Science ministry awards plaques to five new ICT talent research centers

The science ministry said it awarded plaques to five newly selected research centers tasked with training advanced information and communications technology talent, including three university ICT research centers and two regional intelligence-innovation centers.

The centers were chosen earlier this year under programs run by the Ministry of Science and ICT, which held the plaque ceremony at Pusan National University in Busan. The three university ICT centers will focus on artificial intelligence semiconductors at Korea University's Sejong campus, system software at Pohang University of Science and Technology, and quantum-AI convergence at Hanyang University.

The university ICT research center program, which began in 2000, has produced about 20,000 master's and doctoral graduates, the ministry said. Two of the new general projects will each receive 1 billion won ($745,156) a year, while the regional small-scale project will get 500 million won ($372,578) a year, with support running for up to eight years. Each project is to train 40 students a year, or 20 for the regional small-scale project.

The two regional intelligence-innovation projects will each receive 2 billion won ($1.49 million) a year for up to eight years. Pusan National University will cover intelligent manufacturing and ports, while the Korea Institute of Energy Technology will focus on energy, smart farms and mobility. Each is to run degree programs for at least 20 industry employees a year and involve at least 20 master's and doctoral student researchers in joint industry-academic work. That program, launched in 2015, has so far supported about 1,400 regional ICT specialists.

About 30 people attended the ceremony, including Nam Chul-ki, the ministry's software policy director, and Pusan National University President Choi Jae-won, along with the heads of the five centers.

"To strengthen national competitiveness in AI and ICT and to advance regional industries, it is important to cultivate core research talent that industry needs based on universities' research capabilities," Nam said. "We will actively support the research centers selected this year so they can serve as another hub for industry-academic cooperation, produce excellent research results and train research specialists in AI and ICT."