The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) and Seoul National University recently opened the ‘City Data Science Research Institute’ at Gaepo Digital Innovation Park on April 12.

For the next three years, the City Data Science Research Institute will be carrying out research on the four core topics to solve urban issues in the three fields of transportation, environment, and city development.

First, the research institute will develop a research system for suggesting solutions to urban problems using big data.

This will be followed by the development of a system that observes and analyzes the causes of pollution and noise in the city. Furthermore, the research center will study the urban gentrification phenomenon in Seoul and propose a counterplan. It will also conduct a study on improving the transportation environment through analysis of the traffic environment.

The research institute will also train data specialists each year, targeting a total of 1,000 college students, job seekers, general citizens, and field experts.

The SMG is utilizing big data in many of its policies. The late-night bus system was introduced in 2013 after analyzing the call volume and floating population data. The city also provides accurate information on commercial areas to potential startups based on its analysis of 200 billion cases of big data.