Busan City Launches Preparatory Committee for 'Local Government-University Cooperation-Based Regional Innovation Project' to Foster 'Super Metropolitan' Talent in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam

Busan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Busan City is launching a preparatory committee for the Ministry of Education's public contest project and is preparing to attract the '2022 Local Government-University Cooperation-Based Regional Innovation Project.'

The Regional Innovation Platform project involves local governments, universities, and regional innovation institutions collaborating to select key areas that align with the region's mid- to long-term development goals.

The project supports the restructuring of university education systems linked to key areas and the execution of regional innovation tasks to create a virtuous cycle system of 'local talent development, employment/entrepreneurship, and regional settlement.'

Upon winning the public contest project, Busan City will secure 214 billion KRW over five years to invest in innovation for the city and Busan's regional universities.

The city, in cooperation with local district lawmakers and regional universities, has significantly increased the Ministry of Education's 2022 new budget for the Regional Innovation Platform project from 30 billion KRW to 70 billion KRW.

With the budget increase enhancing the possibility of winning the project, Busan City plans to devote full efforts to preparing for the contest this year.

Following the government's 'Super Metropolitan Cooperation Support Strategy' announced in October last year, specifically the 'Human Resources Development Plan' in the human sector, the city aims to attract a new Regional Innovation Platform in the first half of this year.

From the second half of the year, Busan plans to gradually integrate with the Ulsan-Gyeongnam Regional Innovation Platform to establish the 'Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Super Metropolitan Government-Industry-Academia Talent Development Cooperation System.'

Kim Yoon-il, Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan City, stated, “Due to the declining school-age population and the outflow of local talent, universities in the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam region are facing a serious crisis.”

Deputy Mayor Kim added, “The crisis of regional universities directly leads to a crisis in the region, so we will create an opportunity to overcome this crisis by attracting the new Regional Innovation Platform project in Busan and gradually integrating with the Ulsan-Gyeongnam Regional Innovation Platform.”

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