SK Telecom and University of Ulsan Join Hands to Support SMEs' Smart Factories

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] SK Telecom and Korea Polytechnic University will support the establishment of smart factories for over 4,000 companies within the Ansan Siwha Industrial Complex. The plan is to develop the Ansan Siwha Industrial Complex into a smart factory cluster and grow it into a hub for the spread of innovation in domestic manufacturing.

On the 22nd, SK Telecom announced that it signed a business agreement with Korea Polytechnic University, under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, for the "Smart Factory Support Project for Excellent Small and Medium Enterprises in Ansan Siwha Industrial Complex."

Both parties decided to foster the Ansan Siwha Industrial Complex as a smart factory cluster by providing integrated support such as education, costs, and follow-up research related to smart factory establishment to over 4,000 Polytechnic University family companies (companies enrolled in Polytechnic University operated programs) within the complex. Currently, the Siwha Industrial Complex is home to more than 10,000 manufacturing companies, accounting for about 25% of domestic manufacturing companies. Therefore, if the Siwha Industrial Complex is intensively developed as a smart factory cluster, it is expected that the productivity of domestic manufacturing will improve and the spread of manufacturing innovation will accelerate.

SK Telecom and Polytechnic University plan to provide customized education necessary for the introduction and operation of smart factory solutions to small and medium manufacturing companies. To this end, SK Telecom will provide its self-developed 5G-based big data analysis solution tailored for manufacturing companies, 'Metatron Grandview,' and Polytechnic University will establish and operate an educational space on campus.

Additionally, SK Telecom will offer Metatron Grandview free of charge for six months to participating companies and support IoT equipment and installation costs for 100 of these companies, thereby reducing the cost burden of solution adoption for small and medium enterprises. By analyzing the data collected through this project with machine learning, efforts will be accelerated for future technological advancement and follow-up technology development.

Choi Nak-hoon, Head of the Industrial Data Business Unit at SK Telecom, said, “This collaboration is significant in that it revitalizes small and medium manufacturing companies struggling due to the spread of COVID-19 and enhances the competitiveness of the domestic manufacturing industry. SK Telecom will continue to lead the spread of manufacturing innovation through the convergence of ICT technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence (AI) with manufacturing technologies.”

Ryu Ok-hyun, Head of the 4th Industrial Revolution Innovation Leading University Project Group at Korea Polytechnic University, said, "This industry-academia cooperation model is expected to contribute to the diversification of smart factory talent development and educational environments."

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