Gangwon Technopark brings smart factory companies together to expand the manufacturing innovation ecosystem

【Financial News Chuncheon = Reporter Kim Gi-seop】Gangwon Technopark (hereafter, Gangwon TP) shared practical know-how about its Smart Factory project and discussed challenges in the field with local manufacturers from a range of industries, from food and medical devices to battery-materials companies.
According to Gangwon TP on the 7th, a digital transformation capacity-building program for personnel in charge of the Smart Factory Dissemination and Expansion Project, along with a roundtable on cooperation to build a smart manufacturing innovation ecosystem in Gangwon, was held on the 6th at the Inter-Burgo Hotel in Wonju. The Gangwon Regional Office of SMEs and Startups attended alongside around 80 companies, including partner companies in food, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, machinery and equipment, auto parts, chemical products, and battery materials, as well as local suppliers. The training was for personnel in charge at companies and covered the procedures required at each participation type and stage, along with a manual for the stable disbursement and management of project funds.
Strategies to advance the adoption of AI among local manufacturers, along with representative examples of its application, were also presented. During the Q&A session, support programs for investment in the province were introduced, and participating companies shared the difficulties they had encountered while carrying out their projects.
The roundtable that followed was attended by Son Hyeong-uk, head of the Regional Innovation Division at the Gangwon Regional Office of SMEs and Startups; Park Yeong-a, director of Gangwon TP’s Smart Manufacturing Innovation Center; Kang Gwang-un, head of the Gangwon branch of the Technology Companies Association (Qusentech); representatives of association member companies; and officials from companies that had adopted smart factories. Participants discussed the direction of next year’s Smart Factory project and reviewed the capabilities and solutions of smart manufacturing technology companies in the province.
Time was also set aside to hear directly about challenges and suggestions from the manufacturing floor. Companies discussed ways to strengthen the region’s manufacturing innovation ecosystem by comparing their technology needs and identifying potential areas for collaboration. Gangwon TP sees the roundtable’s significance in bringing manufacturing companies and technology companies—which had previously connected only through individual projects—together to align their technologies with needs from the field.
Park Yeong-a, director of Gangwon TP’s Smart Manufacturing Innovation Center, said, “It was an opportunity for adopting companies and suppliers from various industries, from food to battery materials, to directly learn about one another’s technologies and needs beyond the confines of individual projects.” He added, “If personnel in charge properly learn the project procedures and how to manage project funds, the results achieved by partner companies will spread even faster.” He stressed, “We will incorporate the challenges and suggestions we heard from the manufacturing floor into next year’s project plans and provide support so that the province’s manufacturing innovation ecosystem can operate on its own.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter