The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced Friday it will establish a new "special classification for the smart city industry" to systematically track the sector's market size, corporate activity, employment and growth potential, and to support tailored industry development policies.
The smart city industry integrates advanced technologies such as AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) into urban construction and operations. Until now, related technologies and services — including AI-based CCTV, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and smart parking — had been scattered across software, construction and telecommunications categories under the existing Korea Standard Industry Classification (KSIC), making it difficult to gauge the industry's overall scale or track growth trends by segment.
In response, the ministry designated the development of the new classification as a key task under the Fourth Comprehensive Smart City Plan (2024–2028), and the framework cleared an advisory committee review after expert consultations and working-level discussions with the Ministry of Statistics.
The newly established classification breaks the industry down into a four-tier hierarchy — 4 major categories, 10 medium categories, 18 minor categories and 35 subcategories — based on the industry's value chain. The four major categories cover the smart city ecosystem: smart city technology, smart city infrastructure, smart city services, and smart city-related institutions and organizations. The framework is designed to encompass the full breadth of the industry, from manufacturing and management to service provision, sales and leasing.
The ministry plans to conduct a pilot survey on the smart city industry in 2027 based on the new classification. It will seek designation of the survey results as nationally approved statistics, with the resulting data to be used for R&D funding, budget support, selection of regulatory sandbox candidates, and support for Korean smart city companies expanding overseas.
Companies will be able to clearly demonstrate their business scope and market viability through the nationally recognized classification system, and investors are expected to find it easier to identify high-growth segments of the sector.
"We have laid the groundwork for nurturing the smart city industry by defining its scope more concretely, and it is significant that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Statistics worked together proactively to establish a credible classification framework quickly," said Lee Gi-bong, the ministry's urban policy director. "We will spare no effort in building systematic statistics to help lead the global smart city ecosystem."
Meanwhile, the ministry will co-host the 2026 World Smart City Expo with the Ministry of Science and ICT and the city of Busan at BEXCO in Busan from Sept. 9 to 11.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Shin Hea-won
Dieser Artikel ist neu veröffentlicht von / This article is republished from: The Herald Business, 24.07.2026
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