Suwon's Living Lab 'The City is a University' Attracting High Citizen Interest

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City's 'The City is a University Univercity' program, which has been operating since September, is drawing attention from citizens.

'The City is a University' is one of the 'Living Lab Projects,' a smart city education program for citizens.

The city launched the 'Living Lab Project' as a method for citizen participation starting in September while implementing the '2019 Smart City Challenge Project' announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The living lab, called a 'laboratory in everyday life,' refers to an attempt to find solutions to various social problems by treating citizens' everyday spaces as experimental sites. It is a field research lab where citizens, stakeholders, and producers collectively generate ideas and achieve innovation through demonstration.

'The City is a University,' conducted jointly with Dankook University's SW Design Convergence Center, SAP Korea, and DeKorea Foundation, consists of lectures and practical training related to smart cities.

So far, it has been held seven times on topics including ▲Smart cities and digital transformation ▲Latest AI and robot technology for daily life ▲Data analysis and visualization using analytics ▲AI utilization using drones.

Various experts from different fields, including researchers from the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, and officials from Dell Technologies, Samsung SDS, and Intel Korea, lectured at various venues including Youth Wind Zone, Samsung SDS Jamsil, Suwon City Hall Information and Communication Training Center, and SAP Korea.

'The City is a University' will conclude with an educational program on November 30 titled 'Understanding Big Data and Database Practice.'

Participants' response has been enthusiastic. 'AI Utilization Using Drones,' a lecture given by Lee In-goo, Executive Vice President of Intel Korea, at Suwon City Hall's Information and Communication Training Center on the 15th, sold out early with the maximum capacity of 30 participants. Participants listened to lectures on the basics and inference theory of artificial intelligence, practiced coding, and conducted training to launch mini-drones inside the training center.

Eom Gyul-ri, SAP Korea partner supporting the entire 'The City is a University' program, said, "The response has been very positive to the extent that some citizens participate in every lecture without fail," adding "I hope many citizens learn knowledge about smart cities."

Citizens can freely participate in the program by searching for 'The City is a University' on the website OnOffMix (https://onoffmix.com/) and pre-registering in advance.

The city was selected in May as a project site for the '2019 Smart City Challenge Project' hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Currently, it is preparing smart solutions and services with creative ideas by forming a governance structure with private enterprises and universities.