30 Years of Industry-Academia Collaboration Between KAIST and Samsung Heavy Industries... Leading the Growth of Korean Shipbuilding Industry

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Samsung Heavy Industries announced on the 10th that they held an event commemorating 30 years of industry-academia cooperation at the Jonhanner Hall in the Academic and Cultural Center at KAIST's main campus in Daejeon.

Commemorative photo at the establishment of the Samsung Heavy Industries-KAIST Industry-Academic Cooperation Council. (From the fourth person on the left in the first row, based on titles in 1995) Lee Kyung-won, Vice President of Samsung Heavy Industries; Shin Hyun-dong, Dean of KAIST College of Engineering; Cho Kwang-je, Executive Director of Samsung Heavy Industries; (second row, second from the left) the late Choi Do-hyung, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST. Photo by KAIST

The industry-academia cooperation between KAIST and Samsung Heavy Industries, which began in 1995, is the longest-standing industry-academia cooperation council maintained by both institutions. Over 30 years, despite various crises such as the IMF financial crisis, the global financial crisis, and the low-price offensive from China's shipbuilding industry, the cooperation was maintained for an unusually long period, leading the growth of Korea's shipbuilding industry. Even during times when the shipbuilding industry was in deep recession, the continuity of the cooperation was not broken. The excellent technology secured through this cooperation accelerated the early growth of the shipbuilding industry and played an important role in Korea possessing the world's top-level technology.

Professor Park Yong-hwa of KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering (Chairman of the Industry-Academia Cooperation Committee) explained, "At the time in 1995, industries lacked technology and manpower, and universities needed a platform for engineering education that could apply theory to practice." He continued, "In this context, Samsung Heavy Industries, which established a research institute in the Daedeok Research Complex in 1993, and the mechanical system design field researching shipbuilding and marine technology, founded the cooperation council."

More than 100 faculty members participated in the core 'Advisory Professor System,' through which about 740 technical consultations were conducted, and approximately 370 research projects on shipbuilding and marine technology were carried out. Various forms of personnel exchange have also continued, including customized courses to strengthen corporate practical capabilities, industry-academia cooperative open lectures, Samsung Heavy Industries employees auditing regular courses in KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering, short-term training for researchers, and co-op programs.

About 80 officials from both institutions, including KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung and Samsung Heavy Industries CEO Choi Sung-an, attended the event held that day. Eight KAIST honorary professors and former executives of Samsung Heavy Industries who laid the foundation of the cooperation received plaques of appreciation.

Kim Jeong, head of KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering, stated, "We will expand various collaborations so that this exemplary case of industry-academia cooperation, which has spanned more than a generation, can create sustainable future technologies and open a new 30-year history of innovation."

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