Why this is important to Wisconsin businesses: Opportunities for Wisconsin companies to participate in implementing the Digital New Deal, Green New Deal and Employment Safety Net enhancement
In July, the South Korean government unveiled the road map of the Korean New Deal, which is broadly divided into the Digital New Deal, the Green New Deal and the Employment Safety Net enhancement. With that, South Korea plans to invest $133.3 billion by 2025, including $48.2 billion for Digital Dew Deal projects, $61 billion for Green New Deal projects and $24 billion for Employment Safety Net enhancement.
Due to the pandemic, digital transformation will be accelerated, and South Korea's Digital New Deal will ensure the digitization of all industries by leveraging the nation's robust tech infrastructure for applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data and 5G. For example, technologies such as 5G and AI will be implemented to set up smart museums, smart homes, digital health care and online education. Furthermore, the government is planning to establish an intelligent transportation system that utilizes CCTVs and the IoT to remotely control ports, reservoirs and dams.
Meanwhile, the Green New Deal plans to make South Korea less dependent on fossil fuels and expand renewable energy production to 20-30% by 2030. Under the plan, the government will focus on transforming public facilities such as schools, hospitals and day care centers into energy-efficient and eco-friendly buildings. Also, the South Korean government is planning to change its power supply method from central generation to distributed generation. It plans to establish renewable energy infrastructure such as wind and solar energy to create conditions for areas or buildings to generate electricity on their own. Moreover, users will be able to exchange power with other users and spread it over distributed power systems by using smart grids. In addition, the South Korean government has been working actively to support the development of a hydrogen-based economy, with a focus on the development of hydrogen-powered vehicles and creating three hydrogen-powered cities by 2022. South Korea aims to be producing more than 6.2 million hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, 1,200 hydrogen charging stations, and 15GW of fuel cell batteries in industrial use and 2,100MW in household use by 2040. The Ministry of Land Infrastructures and Transport has selected the three cities that will become hydrogen-powered: Ahnsan (Gyeonggi Province), Ulsan (Gyeongsang Province) and Wonjoo/ Jeonju (North Jeolla Province). In these cities, hydrogen will be used as the main power source for functions such as heating and cooling, electricity and transportation. The national government will provide about 50% of the total project cost, with a maximum of about $24.2 million for each of cities to operate.
With these investments by the government, many companies are seeing great potential in South Korea’s digital and green (eco-friendly) industries, and Wisconsin companies should take advantage of these opportunities.