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Digital innovation is one of the key potentials to be leveraged in order to address several of the major societal challenges we face today. There is a significant need for research, development, and collaboration – also from an international perspective.
GINP aimed to utilize new digital solutions to accelerate the green transition. South Korea was a frontrunner in innovative smart city solutions and the implementation of smart infrastructure. For this reason, South Korea served as an inspiring example for Danish stakeholders seeking to further develop their smart city technologies.
The main objective of the project was to strengthen collaboration between Danish and Korean R&D ecosystems in order to increase joint participation in national and international funding programmes.
Through workshops and delegation visits, new opportunities for collaboration were identified – both within research and with regard to innovation opportunities for Danish companies, SMEs, and start-ups.
Read how the South Korean delegation experienced their visit to Danish knowledge institutions:
Dr. Suk-Hwan Lee
Professor, Department of Computer Engineering, Dong-A University.
What impressed you the most during your visit to smart cities in Denmark?
- It is the experimental testing environment and infrastructure, particularly the living labs at universities such as SDU, Aarhus University, and Aalborg University. In addition, the open and sincere research exchanges during the seminars were highly valuable.
What key lessons or ideas did you gain from your meetings and discussions in Denmark?
- We observed that practice-oriented research and real-world implementation are being actively pursued, especially in the areas of smart cities and energy, with a strong focus on applicability and impact.
How do you think this Denmark–Korea smart city cooperation can make a difference in the future?
- Beyond traditional academic exchanges, this cooperation can enable empirical collaboration and the shared development and application of smart city technologies and platforms between Denmark and Korea.
Dr. Youngchul Kim
Director, KAIST Smart City Research Centre.
What impressed you the most during your visit to smart cities in Denmark?
- What impressed us most was how closely universities, municipalities, and industry work together. In cities like Aarhus, Odense, and Aalborg, smart city solutions in energy and water were not only research topics but were already being tested and applied in real urban environments.
What key lessons or ideas did you gain from your meetings and discussions in Denmark?
- A key lesson was the importance of living labs and real-scale demonstrations. Danish universities actively collaborate with cities to validate technologies in practice, which significantly shortens the gap between research and implementation.
How do you think this Denmark–Korea smart city cooperation can make a difference in the future?
- By combining Denmark’s strong applied research and testbed approach with Korea’s technological capabilities and system integration, this cooperation can accelerate the development of scalable and sustainable smart city solutions.
Dr. Jung Hwan Lee
Senior Researcher, K-Water Research Institute.
What impressed you the most during your visit to smart cities in Denmark?
- We were particularly impressed by Denmark’s integrated approach to water, energy, and urban planning. Water infrastructure is treated as a core element of smart cities, closely linked to energy efficiency and climate resilience.
What key lessons or ideas did you gain from your meetings and discussions in Denmark?
- One important takeaway was how Danish cities use data-driven decision-making and strong cooperation with universities to optimize water and energy systems, especially in relation to climate adaptation and sustainability.
How do you think this Denmark–Korea smart city cooperation can make a difference in the future?
- Denmark–Korea cooperation can create strong synergies by linking Denmark’s expertise in sustainable urban water and energy systems with Korea’s large-scale infrastructure experience, enabling joint solutions for global smart city challenges.
