Busan City and the Busan Institute for Science and Technology Promotion (BISTEP) announced on April 21 that they will formally pursue hosting the Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s (DAPA) Defense Innovation Cluster in the advanced defense strategy sector.
The Defense Innovation Cluster initiative, led by DAPA and the Defense Technology Promotion Research Institute, is a major national program aimed at revitalizing the defense industry by promoting domestic production of defense components and developing regional defense hubs.
Gyeongnam (2020), Daejeon (2022) and Gumi (2023) have already been selected and are operating clusters. Officials plan to choose three to four additional regions this year. Selected areas are expected to receive roughly 25 billion KRW (approximately $18.75 million) in national funding over five years.
With BISTEP spearheading the effort, Busan has entered the competition alongside industry, academic and research partners — including Pusan National University, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and SK Telecom — to pursue a marine AX (artificial intelligence transformation) cluster.
BISTEP has actively prepared the application by convening regional defense firms and identifying naval requirements. The agency says it has developed a practical plan to establish a marine defense AX hub and is moving forward with the submission process.
Busan is home to concentrated military assets such as the Navy Operations Command and dense marine research infrastructure — including Pusan National University, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology — giving the city favorable conditions to implement marine defense AX and to secure core technological competitiveness in maritime defense.
Building on these strengths, the proposal calls for creating an on-device AI full-cycle ecosystem for maritime defense — from marine data collection and refinement to design, prototype development, performance verification and field demonstration — and for helping regional defense firms lead an AI-driven transformation.
Kim Young-bu, director of BISTEP, said, "This bid to host the Defense Innovation Cluster will deepen public-private-academic collaboration based on Busan’s strong marine defense research capabilities and act as a catalyst for business growth." He added, "We will continue working with local innovation stakeholders to build the defense ecosystem and strengthen the capabilities of regional defense companies."
