Seoul Digital Industrial Complex. (image: Seoul Metropolitan Government)
SEOUL, Apr. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government plans to introduce ‘Negative Zones’ that lift restrictions on the types of businesses that can operate in an industrial complex.
The new initiative, for instance, will allow industrial complexes that used to accept only one kind of business, such as manufacturing companies, to open up to other types of businesses such as those in the service sector, creating potential synergy that will boost industrial competitiveness.
The government held a high-level meeting on Thursday to approve the new initiative.
The comprehensive negative regulation system freely accepts new technologies or products and imposes regulations later only when needed.
The creation of negative zones is one of the 132 policy agendas that the government announced recently to address the difficulties faced by new industries due to entrance restrictions at industrial complexes.
Currently, only 25 types of manufacturing businesses, 27 types of intellectual businesses, five types of IT businesses, and 12 types of businesses in other sectors are allowed to enter industrial complexes.
This allows drone manufacturing firms to operate in industrial complexes, while drone schools or experience centers, categorized as services, cannot.
The government, by introducing the negative zone initiative, expressed its intent to lift such restrictions in an era where technological advancement is diversifying types of businesses and synergetic cooperation is becoming more important than ever.
The government also plans to permit the installation of high-tech fire warning facilities at apartment complexes and traditional markets currently equipped with outdated wired fire detection devices.
The government will approve the installation of a variety of fire warning facilities that come with wireless Internet of Things (IoT) technology at some 360,000 apartment complexes and markets, which will enable authorities to immediately contact the owner of a building or the 119 situation room in case of a fire.
This initiative, in the hopes of the government, will create an opportunity for IoT tech firms to enter the fire safety industry, while allowing warning system manufacturers to develop new technology.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
