Daejeon City-KAIST to Establish 'Digital Medical Science Institute' at Munji Campus

Lee Jang-woo, Mayor of Daejeon (left), and Lee Kwang-hyung, President of KAIST (right), are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement on the "Establishment and Operation of an Innovative Digital Medical Science Institute." Photo by Daejeon City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon City and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (hereinafter KAIST) are embarking on the construction of a Digital Medical Science Institute.

On the 17th, the city announced that it signed a business agreement with KAIST on the "Establishment and Operation of an Innovative Digital Medical Science Institute."

According to the agreement, the city and KAIST plan to build the Medical Science Institute by 2026 on a total floor area of 10,000㎡ within the KAIST Munji Campus, with a scale of one basement floor to six above-ground floors, investing a total project cost of 42 billion KRW (27 billion KRW national funds, 8 billion KRW city funds, and 7 billion KRW KAIST's own contribution).

The Medical Science Institute will include a data-driven convergence healthcare development center, an artificial intelligence precision medicine platform research center, shared digital medical bio equipment and laboratories, and shared spaces for entrepreneurs.

At the Medical Science Institute, advanced medical science research will be conducted jointly by KAIST's Graduate School of Medical Science and local entrepreneurs in the future.

Physician scientists (MD-PhD) are doctors (MD) who also conduct research in basic medicine and life sciences. In the United States, 3.7% (1,700) of medical school graduates (45,000) are trained as physician scientists, but in South Korea, only 0.3?0.7% of about 3,000 medical school graduates are trained as physician scientists, causing a serious supply-demand imbalance.

To address this issue, the government has adopted the training of physician scientists as a national agenda, and KAIST expects that with the establishment of the Medical Science Institute, the annual number of physician scientists produced, currently around 20, can be increased to about 50 in the future.

Lee Jang-woo, Mayor of Daejeon, said, "To leap forward as a global leading city in the bio-health sector, highly advanced technology and human resources are absolutely necessary," adding, "The city will work with KAIST to promote the Medical Science Institute construction project and human resource development project to realize a global leading economic city."

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