[Article 1]

Incheon to Conduct Safety Checks for Vulnerable Seniors During Chuseok

Incheon Metropolitan City will provide intensive safety monitoring before, during and after the Chuseok holiday for more than 22,000 seniors who live alone or require ongoing care.

During the special safety management period for the Chuseok holiday, the city will work with district offices and 33 agencies providing customized elderly care and emergency safety services to closely monitor the seniors’ well-being and safety.

The group includes 16,262 users of customized elderly care services and 6,230 users of emergency safety and security services, for a total of 22,492 people.

The safety management system will operate in three stages: pre-holiday checks, monitoring during the holiday, and follow-up checks afterward.

[Article 2]

Incheon to Hold 2026 Tourism Souvenir Competition

Incheon Metropolitan City is seeking distinctive tourism souvenirs that reflect the city’s unique identity and characteristics.

The city said it will hold the 2026 Incheon Tourism Souvenir Competition to select and support outstanding products incorporating Incheon’s history, culture, major tourist attractions and official character brands.

Eligible entries include commercially viable products such as handicrafts, manufactured goods and processed foods.

Businesses registered in Incheon as of the announcement date are eligible to participate.

Applications will be accepted in person at the Incheon Tourism Association from October 12 to 16.

Following an evaluation, seven winning products will be selected.

Winners will receive a total of 8 million won in prize money, along with support for market expansion and promotion, including opportunities to sell their products at Incheon tourism information centers.

[Article 3]

Incheon’s Municipal Depository to Be Decided on September 17

Hana Bank and Shinhan Bank are competing to manage Incheon’s municipal depository, which handles about 17 trillion won annually.

Hana Bank has moved its headquarters to Incheon’s Cheongna while Shinhan Bank has held the position for the past 20 years.

According to financial industry sources, Incheon Metropolitan City will hold a Depository Designation Review Committee meeting on September 17 to evaluate the two banks’ proposals and select the preferred bidder.

Hana Bank and Shinhan Bank submitted proposals for the city’s primary depository, while NH NongHyup Bank was the sole applicant for the secondary depository.

The designation period for both the primary and secondary depositories will run for four years, from 2027 to 2030.

[Article 4]

Incheon Startups Prove Technology Overseas Through Global Collaboration

Early-stage startups that have collaborated with global big tech companies through Incheon’s “I-Startup Unicorn Dream” program are achieving results overseas.

The program connects promising startups in Incheon with the technologies and expertise of global big tech companies such as IBM, Ansys, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, or AWS.

IDCITI, one of the participating startups, is receiving support in cloud computing and data analytics from IBM and is pursuing overseas proof-of-concept projects in Singapore and the Czech Republic.

On & Eye, a company specializing in fine dust measurement, is incorporating Ansys technology to further develop a system that precisely analyzes airflow and temperature changes inside equipment in virtual environments.

[Article 5]

50% of Former Gyeongin Expressway’s Sound Barriers Removed

About 50 percent of the sound barriers that stood along the former Gyeongin Expressway and caused urban fragmentation for over 30 years have now been removed.

The removal project on the former expressway, now called Incheon-daero, is part of the city’s two-phase Incheon-daero Generalization Project and involves transforming the 5.64-kilometer section between the Juan Industrial Complex overpass and Seo-Incheon IC into a pedestrian-friendly local road.

It also constructs a 4.27-kilometer underground roadway beneath the upper-deck road.

After removing structures including sound barriers and retaining walls, the city plans to move ahead with converting the road into a local street and constructing the underground roadway.

Sources: https://news.ifm.kr