Gwangju Metropolitan City and LIG Nex1 Consortium are planning to commercialize hydrogen fuel "Cargo Drone"

Based on hydrogen fuel cells, a "cargo drone" that transports 200kg of high-weight cargo at a high speed of 100km/h will be commercialized.

In response to the 4th Industrial Revolution, Gwangju Metropolitan City selected drones as the 11 major industries and invested 45.2 billion won in total project costs to expand drone bases such as "cargo drones" and create ecosystems.

Gwangju City established a plan (2021-2025) to foster and support the drone industry in Gwangju Metropolitan City efficiently and systematically.

Last year, through systematic fostering of the drone utilization market, the company plans to lay the foundation for leading the domestic drone market and promote various projects in earnest to foster new industries in the future.

Though this year, systematic fostering of the drone utilization market, the company plans to lay the foundation for leading the domestic drone market and promote various projects in earnest to foster new industries in the future.

■ Finding and supporting businesses to revitalize drone utilization markets

Gwangju City plans to promote various demonstration projects centering on the utilization market and support outstanding companies in the region to commercialize drones in civic life. This year, it plans to actively participate in government-led public offering projects to lay the foundation for stable demonstration of service models using drones in urban areas.

In addition, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of outstanding local companies, it will support buyers to discover prototypes and develop sales channels, hold export consultations, and participate in exhibitions.

■ Establishment of core facilities to demonstrate cargo drone business and support companies

Gwangju Metropolitan City is planning to start construction of a drone demonstration promotion center this year to support urban air mobility's performance, reliability, and demonstration.

The drone demonstration promotion center will have a total of 18 types of demonstration support equipment, corporate occupancy spaces, and education and experience facilities, including comprehensive control facilities, and will serve as a key infrastructure for fostering the drone industry in the region.

The cargo drone technology development project is expected to cost 452 billion won (national 230, city 80, civil 142 million won) by 2025.

Cargo drones, which Gwangju City is developing with the LIG Nex1 consortium as 100% domestic technology, are expected to be used as key technologies to realize urban air transportation, which is attracting attention as the future industry.

In addition, for the successful commercialization and industrialization of cargo drones, test routes and public services will be preemptively discovered to lay the foundation for creating a safe sky road in the city, and cargo drone technology and infrastructure will be linked to urban air transportation.

■The core of future mobility, urban air transportation (UAM) as the future industry

Gwangju City is participating in the UAM Team Korea, which is operated by the government to realize urban air transportation in order to preoccupy the urban air transportation industry. In June last year, a group of experts from all walks of life in Gwangju has been expanded, and policies are being promoted in earnest to discover Gwangju-specific urban air transportation projects and foster companies.

■ Create "Fun City" Gwangju through drone contents

Gwangju City is preparing many drone events so that citizens can sympathize with and feel "Fun City" Gwangju.

First of all, the Bitgoeul Drone Festival is scheduled to be held for the third time this year. And the Drone Light Show, which received a lot of attention from citizens by expressing "4th Industrial Leading City Gwangju" with drones last year, will be planned and promoted as a separate event this year.

Drone Light Show is a new performance method that combines drones and culture using ultra-precision control technology, and this year, it will hold more than 300 large-scale cultural events more than five times to provide citizens and tourists with a variety of attractions.

Along with this, it will also hold a Drone Experience and Education event. It plans to provide citizens with opportunities to experience drones and hold drone and urban air transportation conferences and seminars to further expand the base of the local drone industry.

“We will promote various projects to help citizens experience the drone industry in their daily lives this year, and strive to establish it as a future new industry in Gwangju City by linking with high value-added industries such as UAE,” said Son Kyung-jong, director of the artificial intelligence industry division.

Reported by Smart City Today