How human-centred technology combines innovation and inclusion in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Startups in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea are developing technologies for social good Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto
- Advances in AI, quantum computing and blockchain technologies are transforming human life.
- Startups in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea are focusing on progressing these technologies for social good.
- They are creating social value and monetizing it, moving beyond generating profits to creating companies with sustainable and long-term competitive edges.
With ongoing digital transformation, the Intelligent Age is upon us. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and blockchain technologies are transforming human life. In particular, rapid advances in AI, such as deep learning and big data, are bringing about great transformation across industries, society and culture. These advanced technologies provide incredible convenience and efficiency and clues for solving humanity's social challenges.
A new type of business is emerging at the heart of this transformation: startups. Startups are as nimble, small and powerful as nomadic tribes on the grasslands. They don't have manufacturing factories that employ thousands of workers but they do have innovative solutions to humanity's biggest challenges. That's why they are worth our attention.
In 2014, US-based Zipline proved that reaching out to those in need in Africa can generate a profit. When governments around the world were focusing on using drones for military intelligence activities and as weapons, this company began flying drones to deliver medicine and blood to needy areas in Africa. Today, Zipline is valued at about $4.2 billion.
Gyeonggi and humanomics
Similar examples can be found in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province.
Gyeonggi Province is the largest local government in the Republic of Korea. It is home to 27% of South Korea's population and is the heart of the country's economy. It is also home to any Korean conglomerate you may know, like Samsung, SK Hynix, and LG, and is a cradle for Korea’s advanced industries, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence, advanced mobility and bio-health. Gyeonggi has a GRDP of $454 billion, ranking it around 30th, even when compared to GDPs of whole countries.
The philosophy of this province’s administration — a microcosm of South Korea — is worth a look. Gyeonggi Province is implementing an array of policy programmes to provide its 14.1 million residents with more, better and fairer opportunities. This philosophy of 'humanomics' or a people-centred economy, is about bridging gaps and forging a new path of people-centred growth. Humanomics is an endeavour to tackle growth-driven disparity and polarization, based on the belief that more investment in people will generate more societal values and more growth opportunities.
The Intelligent Age, Gyeonggi and startups
Ironically, what we need most in this innovation-driven age of intelligence are innovative technologies and public leadership. People are underprepared for abrupt change. Disadvantaged people are even less prepared. That’s why policymakers must support technological innovation with inclusive, human-centred policies.
Gyeonggi Province focuses on exploring people-centred ways of using advanced technologies. To this end, my administration became the first local government to create an AI bureau and adopt an AI framework ordinance. Today, AI features in key public services of the province, ranging from traffic demand forecasts to caregiving for the developmentally disabled and elderly.
That said, it is arrogant to assume that the public sector alone can solve all the problems of a society. We already have learned that a more participatory and sustainable framework is required. In Gyeonggi, we came up with innovative ideas to fill in the gaps. The answer lies in startups. Startups can provide prompt, efficient and creative solutions to the big questions of humanity that large conglomerates and governments struggle to address.
Pangyo Techno Valley: The Silicon Valley of Korea
Pangyo Techno Valley, inside Gyeonggi Province, is a cradle of Korean innovation and is considered the 'Silicon Valley of Korea,' attracting the attention of the World Economic Forum, who named Pangyo on a preliminary list of hubs with key data points on each continent, along with Silicon Valley in the US, London and Glasgow in the UK, Cape Town in South Africa and Bandung in Indonesia.
Building upon this expectation, the Gyeonggi Provincial Government and the World Economic Forum recently signed an agreement to establish the Centre for the 4th Industrial Revolution in Pangyo. The new C4IR in Gyeonggi will be the world’s first C4IR focused on startups, climate change and smart manufacturing.
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Change begins in Pangyo: Technological progress for carbon reduction and the disadvantaged
In 2024, the world experienced its hottest summer ever. It is expected to be even hotter this year. The entire world unanimously called for the reduction of carbon emissions for the sake of its survival.
Gyeonggi and the innovators in Pangyo also took bold action. Gyeonggi declared Korea’s first provincial RE100 vision and increased investment in renewable energy production facilities. It championed zero-waste lifestyles and increased renewable energy production by 18%.
Pangyo-based 2PM Lab Inc. is a climate tech startup with only eight employees founded just four years ago. This small company leads carbon accounting standards all over the globe, as a member of the Carbon Accounting Alliance, led by the British Planet Mark and the Swiss Climate Partners. Today, the platform developed by 2PM Lab is used by 600 businesses around the world and the company is on track to soon have 1,000 customers.
Gyeonggi Province supports this company so that it can support smaller companies. The goal is to make it cheaper for more companies to regulate their carbon emissions by assisting AI-powered measurements of the temperature of the planet.
2PM Lab is not the only beneficiary of Gyeonggi’s support for socially valuable technologies. As the heart of the advanced semiconductor industry, the province also encourages carbon reduction in chip manufacturing.
Rebellions, an AI-powered semiconductor company is often called the 'Nvidia of Pangyo.' Its technologies set a new chip manufacturing standard for the AI era, reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions. This is how Gyeonggi and Rebellions are setting the direction and goals for technological progress.
South Korea's semiconductor industry is in the global spotlight and Gyeonggi Province represents 82% of the value added and 77% of its revenue. Rebellions' technology goes beyond Gyeonggi to set a new example for semiconductors around the world.
There is another such example in Pangyo: Kangsters Inc. is a startup that makes lightweight and durable wheelchairs, but it's the exercise package that should be in the spotlight here. Kangsters Inc. developed innovative ideas to transform the disabilities of wheelchair users into their abilities. On Kangsters’ wheelchairs, users can easily enjoy indoor aerobic exercises, like using a treadmill, and also play virtual games, such as wheelchair athletics, skiing and gliding using the app and game content developed by the company.
Gyeonggi Province selected Kangsters Inc. as the first recipient of investment from the Gyeonggi Impact Fund. It was seen as a worthwhile investment destination, because of its social value for the public good.
Wheely-X Play, the game package developed by the company, was selected as an official event in the National e-Sports Para Games. It was honoured with an Edison Award from the American Marketing Association in 2023 and won the CES 2024 Innovation Award the following year. Time magazine named Wheely-X one of the 200 Best Inventions of 2024.
This is how Pangyo startups continue to prove the power of innovation in generating social value and proposing solutions for communities. Thirteen IT startups based in the Pangyo organized the 'Pangyo CS Alliance' in 2013, a social responsibility community. This network was expanded to the 'Pangyo ESG Alliance' in 2022, focusing on realizing the value of sustainable management and social responsibility for startups.
To incentivize these small, but powerful, businesses and create a sustainable public-private partnership model, Gyeonggi Province continues to provide them with more capital attraction opportunities, enhancing their branding and consumer confidence, and fostering talent recruitment.
Collaboration to tackle social challenges in the Intelligent Age
The collaboration between the Gyeonggi Provincial Government and the innovators of Pangyo suggests how all stakeholders can coexist and collaborate in the Intelligent Age. The startups in Pangyo demonstrate that innovation for social value can also be a successful business model. Gyeonggi Province offers incentives for startups that create opportunities for people. Here, it is clear that public leadership is just as important as innovative technologies in the Intelligent Age.
Humanity is on the path of innovation, but the betterment of humanity cannot be achieved through technological innovation alone. Collaboration, both global and local, and between the public and private sectors is essential.
It is a challenging task, but not an impossible one. Gyeonggi and the innovators in Pangyo are showing how to get it done.
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Gideon Lichfield
February 11, 2025