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Seoul universities form committees to drive RISE projects

Published: 10 Feb. 2025, 18:45

LEE TAE-HEE
[email protected]

Members of Sogang University's RISE committee pose for a photo on Feb. 6 [SOGANG UNIVERSITY]

Seoul-based universities are establishing committees as they eye Regional Innovation System & Education (RISE) projects that will be organized by the city government.

Sogang University announced Monday it launched its RISE committee, naming Jun Sung-youl, executive vice president of academic affairs, as the committee head.

The committee will come up with plans to expand the university's partnerships with local industries, develop programs to foster creative and interdisciplinary talent and create more global industry-academia partnerships.

Through the government's RISE project, local governments of 17 cities and provinces are given the authority to allocate part of the Ministry of Education's budget to drive regional innovation. For this year, a budget of 2.001 trillion won ($1.38 billion) has been allocated for RISE.

With Seoul also participating in the project, the local government plans to use its budget for five fields: enhancing global competitiveness of Seoul universities, creating programs that develop its strategic industries, regional growth, lifelong education and student startups.

The Seoul RISE Center will be in charge of selecting universities that will be participating in each project throughout 2025 to 2029.

Korea University also launched its committee on Feb. 5, with the group eyeing R&D-related projects.

The university mentioned it has expertise in partnerships with research institutions through the Hongreung Innotown, a bio and medical cluster working on various research projects with the university and its hospital.

Hanyang University, which also established its RISE committee, plans to focus on creating jobs in Seoul's strategic industries.

As a university specializing in engineering, it hopes to create partnerships with global companies and other universities to cultivate talent in advanced industries.

"Our three main initiatives are creating more global industry-academia partnerships, attracting overseas talent in high-tech and emerging industries and strengthening overall industry-academia partnerships," said Lee Ki-jeong, president of Hanyang University. "We plan to outline a pioneering model for Seoul's RISE project through university-led innovation."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]