Busan City Designated as Nation's First 'Research Industry Promotion Complex' ... Centum District to Foster Digital Convergence Research Industry Innovation Hub

180 Billion KRW Invested Over 4 Years (2023-2026) for Development

Busan National University and Pukyong National University Designated as Research Industry Support Institutions

Busan City announced that as a result of a nationwide competition held in October last year by the Ministry of Science and ICT among metropolitan local governments, five cities and provinces including Busan competed to host the project, and on the 28th, Busan (Digital Convergence Research and Development Service Specialized Complex) and Daejeon (Research Equipment Specialized Complex) were finally designated as the nation’s first Research Industry Promotion Complexes.

Status of Busan Digital Convergence Research and Industrial Promotion Complex.

The designation of a ‘Research Industry Promotion Complex’ is a project promoted as a new government national agenda to achieve innovation in national research and development (R&D) productivity, following the enforcement of the ‘Research Industry Promotion Act’ in October 2021.

The government aims to create hub-type specialized complexes by clustering research industry companies with high relevance, linking these companies with technology support from universities and research institutes, and providing extensive support such as discovering demand markets to increase sales and training specialized personnel, helping these companies grow into global innovative enterprises.

Through customized support over a maximum of 12 years until 2034, according to growth stages (formation, growth, maturity), the plan is to foster the research industry as a new growth engine for the region.

Busan has designated the Centum district as the ‘Digital Convergence Research and Development Service Specialized Complex’ with the purpose of responding to the digital transformation demand of local manufacturing and fostering the research industry in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector to establish an open research and development ecosystem.

With the Centum district designated as the ‘Busan Digital Convergence Research Industry Promotion Complex,’ in the first phase over four years (2023?2026), a total project cost of 18 billion KRW (12 billion KRW from the national government, 6 billion KRW from the city) will be invested to actively promote the establishment of a research industry foundation, preparation of a growth support system for companies, and demand-creation network construction projects.

To this end, the city has designated Busan National University and Pukyong National University as supporting institutions to intensively support university capabilities for fostering the research industry, and through cooperation with regional innovation institutions located inside and outside the complex such as the Busan Institute of Industrial Science and Innovation, it aims to promote the growth of the digital convergence research industry.

It is expected that this complex development project will greatly contribute to the creation of a digital innovation city based on industry-university-research cooperation and the improvement of regional research and development productivity.

The development projects include, first, the establishment of infrastructure for fostering the research industry.

Within the supporting institutions, infrastructure for technology commercialization such as open laboratories and performance testing centers will be established, and for startup incubation, startup incubation spaces like the Busan Cloud Innovation Center in Centum will be prioritized for use. Later, a Research Industry Support Center will be opened within the planned ‘Unicorn Tower’ to provide support.

Second, systematic growth support for research industry companies will be provided. Customized full-cycle support including technology and funding according to growth stages (initial → leap → advancement) will be offered, promoting digital field technology startups through public technology transfer from universities and research institutes, and operating talent development programs based on corporate demand such as training specialized professionals and education for current employees.

Lastly, demand creation and cooperation networks for research industry companies will be strengthened.

By matching demand companies requiring digitalization and smartization with research industry companies, the plan is to foster Busan as well as the southeastern region (metropolitan area) into a digital transformation supply hub, and through governance cooperation among industry, academia, research, and government, enhance the self-sustainability of the regional research and development ecosystem.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, “The Busan Digital Convergence Research Industry Promotion Complex will become a representative business model of industry-university-research cooperation. Universities will supply excellent public technologies and talent to companies, and companies will utilize technology and talent to repeatedly leap and grow, thereby revitalizing the regional economy based on new industries.” He added, “We will rapidly build Busan as a digital innovation city centered on the Centum district.”

Seo Yong-cheol, director of the Busan Institute of Industrial Science and Innovation, the dedicated institution for this project, said, “We will strengthen active promotion and efforts to spread achievements to improve awareness and expand demand for the use of research industry so that research industry companies can become catalysts for regional industrial development and research and development growth.”

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