Jeonnam Province Accelerates Building a Regional-University Co-Growth Ecosystem

Full-scale Launch of "Jeonnam-type RISE" Announced
Implementation of Five Major Projects Worth 60.3 Billion KRW

Jeollanam-do Governor Kim Youngrok is presiding over the '2025 1st Jeonnam RISE Committee' held on the 17th at the Seo Jae-pil Room in the provincial office. Provided by Jeonnam Province

Jeollanam-do will begin full-scale implementation of the Jeonnam-type Regional Innovation-centered University Support System (RISE), which delegates budgets and authority to local governments to establish a co-prosperity ecosystem between the region and universities.

On the 17th, Jeollanam-do held the Jeonnam RISE Committee meeting at the Seo Jae-pil Room in the provincial government building, where they reviewed and approved the "2025 Jeonnam RISE Implementation Plan," which includes five GRAND projects and 15 sub-projects with a total budget of 60.3 billion KRW.

The Jeonnam RISE Committee is an organization that reviews and approves major matters related to regional RISE, such as RISE plans, project targets, budget allocation, and performance evaluation.

Kim Yungrok, Governor of Jeollanam-do, and Lee Juhui, President of Dongshin University, serve as co-chairs, with local university presidents and experts from the economic and industrial sectors participating as committee members.

The 2025 Jeonnam RISE Implementation Plan envisions "GRAND Jeonnam Innovative Growth Led by the Region and Universities" and sets forth the following strategies: ▲ Establishing a Jeonnam re-leap system based on integrated regional-university design ▲ Innovating university education centered on local talent, society, economy, industry, culture, and jobs ▲ Smart innovation in regional core and future industries through cooperation among local governments, industries, academia, and research institutes ▲ Creating an ecosystem for co-prosperity among the region, universities, companies, and residents.

In particular, the five GRAND projects?Global (Global Regional Talent Cultivation Project), Regional (Regional Industrial Innovation Challenge Project), Advanced (Professional and Lifelong Education Hub Center Project), Nexus (Hyperconnected Shared Campus Project), and Dynamic (Dynamic University-Region Co-prosperity Project)?and the 15 sub-projects will be implemented in cooperation with universities, innovation and research institutions, industries, and city and county governments.

Jeonnam's strengths in the RISE project include the innovation momentum of local universities such as Glocal University, foundational industries like shipbuilding, steel, and petrochemicals, advanced future industries such as energy, aerospace, offshore wind power, bio, and secondary batteries, the nation's top competitiveness in agriculture and fisheries, tourism and cultural resources, and residents' high awareness of education.

Since being selected as a RISE pilot region in March 2023, Jeollanam-do has held multiple briefings and strategic meetings with universities, city and county governments, and research and innovation institutions to enhance the completeness of the project plan, establish governance with key innovation stakeholders, and complete the basic and implementation plans for RISE reflecting project needs and improvement suggestions.

Accordingly, applications for university-specific project plans will be accepted from local universities from the 19th until March 18. After selection evaluations and appeals are completed in March and April, the final implementing institutions will be confirmed through review and approval by the Jeonnam RISE Committee.