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Young Enterprise Supported by Busan Metropolitan City and KAIST Launches Korea’s First Commercial Digital Product Passport Service

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, announced that DATASPIRA Co., Ltd., a local enterprise founded by young entrepreneurs, has launched Korea’s first commercial Digital Product Passport service and signed a supply contract with renowned Italian fashion company Dolce & Gabbana.

DATASPIRA Co., Ltd. is a local company that has grown with support including technology transfer from the Auto-ID Labs Busan Innovation Research Institute, an international joint research institute established by Busan Metropolitan City and KAIST.

The Digital Product Passport, or DPP, is a system for managing lifecycle information, including resource recycling, for products imported into and distributed within the European Union. The EU is moving to introduce mandatory requirements sequentially by product category beginning in 2026.

Since 2025, DATASPIRA Co., Ltd. has participated with Dolce & Gabbana in a competitive proof-of-concept process involving companies from around the world. Following the process, it signed a final supply contract on April 9 and began full-scale commercialization of its Digital Product Passport service.

2026: steel; 2027: batteries, textiles, apparel, aluminum, furniture; 2028: furniture; 2029: mattresses, electronic products; 2030 onward: continued expansion.

This commercialization is significant because a local company has applied technology capable of responding to European Union product regulations in a real-world market.

In particular, with interest in entering the European market growing following the successful completion on September 12 of a trial voyage along the Arctic shipping route from Busan Port to the Port of Rotterdam, the commercialization of Digital Product Passport technology is expected to help support local companies seeking to enter the European market.

DATASPIRA Co., Ltd. is a local enterprise founded by young entrepreneurs in 2024 with support for digital transformation standard technologies from the Auto-ID Labs Busan Innovation Research Institute, which Busan Metropolitan City attracted in 2022.

Following the launch in July of a product certified by the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability, or GDST, the company has now brought its Digital Product Passport service to the market, successively introducing technologies and products capable of responding to international regulations.

Busan Metropolitan City expects these achievements to strengthen the technological competitiveness of local enterprises founded by young entrepreneurs and broaden the foundation for their future growth.

The Auto-ID Labs Busan Innovation Research Institute is an international joint research institute of GS1, an international standards organization for digital transformation. It conducts joint research on digital transformation standardization and the creation of higher added value with leading overseas university research institutes, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, as well as global logistics companies.

Based on the technologies and outcomes secured through this joint research, the institute also supports local companies through training, technology commercialization, and overseas market entry.

Amid growing uncertainty in international supply chains and the increasing importance of transparency in resource recycling and distribution traceability, Busan Metropolitan City expects that applying internationally validated technologies and solutions to local industries will help accelerate digital transformation.

The City also expects that combining these solutions with artificial intelligence technologies will expand their applications to areas such as supply chain optimization and customized value-added services, thereby helping enhance the competitiveness of local industries.

Mayor Chun Jae-soo said, “The commercialization of this technology and the signing of an international contract are the result of the outstanding artificial intelligence capabilities and entrepreneurial spirit of a local enterprise founded by young entrepreneurs.”

He added, “We will actively support the integration of artificial intelligence technologies into local industries in collaboration with local universities and other partners, as well as ambitious technology startups that harness artificial intelligence.”