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Busan Selected for “Marine Culture-Based Age-Tech Testbed Development Project”… Full-Scale Promotion of AI-Based Silver Economy

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Busan Metropolitan City announced that it has been finally selected for the national public contest for the “Marine Culture-Based Age-Tech Testbed Development Project,” hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

This project aims to invest a total of KRW 27 billion (KRW 13.5 billion from the national government and KRW 13.5 billion from the city) over five years through 2030 to foster an AI-based silver economy industry in response to a super-aged society and to establish an industrial testbed ecosystem centered in Busan.

The project is a national initiative that combines Busan’s high proportion of elderly population (25.3% as of 2025) with its globally recognized marine tourism infrastructure to create a demonstration environment where seniors can experience advanced AI technologies in their daily lives, while supporting related companies in securing global competitiveness.

It is also expected to serve as a key initiative that concretizes Busan’s age-tech strategy for a super-aged society, established last year as part of the 52nd Emergency Economic Countermeasures Meeting, and to transform the aging crisis into a new opportunity for industrial growth.

To systematically implement the project, the city has established a vision of becoming a “leading global silver economy city based on AI transformation (AX)” along with four strategic pillars under the Busan-style “AGES” framework and three major fields with eight key initiatives.

Under “AGES,” the four strategies consist of: A (AX Expansion), which expands AI services beyond care and healthcare into culture, leisure, finance, and other aspects of daily life; G (Ground Testbed), which supports citizen-participatory, locally embedded demonstrations based on five anchor labs and living labs; E (Enterprise Scale-up), which provides customized, full-cycle support for age-tech companies from demonstration to commercialization; and S (Spread Global), which promotes global market entry and expansion through cooperation networks with super-aged advanced countries such as Japan, the United States, and Europe.

In addition, through three major fields and eight key initiatives, the city will implement demonstration, commercialization, and industrial infrastructure development in phases.

In the demonstration and advancement (Reference-Up) field, more than 130 AI age-tech projects will be identified and supported from early-stage technologies to commercialization, and demonstration areas will be expanded by linking with Busan’s specialized industries such as marine tourism, including cruise-based senior towns.

In the global expansion (Scale-Up) field, the city aims to secure a leading position in the rapidly growing global age-tech market, which is expanding at an average annual rate of 23%, by supporting overseas demonstrations and global expansion strategies for 45 promising companies, thereby promoting the spread of the “K-Age-Tech” brand.

In the field development (Field-Up) area, five anchor labs utilizing infrastructure across Busan will be designated and operated, and a silver industry cluster will be established in connection with the HAHA Campus, the nation’s first large-scale senior complex. Through these initiatives, the city plans to create more than 175 new jobs led by companies in related industries.

Going forward, the city plans to fully establish an age-tech industrial ecosystem based on an open collaboration structure involving local companies and public-sector demand organizations.

In particular, by sharing and utilizing data accumulated during the demonstration process, the city intends to enhance corporate product competitiveness and establish a virtuous cycle that leads to domestic and global market expansion and job creation.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “Busan possesses an optimal demonstration environment with senior-friendly infrastructure, including its designation as a top-eight global smart city and its 15-minute city model capable of responding to a super-aged society,” adding, “Through this project, we will create a virtuous cycle in which technologies validated in Busan become global standards and expand into global markets, enabling Busan to leap forward as a global age-tech hub city.”