Global Economic Mission
The Gumi Economic Mission to the US headed by Nam Yoo-chin, mayor of Gumi, is stepping up its efforts to expand its global value chain.
The economic mission which traveled to Silicon Valley and Seattle, the world's most advanced high-tech industrial bases, on February 17, carred out full-scale business activities, publicizing Gumi’s excellent manufacturing capabilities and the status of individual companies and discussing joint projects between corporations in Gumi and Silicon Valley and Seattle.
In particular, the schedule was directly managed by Mayor Nam Yoo-chin, who visited Seattle to promote the "Gumi-Seattle Public Library Cooperation Project." Nam also visited Redmond City Hall, Siemens and Boeing, and held a meeting with the Korean Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA).
The delegation visited Redmond City Hall on the day, and met with four of all seven members of the City Council including Hank Margeson, who serves on behalf of Mayor John Marchione on a long-term sick leave and municipal officials.
In this meeting, by citing a logic of Professor Richard Florida, a world-renowned urban economist at the University of Toronto, mayor Nam suggested creating a virtuous cycle of attracting high-quality human resources and industrial development by improving settlement conditions. Moreover, both sides agreed to establish a close exchange and cooperation relationship throughout whole society from industry, culture, sports and academia and to discuss forming a sister city relationship.
Mayor Nam reportedly paid a visit to Redmond City for the second time since 2008. Therefore, Redmond City expressed exceptionally strong hospitality, especially in preparation for a meeting with the mayor of Gumi and his entrouge including "Brown Bag Meeting," a meeting with a simple lunch.
Located near Seattle, Redmond is a small city with a population of 60,000, but it is known as one of the most representative small but strong cities in the world with global companies such as Microsoft, Nintendo America, AT&T and Honeywell.
The delegation also visited Siemens to explain the current industrial situations of Gumi City in a meeting with Siemen’s executives and requested joint projects with local companies in the medical device sector and direct investment in the Gumi Industrial Complex. It was reported that the vice president of Siemens Korea stayed in Seattle to guide the Gumi mayor in person.
On top of that, Boeing gave a VIP treatment to the delegation which visited Boeing in order to grasp industry trends related to carbon fiber. The big welcome can be interpreted as Boeing’s growing interest in Gumi since Boeing Korea president Eric John's visit to mayor Nam last October.
In addition, the delegation hold a meeting with representatives of the Seattle branch of the KSEA consisting of core engineers such as those at Washington University, Microsoft and Boeing, and asked them to actively engage in technical exchanges and economic cooperation between companies in Gumi City and local companies, universities and research institutes.
The KSEA was established in Washington, DC on December 11, 1971 by Korean scientists and engineers and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the KIST. Moreover, the KSEA served as an advisor for the establishment of the KAIST, the POSTECH, the GIST and other institutions. As of the end of 2016, the organization had a total of more than 10,000 members.
Gumi City is planning to gradually expand its local industries’ global value chain construction through the utilization of economic networks built through this tour with the participation of six local small but strong enterprises in Gumi and direct cooperation with US companies and institutions with fundamental technologies.
New industrial infrastructure such as the Wearable Smart Device Commercialization Support Center, the Electronic Medical Device Knowledge Industry Center and the Fusion and Convergence Carbon Material Cluster are under construction and large-scale new projects of the government on holograms, medical visual devices and a centralized high-purity industrial water supply system are in the works in Gumi City. Thus, it is expected that the economic network, which is a result of the dispatch of the economic delegation, will serve as a new drving force to support Gumi’s local economy and industry.