Jeju Leaps Toward 'Space Data City' Beyond Tourism — Cheju Halla University Hosts Successful Industry-Academia Conference

The RISE Business Division of Cheju Halla University (Director Ko Seokyong) successfully held an industry-academia cooperation conference on November 28, celebrating the opening of ‘Jeju Island WorkLab Hamdeok,’ a new innovation hub in Jeju. The conference was organized not merely for technical discussion, but to explore concrete strategies and measures for integrating humanities and tourism as Jeju strives to emerge as an aerospace data innovation cluster.

The event drew key leaders in policy, technology, and business — including AWS (Amazon Web Services), NaraSpace, the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Telefix, Contact, and Airstars — to map out Jeju’s future blueprint.

Jeju as the ‘Fourth Axis’ Connecting Daejeon and Jeonnam — The Answer Lies in ‘Data’ and ‘Convergence’

The keynote presentations focused intensively on a differentiation strategy centered on ‘data’ rather than hardware.

• STEPI Senior Research Fellow Park Hyunjun stressed that for Jeju to become the ‘fourth axis’ of the national space industry — linking Daejeon’s research, Sacheon’s satellite manufacturing, and South Jeolla’s launch vehicle industry — Jeju must claim its niche in ‘data analysis’ and ‘downstream (application) sectors.’

• AWS Sales Representative Yoo Wondo and NaraSpace Division Head Kim Minsik presented a vision for transforming Jeju into a testbed for global space companies by leveraging global-standard cloud infrastructure to analyze Jeju’s weather, environmental, and tourism data.

Space Technology Meets Jeju’s ‘Tourism and Humanities’

The panel discussion, moderated by Cheju Halla University Professor Young Joon Lee, sparked lively debate about a ‘Jeju-style space ecosystem’ combining technology with humanities and the arts.

• Ground-based space tourism: A realistic ‘ground-based space tourism’ model was proposed and enthusiastically received, envisioning XR (Extended Reality)-based virtual space experiences utilizing Jeju’s oreum (parasitic volcanic cones) and volcanic terrain.

• Convergence of art and technology: Artists and corporate representatives agreed that artistic imagination can generate popular demand for the space industry, and stressed the importance of converging content infused with Jeju’s unique storytelling.

• Solving local problems: Participating companies including Telefix and Contact introduced concrete solutions for addressing Jeju’s regional issues — such as disaster prevention and agricultural productivity improvement — using on-board AI technology and ground station infrastructure.

Lee Sanghoon, Head of the Learncation Division at Cheju Halla University’s RISE Business Division, remarked, “This conference carries great significance as the opening salvo heralding the launch of Jeju Island WorkLab Hamdeok. This space will go beyond being merely a workplace to become a sanctuary of ‘Learncation’ — where space and aerospace talent and companies from around the world come to Jeju to stay, work, and learn. We hope that innovative ideas merging technology and humanities will continuously spring forth from this place.”

The Cheju Halla University RISE Business Division plans to use the strategies drawn from this conference to work with local government to create publicly-driven data demand, and to accelerate the cultivation of space and data specialists centered on the university.