![Korean government introducing pilots for four advanced ICT-based services during 2017](/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/59e6e9ccf0bf1f0001c99300_Downtown_Seoul.jpg)
The government of the Republic of Korea is planning to launch pilots for four advanced ICT-based services to address a range of social issues.
These four pilot services to be launched in 2017 are Family Caregiving Service for Parents in Rural Areas, Lifesaving Rescue System for Citizens, Hazardous Import & Export Goods Safety Control System and u-Sharing Community linked to Seocho Map.
Family Caregiving Service for Parents in Rural Areas, which is a representative Smart City Service, aims to help children track the health of their parents living in rural areas. Through the service, parents can share their health information with their children in real-time. The service is aimed at strengthening family bonds and enhancing healthcare infrastructure in rural areas.
The Lifesaving Rescue System for citizens will provide mobile location information of stranded hikers in mountainous areas to 119 Rescue Team on a real-time basis. This service could help save lives. It will help drastically shorten the rescue time and enhance the safety of citizens.
The Hazardous Import & Export Goods Safety Control System is to replace dangerous import/export goods labels with a beacon. In the event of accidents, information about the dangerous goods, including the type of goods, accident response and handling guide will be sent to a smartphone, enabling prompt response to accidents.
The fourth service, the u-Sharing Community linked to Seocho (one of the local government districts in the city of Seoul) Map aims to provide online living information, such as parcel storage, community tool bank and toy rental service run by housing management office. The service is designed to improve resident’s convenience in their daily lives.
The pilot will be carried out for a period of two years. Data on the usage rate and user satisfaction will be collected and analysed, and subsequently the best pilot services will be disseminated to other regions.
Kim Hoi-soo, Director of Regional Informatization Division of MOI, said, “The Ministry will continuously develop and spread ICT-based Smart City Service based on artificial intelligence (AI) or the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve people’s lives and address new social challenges.”
Featured image: Craig Nagy/ licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0