All Job-Seeking Trainees to Be Employed at Domestic AI Semiconductor SMEs
Industry-Academia-Research Opinions Reflected in Trainee Selection, Operation, and Hiring Connection
From Next Year, About 55 Trainees and 10-Week Training Period Expanded
At the 2021 AI Yangjae Hub AI Semiconductor Design Specialist Engineer Training Completion Ceremony, trainees are taking a commemorative photo.
The ‘AI Yangjae Hub,’ an AI semiconductor specialized workforce training institution operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is contributing to alleviating youth unemployment and manpower shortages in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
According to Seoul City on the 6th, all 34 students who wished to find employment among the 39 graduates of the AI semiconductor specialized talent training course successfully secured jobs. They were employed by domestic AI semiconductor SMEs such as Open Edge Technology, Supergate, and Silicon Arts.
AI Yangjae Hub, opened in December 2017, is an institution that fosters AI technology startups and trains specialized talent. Seoul City supports funding, investment attraction, industry-academia-research networking, and R&D to develop the Yangjae area into an AI-specialized hub where AI talent and companies gather. As of November, about 100 startups have moved in, and 40 companies have graduated. Over three years, the cumulative sales of resident companies reached 173.5 billion KRW, and the total investment attracted amounted to 143.9 billion KRW.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), which operates AI Yangjae Hub on consignment, incorporates opinions from industry, academia, and research throughout the entire process, including trainee selection, education operation, and employment linkage. From planning curricula by job field to recruiting and selecting trainees, imparting industrial know-how education, and linking to employment, the curriculum is designed based on industry demand, and companies with demand directly select trainees through interviews. In other words, education is conducted through matching between companies and job seekers.
After basic practical training, trainees attend lectures by subject professors and carry out individual and team practical design projects. The results designed over 10 weeks are presented at an individual project presentation, followed by company interviews and employment linkage. The hub is also equipped with expensive semiconductor design software tools, practice boards, and measurement instrument training equipment.
AI Yangjae Hub forms an education curriculum development committee consisting of industry experts with rich practical experience, university professors, and ETRI specialized researchers to develop AI specialized talent education curricula. The program is operated mainly by veteran instructors with over 10 years of practical experience. While university credit-based courses take about one and a half years, the hub produces specialized talent in a short period through an intensive two-month immersive training. According to surveys of hiring companies, many responded that the trainees’ practical skills were equivalent to employees with about 12 months of work experience after joining.
Starting next year, the city plans to increase the number of trainees from the current 40 to around 55 and extend the training period from 8 weeks to 10 weeks. Recruitment of trainees will begin in March next year, with interviews conducted in May.
Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Seoul City’s Economic Policy Office, stated, "We will make AI Yangjae Hub not only a support center for corporate growth but also a cradle for nurturing specialized talent, turning it into a forward base to respond to the rapidly changing future environment." He added, "We will fully support AI Yangjae Hub to establish itself as a global model for AI specialized education that realizes the dreams of young people."
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