Government to fund universities for industry-academia research clusters

K-campus

Published: 28 Feb. 2024, 17:42 Updated: 28 Feb. 2024, 19:04

Government to fund universities for industry-academia research clusters

The Probiotics Microbiome Convergence Center at Soonchunhyang University's RGB Campus, a industry-academia research cluster in the university campus. [SOONCHUNHYANG UNIVERSITY]

The government aims to encourage collaborations between universities, businesses and research institutions, offering funding for universities to create a new industry-academia research cluster on campus.

Four universities will be selected for the government's funding project this year, according to the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.

Each university will annually get funding of 2 billion won ($1.5 million) for the first three years and 1 billion won per year for the next two years.

Funding will be provided on the condition that the universities additionally invest an amount equivalent to 10 percent of the total government funding they receive into creating the industry-academia research cluster.

Universities will be able to use the funding to build the new cluster and offer opportunities for their students to participate in joint research and career training programs.

The Education Ministry will get applications from universities that want to participate in the project by April 9, with selected universities announced at the end of May.

Pukyong National University and Hanyang University's Erica campus were selected for the same project in 2019 and Yonsei University and Soonchunhyang University in 2020, with their five-year funding period ending this year and next, respectively.

A total of 363 companies had used workspaces at the four industry-academia research clusters and 207 university students were employed by those companies. The companies received investment and research projects worth 182 billion won.

"The Education Ministry will help universities and local companies to innovate through industry-academia partnerships," said Koo Yeon-hee, head of the ministry's Regional Human Capital Policy Bureau. “We hope the selected universities will serve as hubs for industry-academia cooperation and become a driving force for regional growth."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]