Ansan City and Hello Friends Hold GovTech Project Kickoff Meeting to Advance AI-Powered Public Services
Ansan City and Hello Friends mark the launch of their GovTech project with a kickoff meeting, bringing together city officials and key stakeholders to advance A…
Ansan City and Hello Friends held a GovTech project kickoff meeting (착수보고회) on August 18, 2026, at Ansan City Hall, marking an important step in their joint efforts to improve administrative services for foreign residents through artificial intelligence (AI).
The meeting focused on the development and demonstration of a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-based administrative service solution designed to make public information more accessible to Ansan's diverse foreign resident population.
The initiative follows the selection of Ansan City and Hello Friends for the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency's (NIPA) 2026 GovTech Startup AI Demonstration and Commercialization Support Program, announced in June 2026. Under the project, Ansan City serves as the demand institution, while Hello Friends takes the lead in project implementation. The two organizations jointly applied for the program as a consortium, securing a total project budget of KRW 240 million.
Ansan Mayor Lee Min-geun, Ansan City Officials, and Hello Friends representatives pose for a group photo at the GovTech kickoff meeting.
During the kickoff meeting, Hello Friends CEO Tom Kang presented the company's AI-powered administrative solution and introduced the project's implementation approach. The presentation was attended by public officials and representatives from Wongok-dong Administrative Welfare Center (원곡동 행정복지센터), Multicultural Support Center (다문화지원센터), and the Foreign Residents Support Headquarters (외국인주민지원본부). The Team Leader of the AI Administrative Innovation Team (AI행정혁신팀장) from Ansan City's Information and Communications Department (정보통신과) also attended.
Hello Friends CEO Tom Kang presents at the Ansan City's GovTech kickoff meeting
Ansan Mayor Lee Min-geun (이민근) subsequently joined the meeting, alongside representatives from the participating institutions and project stakeholders. The gathering provided an opportunity to share implementation plans, discuss demonstration schedules, and coordinate cooperation among the organizations involved.
At the core of the project is an AI-powered administrative service built using RAG technology and more than 100,000 foreign resident consultation records, combined with relevant administrative data, laws, and government manuals. The solution is designed to provide reliable administrative information through a multilingual AI chatbot supporting 28 languages, alongside self-service information kiosks.
Ansan City's AI Administrative Innovation Team Leader speaks during the GovTech kickoff meeting.
With the kiosks already deployed, the project is progressing toward making administrative information more accessible to foreign residents. The AI-powered service is intended to help users navigate administrative procedures, find relevant information, and overcome language barriers when accessing public services.
Through this collaboration, Ansan City and Hello Friends are working to bring AI-driven innovation into local public administration, demonstrating how GovTech solutions can address practical challenges faced by increasingly diverse communities.
References
1. Ansan City. (June 10, 2026). Ansan City Selected for the 2026 GovTech Startup AI Demonstration and Commercialization Support Program.
2. Ansan City. (August 19, 2026). Development of AI-Powered Administrative Services for Foreign Residents.
3. Seoul Ilbo. Coverage of Ansan City's AI-Powered Administrative Services Project.
Article by Ahmad Bin Aamir
