Yuhan Corporation Launches Open Innovation Program

Researchers at Yuhan Corporation Central Research Institute are conducting studies for new drug development.

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Yuhan Corporation is launching a next-generation open innovation program to support basic research and promote innovative new drug research and development.

Yuhan Corporation announced on the 1st that it has completed the selection of research projects for the Yuhan Innovation Program (YIP) and will begin providing research support from the third quarter of this year. YIP is an open innovation model specialized in basic research that supports verification studies of ideas from basic science researchers affiliated with universities and research institutes, and collaborates with Yuhan Corporation on commercialization potential.

For the first implementation of YIP this year, approximately 120 diverse basic research projects proposed mainly by universities and public research institutions underwent an independent evaluation process by external experts from academia and industry with extensive new drug development experience, resulting in the final selection of 18 projects.

Given the strong interest from many researchers in this first YIP, Yuhan Corporation plans to continue expanding open innovation at the basic research stage to secure new drug development and core technologies.

Jo Wook-je, CEO of Yuhan Corporation, stated, “Through expanding open innovation with basic research scientists who possess creative research ideas, we hope to discover future innovative technologies and create opportunities to activate industry-academia cooperation in Korea’s new drug development sector.”