Daegu city officials accept the grand prize in the outstanding project category at the 2026 National Local Government Job Creation Awards, organized by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, at the Korea Press Center in Seoul on Wednesday. [Daegu city government]
Daegu city officials accept the grand prize in the outstanding project category at the 2026 National Local Government Job Creation Awards, organized by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, at the Korea Press Center in Seoul on Wednesday. [Daegu city government]

Daegu won the grand prize in the outstanding project category — the Employment and Labor Minister Award — at the 2026 National Local Government Job Creation Awards, organized by the Ministry of Employment and Labor at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, the city announced Thursday.

The win marks Daegu's third consecutive year receiving recognition at the awards, following a grand prize in the public disclosure category in 2024 and an excellence prize in the outstanding project category in 2025.

The National Local Government Job Creation Awards evaluate all 243 local governments nationwide on job policy performance, creativity in designing projects suited to regional industrial characteristics, and employment creation effects, with the Ministry of Employment and Labor selecting the top-performing municipalities and projects.

The award-winning initiative, the "Motor Parts and Materials Anchor Enterprise Co-growth Vitality Project," is built around Daegu's specialized motor parts and materials industrial complex. It supports anchor companies and their partner firms that form consortiums within the complex, providing assistance with prototype development, commercialization and technology advancement.

In one example, Company A and Company B — a prime contractor and subcontractor — formed a consortium in which Company A handled generator design and prototype assembly while Company B developed aluminum anodizing process technology. Together they successfully produced an eco-friendly, high-efficiency generator prototype and collectively hired 12 new employees.

The co-growth model built through collaboration between anchor and partner companies was also recognized for its scalability and broader impact, having been extended to other project areas including the Daegyeong region's wide-area connectivity program.

"This award is especially meaningful because it shows that companies leveraging their respective strengths and working together have translated that effort into tangible outcomes," Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho said. "We will continue working actively to create new synergies through inter-company collaboration and channel them into quality job creation."


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com