Special competition held in two categories: jobs, housing and leisure; and AI-based improvements to daily inconveniences
Micro-factory concept, AI waste-sorting guide and public facility reservation linking among life-centered ideas selected
Award ceremony and roundtable held to share proposal intent; implementation plans to follow for adopted ideas
Gwangjin-gu in Seoul has selected 10 life-centered policy ideas submitted by residents as outstanding proposals.
The district office held an awards ceremony and roundtable Friday for its "2026 Online Policy Forum Special Policy Proposal Competition," recognizing the top submissions.
The Online Policy Forum is a communication channel on the district's website where residents can freely propose ideas to address everyday inconveniences or contribute to local development.
The district ran the special competition from Sept. 9 to Sept. 27, covering two categories: jobs, housing and leisure; and AI-based improvements to daily inconveniences. After two rounds of screening that assessed feasibility, creativity and efficiency, 10 proposals were selected in total — one silver prize, two bronze prizes, two encouragement prizes and five merit prizes.
The silver prize, the highest honor, went to a proposal to establish a "micro-factory" — a small urban production space using AI and 3D technology. The idea calls for building a small-scale manufacturing and fabrication base and linking it to jobs in the technology sector.
The two bronze prizes went to a "smart bathroom auto-flush system" designed to help with toilet hygiene management in households of low-income people with disabilities and elderly residents with dementia, and "Gwangjin AI Waste Guide," which uses a single photo to advise residents on proper waste sorting and recycling.
The encouragement prizes went to "Gwangjin Public Reservation Connect," which offers waiting-list users access to slots that open up due to cancellations at public facilities, and "A Home That Lasts, a Gwangjin Worth Living In," a program to help residents of aging homes inspect and repair their properties themselves.
At the ceremony, certificates were presented to the winners, who shared the background behind their proposals, the intent of their ideas and their acceptance remarks.
Gwangjin-gu plans to develop implementation plans for the selected proposals and monitor their progress to ensure they can be translated into actual policy.
"I am grateful to everyone who took notice of the inconveniences in daily life and proposed concrete solutions," Gwangjin-gu District Mayor Kim Kyung-ho said. "We will carefully follow through to ensure the adopted proposals become policies that genuinely help residents in their everyday lives."
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