Injecting KRW 53.6bn to form an Industry-Academia-Research Innovation Hub in South Chungcheong Province
To house 124 bio-healthcare and high-tech components & materials companies
Generating one thousand jobs and KRW 200bn in revenue
Dankook University overcame stiff competition from nearly nine other proposals to be selected as the ‘4th Campus Innovation Park University.’ Accordingly, DKU will partner with South Chungcheong Province and the city of Cheonan to form a new industrial complex.
The Campus Innovation Park is a joint project carried out by three government ministries (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT), and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS)) to strengthen the government’s initiatives for industry, academia, and research cooperation and corporate capability building by taking idle land on university campuses and turning them into high-tech urban industrial complexes that include spaces for businesses to operate (Industry-Academia-Research Innovation Hub) and create an ecosystem for innovation.
Selected for the project, DKU will extend integrated support for companies in the areas of bio-healthcare and high-tech components and materials. The Campus Innovation Park project will be initially funded until December 2027 with a total of over KRW 53.6bn, composed of KRW 19.05 in state funds, KRW 17.57bn in advanced investments from LH Corp, KRW 11bn in provincial funds from South Chungcheong Province and the city of Cheonan, as well as KRW 6bn in matched funds from the university.
Dankook will work with public institutions on administrative procedures needed to build the industrial complex plan until 2025. Construction of the Industry-Academia-Research Innovation Hub facilities is slated for completion by 2027. During this time, plans are to attract 124 relevant businesses and research institutes to generate KRW 200bn in annual revenue and over 1,000 jobs.
The Industry-Academia-Research Innovation Hub, the heart of the Campus Innovation Park, will be located on 21,453㎡ of Dankook’s land near the Cheonho Lake, which has recently emerged as a popular destination in Cheonan. Standing 12 stories tall, the hub will cover 19,997㎡ gross floor area and serve as home to a joint lab (analysis lab) and work space for high-tech components and materials and bio-healthcare stakeholders, startups and Post BI (post-business incubator) players, innovation institutes and startup accelerators, institutions that offer assistance in starting businesses and provide administrative support, and corporate research centers.
After building the Industry-Academia-Research Innovation Hub (high-tech and startup zone), Dankook plans to create an Open Space Zone - Startup Incubator Center and Open Space Hall - and a Bio Healthcare Zone - Smart Medical Demo Complex- both to be newly built, in line with the university’s mid to long-term development plans.