Busan Techno Park and the National Health Insurance Service's Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Regional Headquarters have joined forces to establish AI-based smart nursing homes and promote the aging-friendly industry.
The two organizations presented a broad cooperation blueprint, ranging from digital care service demonstrations to commercialization for local businesses. However, they are expected to focus primarily on advisory roles based on the long-term care insurance system this year.
On August 27, the two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding for the innovation of long-term care services and the activation of the aging-friendly industry at the Busan Techno Park Eco Complex. The signing ceremony was attended by Acting Director Seo Hyung-pil and Hong Yoon-hee, head of the NHIS Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Regional Headquarters, among other officials.
The agreement includes extensive cooperation plans such as consulting on smart nursing homes and the efficiency of digital care services, promoting the aging-friendly industry, training for staff and users, and jointly conducting seminars and field demonstrations.
The plan aims to combine Busan Techno Park's experience in digital healthcare projects and its network of local businesses with the NHIS's expertise in long-term care insurance systems and nursing facility operations.
However, the NHIS's immediate role this year will primarily involve advising to ensure that the demonstration projects led by Busan Techno Park comply with the current long-term care insurance system.
NHIS officials clarified that discussions regarding the provision of long-term care data or linking demonstration results to care benefit rates and facility evaluations are not on the agenda at this stage. Given Busan Techno Park's relatively limited experience in the long-term care sector, the focus will be on understanding the system and setting the right direction rather than data sharing.
The core project of this collaboration, the establishment of an AI-based smart nursing home platform, will be conducted with a total budget of 900 million won, led by the city of Busan and Busan Techno Park, and is set to be completed by December of this year.
Five facilities, including the Busan Senior Health Center, Gijang Silver Home, Muryangsu Senior Nursing Home, Busanjin Senior Nursing Center, and Haeundae Silver Home, will serve as demonstration sites. Six types of demonstrations will be conducted at these locations, including smart waste management, fall management, emergency situation management, digital care logs, notifications for guardians, and digital leisure and video services. The platform will be developed by Smart Big and DKI Tech.
Acting Director Seo Hyung-pil stated at the signing ceremony, "We will closely link the expertise of the field, data, and corporate technology centered around healthcare and big data centers to expand service demonstrations and field applications," expressing a commitment to support local business commercialization.
Head Hong Yoon-hee also described the agreement in previously distributed materials as a first step in connecting long-term care sites with digital technology.
Following the signing of the agreement, the two organizations plan to establish a regular consultative body to gradually promote follow-up projects such as consulting, seminars, and field demonstrations.
More in-depth cooperation plans, such as supporting local business commercialization or linking NHIS data, are expected to take shape during discussions for next year's projects after the completion of this year's demonstration projects.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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