Strengthening Competitiveness and Talent Development in Secondary Battery Industry: Pohang City, EcoPro, and Handong University Sign MOU
Full-Scale Talent Cultivation through Industry-Academia-Government Cooperation to Capture Global Secondary Batt
Pohang City is accelerating the designation of a secondary battery specialized complex while fully launching the cultivation of customized excellent talent to drive the K-battery industry.
On the 11th, the city held an 'Industry-Academia-Government Cooperation Agreement Ceremony for Strengthening Competitiveness in the Secondary Battery Industry and Talent Development' with EcoPro and Handong University at the city hall's main conference room.
About 30 people attended the ceremony, including Deputy Mayor Kim Nam-il, City Council Chairman Baek In-gyu, Handong University President Choi Do-sung, EcoPro Materials CEO Kim Byung-hoon, as well as executives and employees of EcoPro Materials and EcoPro BM, and Handong University officials, agreeing to join forces for company-tailored talent cultivation and the designation of a secondary battery specialized complex.
On the 11th, Pohang City held an industry-academia-government cooperation agreement ceremony with Ecopro and Handong University in the city hall's large conference room. (Front row, from the third person on the left: Deputy Mayor Kim Nam-il, Handong University President Choi Do-sung, Ecopro Materials CEO Kim Byung-hoon, City Council Chairman Baek In-gyu)
Through this agreement, EcoPro and Handong University will actively cooperate to establish a customized contract department for secondary batteries, and strengthen mutual cooperation and support such as joint technology development through industry-academia collaboration, operation of training programs for incumbent workers, and sharing of related infrastructure.
In particular, Handong University plans to conduct joint research projects involving Handong University professors and students along with EcoPro researchers to cultivate quality control research personnel. EcoPro will support research and development expenses, which is expected to serve as a catalyst for nurturing secondary battery experts and developing the industrial ecosystem through collaboration and linkage between companies and local universities.
Along with this, Pohang City has identified talent cultivation as the top priority to proactively respond to the rapidly growing secondary battery market demand, and is accelerating customized talent development optimized for the regional secondary battery industry ecosystem that connects local universities to Meister high schools through a two-track strategy of cultivating field operation personnel and specialized research personnel.
POSTECH's Graduate School of Steel has been expanded and reorganized into the Graduate School of Steel and Energy Materials, including the energy materials field, and has been cultivating specialized personnel in key secondary battery material fields since 2021.
Pohang Polytechnic has established the Secondary Battery Convergence Department to train secondary battery production and process personnel, and Pohang University newly established the New Materials Battery Department last year, actively promoting the cultivation of specialized personnel in the secondary battery field through industry-academia cooperation with companies such as EcoPro and POSCO Future M.
Pohang Steel Industrial High School and Heunghae Industrial High School have also signed industry-academia cooperation agreements with companies, added secondary battery subjects to their curricula, expanded employment opportunities for students, and focused on nurturing industry-demand-tailored talent through systematic job training.
In anticipation of a surge in demand following the designation of the secondary battery specialized complex, Pohang City plans to speed up the establishment of contract departments for secondary batteries in close cooperation with companies and universities to cultivate a sufficient scale of talent. The city also intends to expand the scope to universities in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region to prevent the outflow of local excellent talent and attract youth from other regions.
Handong University President Choi Do-sung said, "Starting with this agreement, we will actively promote exchanges among local government, industry, academia, and research institutes so that the university can become a model case of cooperation linked to the regional industry."
Deputy Mayor Kim Nam-il said, "Pohang is a customized city with all the optimal conditions for a specialized complex, including world-class secondary battery research infrastructure, the concentration of global leading secondary battery companies, and talent acquisition. Through the designation of the secondary battery specialized complex, we will establish a sustainable talent cultivation ecosystem that leads K-battery and secure leadership in the fiercely competitive secondary battery market."
Since 2017, EcoPro has invested 1.7 trillion KRW in the Yeongilman Industrial Complex in Pohang, building the world's only 'Eco Battery Pohang Campus' with a vertically integrated material value chain covering raw materials, precursors, cathode materials, and recycling, producing 180,000 tons of cathode materials annually.
At the Blue Valley National Industrial Complex, EcoPro is promoting the construction of the 'EcoPro Blue Valley Campus (tentative name),' a comprehensive production facility for secondary battery materials such as raw materials, precursors, and cathode materials, with an investment scale of 2 trillion KRW.
Pohang City is actively negotiating large-scale additional expansions and new investments by secondary battery companies, and the total investment amount is expected to approach 12.4 trillion KRW. Along with large-scale investments, employment by secondary battery companies is also actively continuing.
Due to job creation by secondary battery companies, Pohang's youth employment rate in the second half of last year recorded 38.8%, the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an increase of 3.8 percentage points compared to the same period in 2021 and a remarkable 8.7 percentage points rise compared to the second half of 2020.
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