Building a Marine Specialized Industry-Academia Ecosystem... Busan City to Establish an Innovation Convergence Campus at Korea Maritime University

The Korea Maritime University Industry-Academia Hub building where the Innovation Convergence Campus will be established.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Busan City is establishing a Marine New Industry Innovation Convergence Campus at Korea Maritime and Ocean University.

The city was selected for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's public contest project, the 'Innovation Convergence Campus Construction Project of the Year,' and will strengthen the best industry-academia-research collaboration in the marine and fisheries sector with a total project cost of 3.3 billion KRW.

The 'Innovation Convergence Campus Construction Project,' led by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and supported by the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, is a project to build a joint convergence campus centered on universities near innovation cities and relocated public institutions to strengthen industry-academia-research cooperation in innovation cities.

A city official stated that the project was the only one selected among innovation cities due to high evaluations in ▲project implementation content and future prospects ▲the fact that Korea Maritime and Ocean University is located within the innovation city ▲and the marine-related infrastructure possessed by Korea Maritime and Ocean University, receiving 1.65 billion KRW in national funding.

Among 12 innovation cities including Busan, Daegu, Gwangju-Jeonnam, Ulsan, Gangwon, Chungbuk, Jeonbuk, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Jeju, Chungnam, and Daejeon, six cities were planned to be selected, but most cities were not selected due to procedural requirements for project selection such as Ministry of Education approval for campus establishment and new department creation being stringent.

The city will build the 'Marine New Industry Innovation Convergence Campus' starting this September, leading the cultivation of future marine new industries and regional community development by cooperating with nine local universities including Busan National University and relocated public institutions related to marine and fisheries in the Dongsam Innovation District such as the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology and the Korea Maritime Institute, centered on Korea Maritime and Ocean University.

First, to foster specialized personnel in the marine new industry field, the city will relocate and establish ▲Department of Maritime Artificial Intelligence and Security ▲Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology ▲KMI (Korea Maritime Institute) Industry-Academia Cooperative Program ▲Contract Departments (Mechanical IT Convergence Engineering, Eco-friendly Smart Ship) in the Industry-Academia Hub Building located within the innovation district to establish a foundation for education and research and development in industry-academia-research.

A contract department refers to a department established and operated by a university through contracts with the state, companies, or industries to cultivate customized personnel for enterprises or industries.

For research infrastructure in the marine new industry field, the project will also promote ▲Integrated control room and server room for big data marine servers in the innovation district ▲Industry-academia artificial intelligence (AI) and marine cybersecurity practice rooms ▲Technology transfer, startup spaces (Ocean Plan Space), open labs ▲and the establishment of an Industry Collaboration Organized Network (ICON) for systematic corporate collaboration through human-technology-industry linkage.

The city aims to revitalize education and research in the marine new industry sector linked with innovation cities through the establishment of the Marine New Industry Innovation Convergence Campus and to build an advanced marine-specialized industry-academia ecosystem in cooperation with relocated public institutions and local universities.

A city official said, "We intend to create a circulation system and a win-win cooperation system beyond the industry-academia ecosystem and cultivate global marine talents leading the future marine industry to strengthen the competitiveness of local companies."

Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, said, "Establishing an advanced marine-specialized industry-academia ecosystem centered on relocated public institutions in the Dongsam Innovation City and Korea Maritime and Ocean University will greatly help strengthen the competitiveness of local companies," adding, "We will continue to actively support government project attraction so that local companies and universities can grow together through practical industry-academia cooperation."

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