316.6 Billion KRW Support This Year for Universities Leading 'San-hak Cooperation'

Strengthening University-Industry Cooperation and Industrial Competitiveness through LINC+ Project
Amendment of 'Industry-Academic Cooperation Act Enforcement Decree' to Ease Regulations on University Technology Holding Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] This year, a total budget of 316.6 billion KRW will be allocated to various projects aimed at strengthening industrial competitiveness through collaboration between universities and companies.

On the 31st, the Ministry of Education announced the major support plans for university-industry cooperation in 2020, targeting general universities and industrial universities.

First, the Leading University for Customized University-Industry Cooperation Project (LINC+ Project · General Universities) increased its budget by 39.3 billion KRW for two types: 'Advanced University-Industry Cooperation Type (242.1 billion KRW)' and 'Customized Department Focus Type (30.4 billion KRW)'.

The LINC+ Advanced University-Industry Cooperation type is a project that induces structural innovation toward becoming an industry-leading university and supports the spread of industry-academia linked curricula and industry-friendly faculty personnel systems. It has contributed to building a foundation for university-industry cooperation by expanding industry-linked education such as capstone design and supporting joint research and equipment utilization between universities and companies.

The Ministry of Education plans to continuously expand the achievements of the LINC+ project, now in its fourth year, while further solidifying the connection and cooperation between universities and companies to enhance competitiveness in new and core industrial sectors. In particular, using the increased budget, it plans to activate technology support for companies and expand university-based sector-specific Industry Collaboration Centers (ICC) for sharing technology trends and linking technology support programs by industry sector.

The Innovation Leading University Support Project supports innovation in sustainable curricula, methods, and environments within universities to cultivate problem-solving talents in new industrial fields. A total of 20 universities have established majors in new industrial fields such as smart healthcare, autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things (IoT), and AI robots, introducing necessary curricula and methods and building educational environments.

The Ministry of Education will select an additional 20 universities for this project this year, doubling the investment to 40 billion KRW compared to last year. It will also expand support to universities not participating in the LINC+ project (15 universities) and broaden core competency education models suitable for various new industrial fields.

The University Industry-Academia Cooperation Complex Support Project aims to establish a permanent cooperation base by allowing companies to move into idle university spaces. After supporting two universities last year, support has been expanded to four universities this year. The required budget has also doubled to 8 billion KRW compared to last year.

The University Creative Asset Commercialization Support Project (BRIDGE+ Project) transfers creative assets (technologies) owned by universities to the industry, enabling university innovation capabilities to contribute to industrial development. As a result of transferring technologies needed in various industrial fields, university technology transfer income increased from 77.2 billion KRW in 2017 to 87.1 billion KRW in 2018.

This year, the number of participating universities will increase from 18 to 24, and through stage evaluations for existing universities and new selection evaluations, an average of about 1.1 billion KRW per school, totaling 26.5 billion KRW, will be supported.

The Ministry of Education also plans to revise the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Promotion of Industrial Education and Industry-Academia-Research Cooperation (Industry-Academia Cooperation Act) to commercialize technologies owned by universities and promote open innovation between industry and academia. Currently, the Industry-Academia Cooperation Act mandates that university technology holding companies secure at least 20% of voting shares in subsidiaries (Article 36-4), but Article 45 of the Enforcement Decree allows exceptions for up to five years if the subsidiary does not meet the shareholding criteria due to share transfers or mergers.

With the revision extending the exception period from five to ten years, subsidiaries will be able to receive management support from technology holding companies for a longer period to grow, while technology holding companies are expected to generate greater profits from subsidiary growth.

Im Chang-bin, Director of Vocational Education Policy at the Ministry of Education, said, "As the need for collaboration between industry, academia, and research continues to increase to strengthen industrial competitiveness amid rapid industrial structural changes, the Ministry of Education will continue to support universities to internalize university-industry cooperation systems."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.