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E-Government

Korean City opens Mobile App Centre

By Pia Rufino | 21 March 2011

The Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea’s second largest metropolis with about 3.6 million residents now has a mobile application development centre as part of the government’s drive towards becoming a smart city.

The City Government has launched an innovation centre called Busan Mobile Application Development Centre (BMAC) to operate as an application store for developers to create, test and host city services.

The BMAC, which is built in association with Cisco and Korea Telecom marks the first phase of the city’s deployment of Smart+Connected Community (S+CC) services.

“Busan is an advanced city and among the first to adopt the ubiquitous city (u-City) concept in Korea. Because of its ICT infrastructure, Busan has decided to move faster toward becoming a green u-City,” said Hur Nam Sik, mayor of Busan, in a statement.

The S+CC services plan is part of Busan’s green u-City blueprint in line with the agenda to support environmentally sustainable economic growth in the country.

The blueprint includes the rollout of S+CC services such as urban mobility, distance learning, energy management, and safety and security by 2014. The country aims at transforming the way of life for Busan citizens, improve city management, and generate new economic growth in a sustainable environment.

The second phase of the project will see the rollout of software-as-a-service cloud services, delivered by KT and powered by Cisco. These cloud services will include billing automation, content management and document management by 2012.

In Phase 3, being planned for 2014, Korea will see these services widely available to all citizens.

Busan U-City Information Division Deputy Director said BMAC is the outcome of the previous fiscal year’s plan and budget, Busan city government spokesperson relayed to FutureGov Asia Pacific Magazine.

The Busan IT Promotion Agency who will run the centre, is now preparing its report on the last year’s achievements and a set of plans for this year, he added.

The City government is still waiting for the report, which is expected to be submitted by the end of this month.

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