LG's Talent Acquisition Drive for New Growth Engines... Full Support from Affiliates and Expansion of Industry-Academia Collaboration

LGD Establishes Display Contract Departments at Yonsei University, Hanyang University, and Sungkyunkwan University Graduate Schools

On the evening of the 16th, LG Display and Yonsei University Graduate School signed an agreement to establish the 'Department of Display Convergence Engineering' at LG Science Park in Magok. (From left in the photo) Song Sang-ho, CHO of LG Display; Yoon Soo-young, CTO; Myung Jae-min, Dean of the College of Engineering at Yonsei University; Park Seung-han, Vice President of Research. Photo by XXX

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] As LG pursues the advancement of a wide range of industries including electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications, it is expanding industry-academia linked talent development programs to secure talent early for each affiliate.

On the 17th, LG Display announced that it has established Korea's first recruitment-linked display contract department at the graduate schools of Yonsei University, Hanyang University, and Sungkyunkwan University to cultivate master's and doctoral level display specialists. Following the signing of an agreement with Yonsei University's graduate school yesterday to establish the 'Department of Display Convergence Engineering,' related agreements will also be signed with Hanyang University graduate school on the 19th and Sungkyunkwan University graduate school on the 20th.

Through this agreement, LG Display and these three universities plan to select and nurture 10 master's and doctoral level talents from each graduate school annually starting from the 2023 academic year. Following the December agreement with Yonsei University to establish Korea's first recruitment-linked display convergence engineering department (undergraduate), expanding the program to the graduate schools of these three universities creates a talent development system from undergraduate to master's and doctoral courses, enabling the securing of more than 200 display specialists by 2027.

LG Electronics currently operates contract departments with four universities including KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) software master's program, Korea University Smart Convergence Department, Hanyang University Intelligent Convergence Department, and Sogang University Smart Convergence Department, and from the second half of this year, it will also operate an AI Convergence Cooperative Program at Yonsei University. These universities cover the entire software R&D fields such as machine learning, big data, cloud, robotics, and system software.

LG Energy Solution was the first battery company to launch contract departments. Starting this year, it has established and is operating battery departments at Yonsei University and Korea University that guarantee employment upon degree completion, with plans to gradually expand this. LG Chem has also opened an Industry-Academia Cooperation Center for Eco-friendly Materials under the College of Engineering at Korea University, conducting industry-academia scholarship student selection and collaborative projects.

At the group level, LG also established the 'SNU-LG AI Research Center' (hereafter Research Center) jointly with Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Artificial Intelligence last month. Located on Seoul National University’s Gwanak Campus, the Research Center serves as a joint research hub for LG AI Research Institute and Seoul National University’s AI Graduate School, focusing intensively on core AI technologies.

The expansion of industry-academia linked talent development programs is the result of a well-matched need between companies aiming to secure talent early for fostering advanced industries and students seeking to simultaneously resolve their studies and employment while receiving scholarships and research funding. In fact, in the case of LG Display, through agreements with graduate schools to cultivate master's and doctoral level display specialists, students are supported with full tuition during their enrollment, tuition subsidies, research funding, and are guaranteed employment at LG Display after graduation.