DGIST hosts Daegu-North Gyeongsang UAM Future Aviation Forum
The "flying taxi" is moving from imagination to reality.
DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology) said it successfully held the "Daegu-North Gyeongsang UAM Future Aviation Forum on National Strategy and Transportation Infrastructure" on Thursday at the Daegu Scale-Up Hub.
The forum was organized to examine urban air mobility (UAM) from the perspective of national future aviation strategy and regional transportation and industrial infrastructure, and to explore directions for UAM demonstration, infrastructure development, integrated operations and industrial transition tailored to the Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province region.
UAM enables rapid movement free of ground-level traffic congestion and draws attention as a core element of the next-generation transportation revolution. Major advanced economies including the United States, Europe and Japan have identified UAM — which dramatically cuts travel times — as a key tool for reducing the significant social costs associated with growing traffic demand. Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province are particularly well-positioned, given the planned new airport, a wide-area transportation network and proximity to major industrial complexes, making UAM a critical driver for upgrading regional public services and building a future aviation ecosystem.
The forum focused on future aviation development strategies grounded in the transportation and industrial conditions of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, in line with the government's K-UAM commercialization policy direction. Discussions centered particularly on linking UAM with key regional infrastructure — including the Daegu Gyeongbuk New Airport, the Daegu Industrial Line, wide-area rail networks and industrial complexes.
Park Ji-ho, head of DGIST's UAM project division, said the forum was a meaningful occasion to move the Daegu-North Gyeongsang UAM project beyond broad policy concepts and discuss concrete steps directly connecting it to regional transportation networks, industrial infrastructure and demonstration foundations. "We will actively contribute to identifying a region-specific public UAM model and building a future aviation industry ecosystem, drawing on DGIST's strong research and demonstration capabilities," he said.
Meanwhile, DGIST plans to use the forum's outcomes to strengthen cooperation with the Daegu city government, relevant agencies, industry and research institutions. The institute intends to move quickly on follow-up initiatives — including developing UAM demonstration routes, building vertiport infrastructure, and advancing integrated operations and air traffic management technology — by converging advanced mobility technologies such as AI, autonomous driving, robotics, sensors, communications and data.
nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com
