Suwon Selected as 'Innovation-Leading Municipality'

Suwon has been selected as an innovation-leading municipality.

As a result, Suwon will receive 100 million won in financial support from the Ministry of Interior and Safety as well as increased personnel allocation.

Innovation-leading municipalities are selected by the Ministry of Interior and Safety through applications from local governments and evaluation to utilize them as hubs for spreading local administrative innovation.

To ensure objectivity and fairness in the selection, a selection committee composed of 10 private sector experts conducted the review, taking into account factors such as the appropriateness of innovation plans, the innovation will of municipal leaders, and track records of innovation implementation.

A total of 26 municipalities were selected as innovation-leading entities, including 5 metropolitan governments—one each by region from Incheon, North Chungcheong, North Gyeongsang, Gwangju, and Jeju—and 21 basic municipalities, with 1-2 selected per province or city depending on municipality type and number of applications.

The basic municipalities consist of 8 cities including Suwon, Bucheon, Gimpo, Jecheon, Seosan, Namwon, Gumi, and Yangsan; 6 counties including Yangpyeong, Inje, Dangjin, Wanju, Gangjin, and Damyang; and 7 districts including Seoul's Gangnam and Yeongdeungpo, Busan's Seo, Daegu's Dong, Incheon's Nam, Gwangju's Buk, and Daejeon's Daedeok.

Innovation-leading municipalities will carry out innovation project programs over the next year, and in particular will implement 3 to 4 priority innovation projects as excellent innovation cases, model them, and then disseminate them to other municipalities.

Additionally, innovation municipalities will successfully implement innovation projects based on autonomous innovation capacity and concentrated government-level support, and will play a role in disseminating and spreading innovation success cases modeled as innovation exemplars to other local governments.

Lee Jung-hwa, Director of the General Affairs Division, stated, "Through this selection as an innovation-leading municipality, Suwon has proven itself to be a city that truly practices innovation ahead of others," and added, "We plan to successfully model our innovation movement and spread and disseminate it to other local governments."

Lee Byung-deok, in charge of innovation and decentralization, remarked, "This selection is the result of the efforts of employees who participated in the innovation movement and did their best," and added, "As a model city practicing innovation, we will strive to become an exemplar of the innovation movement."