Additional 1.2 Billion KRW in National Funding Secured for Local Government-University Cooperation-Based Regional Innovation Project
Mayor Park Hyungjun: "We Will Do Our Best to Create an Innovative Ecosystem for Mutual Growth of the Region and Universities"
Busan City announced smooth progress of its Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) project, based on the annual evaluation results, where it received an 'Excellent' grade.
This project aims to overcome the crisis of regional extinction caused by the declining school-age population and the outflow of local talent to the Seoul metropolitan area, and to create a regional development ecosystem by fostering talent linked to local industries.
The project establishes and operates a regional innovation platform for local development by bringing together universities, local governments, public institutions, and companies as key players in regional innovation.
The Busan Regional Innovation Platform (Director Kim Seoksu) was designated as a new RIS platform in March last year along with Jeonbuk and Jeju, aiming to create a marine-specialized industry-academia-government cooperation innovation city. On the 20th, it achieved an 'Excellent' grade in the first-year annual evaluation.
The Busan Regional Innovation Platform includes 22 local universities such as Pusan National University, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, and Dong-A University, as well as 89 regional innovation institutions.
In this annual evaluation, the Busan Regional Innovation Platform received high marks for presenting the 'establishment of an industry-academia-government cooperation system and network for advancing core field projects and outcomes' and the 'selection of autonomous regional innovation projects to solve local issues and their contribution to the community.'
The Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea evaluated the first-year performance and achievement of outcome indicators, as well as the second-year implementation plan, in February.
As a result of this achievement, the Busan Regional Innovation Platform will receive an additional 1.2 billion KRW in national funding on top of the existing project budget.
The total project budget for this year is 44.422 billion KRW (31.095 billion KRW in national funding and 13.327 billion KRW in municipal funding).
The Busan Regional Innovation Platform has selected smart port logistics, eco-friendly smart ships, and clean energy convergence parts and materials as its core fields in connection with Busan City's development plans, and is carrying out projects for educational innovation, talent development, and support for technology-innovative companies.
The main operating center is located at Busan Technopark, with a university education innovation headquarters and three core field project teams in operation.
In February this year, Busan Shared University (BITS) was launched, establishing four new convergence majors and admitting 598 students for the first semester of the 2024 academic year. A convergence graduate school is also planned to be established in the second half of this year.
The four convergence majors are smart port logistics, smart international logistics, smart marine mobility, and clean energy.
In addition to the three core fields, 22 autonomous projects in nine future industry fields including Busan City's strategic industries, quantum, and bio are also being promoted to foster talent in advanced fields, solve local issues, and revitalize the local community. Twelve universities, including Kyungsung University, Pukyong National University, and Busan University of Foreign Studies, are participating.
Nam Jungeun, Director of Youth Industry-Academia Policy at Busan City, said, "In line with the government's education reform agenda, we will do our best to create an innovation ecosystem where the region and universities can grow together through the establishment of a region-led talent development system and the realization of Busan's industry-academia-government cooperation policies via the RIS project."
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