The closure of the Gyeonggi 4th Industrial Revolution Center opened due to Kim Dong-yeon

“It’s not cost-effective”… No project expenses for next year

(Suwon = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Chan-heung = Gyeonggi Province has decided to discontinue the operation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Center, which was established in cooperation with the World Economic Forum (Davos Forum) during the time of former Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon.

Hyun Byeong-cheon, director of Gyeonggi Province's Future Growth Industry Bureau, attended the administrative audit of the Provincial Council's Future Science Cooperation Committee on the 11th and explained the difficulties in operating the center and announced that no project expenses were allocated for next year.

Director Hyun said, "After former Governor Kim signed an MOU with the Davos Forum, he established the center with the purpose of supporting domestic companies' advancement into the global market. Although there were some results, the cost-effectiveness was not significant."

He continued, “Considering the fact that the budget is allocated to public enterprise special accounting, the large number of employees, and difficult financial difficulties, we have judged that it will be difficult to continue the center next year,” and added, “Accordingly, project expenses have not been allocated in the main budget.”

Provincial lawmaker Oh Nam-seok (People Power Party, Proportionality) said that the current director expressed his position that the center would be closed even in an inquiry held outside the district magistrate’s office.

Rep. Oh said, "This year's operating budget for the Gyeonggi Province 4th Industrial Revolution Center is 3 billion won, half of which, 1.5 billion won, is the annual membership fee for the World Economic Forum." He added, "As taxpayers' taxes are invested, ineffective projects should not be routinely maintained, and a close review must be conducted from the project implementation stage to prevent the same problem from recurring."

The 4th Industrial Revolution Center is a regional cooperation base organization established by the World Economic Forum in consultation with countries or regions to bring about global cooperation and joint response in a period of transformation in science and technology.

Since it was first established in San Francisco, USA in 2017, there are 18 centers in Norway, Japan, India, etc., and its role is to establish industry-academia-research networks, share technological trends, and promote research projects.

Former Governor Kim signed a business agreement with World Economic Forum Chairman Borge Brende in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2024 to establish the Gyeonggi-do Fourth Industrial Revolution Center, and then opened the center in Pangyo in January last year.