markets.

On top of having every R&D center that any province could ever imagine to be in possession of, this IT powerhouse houses the Korea Advanced Nano Fab Center.  It is specialized in providing support for initiatives in non-silicon nano devices and compound-base semiconductors.

New Renewable Energy

The technological application of semiconductor and TFT-LCD processes to solar cell development also positions Gyeonggi Province as a strategic location for the photovoltaic industry.

Due to similarities with semiconductor technology and related manufacturing processes, Gyeonggi Province's abundant semiconductor workforce and infrastructure could easily be transferred to crystalline silicone solar cell manufacturing.

The province has long been ready for the national renewable energy project. Gyeonggi commercialized technology to a degree where more than 90% of the global technology market share lies in solar cells.

According to the recent rapid technological advancement, film solar cells are estimated to account for 20% of relevant global technology market share by the year 2020.

Major enterprises developing hydrogen fuel cells and automobiles are also present in Gyeonggi province. Hyundai-Kia, participating in CaFCP (California Fuel Cell Project), has developed a fuel cell bus and aims at commercializing it by 2015. Hyundai-Kia invested US$60 million in its Environmental Technology Research Center and operates and integrated environment-related technology segment; 34 hydrogen vehicles are being tested with 2 hydrogen gas stations.

Samsung SDI in Suwon City is developing and commercializing portable fuel cells for laptop computers and mobile phones with the cooperation of Samsung Electronics. Renewable energy-related companies in the metropolitan area include Jusung Engineering which is producing PV equipment, LG Electronics which is making PV cells, LG Chem which is prouding BIPV, Samgsung SDI which is doing R&D in PV cells, Hyundai Heavy Industries which is focusing on PV cells and modules, and BOC Gases which is focusing on F2 gases.

Merits of the Province

"A central region, booming new towns, development of the west coast, skilled and highly educated labor, 5.45 million citizens, an ideal test bed environment for a consumer market, knowledge-based industry, excellent infrastructure, and active administrative support are the characteristics that build the province of Gyeonggi. More than 37,000 small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises are here in our province as well as major corporations of Korea," Governor Kim Moon-soo outlined.  "This is why our signature nickname is Global Inspiration." Now with the revolutionary traffic system movement, the competitiveness of the province is expected to rise higher in global evaluations.

The Korea IT Times had an exclusive meeting with Kim Moon-soo, governor of Gyeonggi Province, to further learn about what Global Inspiration has to offer to the IT industry.

Q: What is the vision of Gyeonggi Province for the IT industry

A: Korea is a world leader in the IT industry, and global IT companies like Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have manufacturing and research facilities in Gyeonggi Province.

We are planning to create more jobs and benefits for the people of Gyeonggi Province by improving IT convergence technology, green industry, and ubiquitous environment. We have more industrial complexes coming that will promote future IT convergence in each field of semiconductors, displays, BT, NT, automobiles, and textiles.

Lastly, we encourage the green industry by expanding the solar panel industry, LED supply, and new energy businesses. By adding ubiquitous technology to green industry, we are planning to establish various u-IT platforms such as u-cities, u-floriculture, and u-healthcare.

Q: You have once stated your strong will to be the governor of a Science and Technology-based province. Your province already has quite a lot going on in terms of IT industry. What is on your priority list to improve

A: In order to bring the province up to meet the global standard, we sure have a quite a road ahead, but we are primarily focusing on building R&D complexes, foreign investment attractions, and developing a new reusable energy industry. Using Gwanggyo and Pangyo Techno Valley, technology infrastructure will be established to improve nano, bio, and convergence technology as well as strengthening research levels. Gyeonggi IT industry will first promote unification of administration information, ubiquitous services, informative society for minorities, and information networks between industries and schools.

Q: What is the status of each IT industry in Gyeonggi Province and how does it affect the Korean and global economy

A: Gyeonggi Province is the center of IT industry and provides the best opportunity for investment.

We are the center of the Korean IT industry in charge of 33% of manufacturing, 50% of export goods, 25% of related industries, and 33% of related employees. The Province has the most number of companies and shipping records in the semiconductor, bio, medicine, mechatronics, and chemical fields.

Global companies like Samsung, Hynix, LG, and many other companies in semiconductors, displays, an d the mobile phone industry are located in our province along with the high-tech R&D cluster. Gyeonggi Province has 33% of researchers in Korea and takes 39% of R&D investment. Our R&D Expenditure in 2005 was W9.6 trillion (US$8.1 billion), 39.8% of the national total.

Q. The fever of an idea that combines culture and IT is at a high peak in the country. What is the status of culture technology and content promotion in Gyeoggi Province

A. We are well aware that the growth of the content industry means an increase in profits and employment. Thus, our plan to improve the content business as a future growth engine is quite an urgent matter. After the mid-1990s, IT raised the GDP up to US$20,000 per capita. We envision increasing the GDP up to US$40,000 per capita with the development of the content industry.

We are working with public and private companies to establish a content business cluster. Content industry cluster establishments have taken place in Seongnam focusing on games, Bucheon focusing on cartoons and animations, Goyang for broadcasting, and Paju for publication.

Q. What is the major cutting-edge technology project of Gyeonggi Province and what is its progress

A. In order to support cutting-edge technology, we have been providing one-stop services at R&D clusters like Gwanggyo Techno-Valley, Pangyo Techno-Valley, and Ansan Techno-Valley, and walk companies through each step from technology developing to manufacturing to marketing.

Gyeonggi Province has been focusing on building  R&D complex infrastructure until now. But now is the time to support businesses using that infrastructure. We have been preparing our infrastructure to one day compete in a global environment. The world's leading research center of immunology, Pasteur Research Center in France, has been cooperating with Gyeonggi Province and launched a Korean base in May 2009. Russia's State Optic Institute (SOI) has worked with Korea's Electro-technology Research Institute located in Ansan. They established SOI-KOREA in 2006 and developed laser technology for medical use. We encourage future collaborations between our research centers and global research centers to create cutting-edge products.

Q. What is your support plan for small and midium-sized companies

For small and mid-size companies with financial problems, we provide development funds, trust guarantees, and managing plan improvement. Another thing that we are heavily working on is education and training programs to incubate more professionals. This project involves creating a technical work force, professional work force, customized work force, and technology education center.

Gyeonggi Province has plenty of materials and human resources. The high-tech manufacturing business takes 46.28% (based on 2005 record) of the whole manufacturing business in Gyeonggi Province and is expected to grow to 62.3% in 2020.

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