Expansion of Training Facilities for SW Innovation Talent Development 'Innovation Academy'

Seoul City and Ministry of Science and ICT Invest 23.7 Billion KRW... Annual Training Capacity Doubled to 1,000 People

Expected Perspective View of the New Gaepo Digital Innovation Park Building

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Seoul City announced on the 7th that it will construct a new educational facility from the basement 1st floor to the 5th floor above ground at Gaepo Digital Innovation Park in Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, where the software talent development institution 'Innovation Academy' is operated, doubling the annual training capacity to 1,000 people. A budget of 23.7 billion KRW will be invested.

Opened in December last year, the Innovation Academy is a software innovation education institution that breaks away from traditional teaching methods such as lectures and classes, allowing students to build the skills required by actual companies through self-directed project solving. The training period is two years (non-degree), and 500 trainees are selected annually, 250 each semester.

Seoul City provides the space, and the Ministry of Science and ICT is responsible for administrative·and financial support for education operation, jointly establishing·and managing the academy.

Currently, among 11,118 applicants, 207 first-generation trainees who passed the online exam and the four-week intensive training selection process have been attending the '42 Seoul' training course remotely since February 24 this year.

The new educational facility to be constructed on the site of the existing Yeollim Hall (auditorium) will be a building with one basement floor and five floors above ground (6,576.33㎡), consisting of a coding room with 600 fixed seats and 150 free seats, mentoring rooms, and rest areas.

The city explained that the current educational facilities (Saerom Hall and Maru Hall, 4,074㎡) can appropriately accommodate about 430 trainees (up to 700 including collaboration and creative spaces), but there is a lack of space to conduct the mandatory four-week intensive training (La Piscine) before admission. Since the maximum number of residents can reach about 1,000 when the two-year non-degree program is operated simultaneously, the city decided to construct a new building on the site to provide the best educational environment.

The design competition will begin from June to August, followed by basic and detailed design from August, with full-scale construction starting in January next year and aiming for completion by the end of 2022.

Lee Bang-il, Director of Seoul City's Economic Policy Division, said, "Since the agreement between Seoul City and the Ministry of Science and ICT in February last year, we have continuously achieved visible results such as the opening of the Innovation Academy, the selection of the first batch of new students, and the establishment of the new educational building." He added, "We will expand the educational infrastructure to accommodate up to 1,000 simultaneous learners and develop Gaepo Digital Innovation Park into a cradle for software innovation talent."

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