A hub for industry-academia cooperation in the Southeast region has been established.

UNIST (President Yong-Hoon Lee) held a completion ceremony for the Industry-Academia Cooperation Building on the 25th, marking the beginning of its leap forward as the representative industry-academia cooperation hub in the southeastern region.

The UNIST Industry-Academia Cooperation Center is a building built to handle joint industry-academia research and fostering local startups.

It has a total floor area of 8,273.68㎡, 1 underground floor, and 7 above-ground floors. Inside, it has startup space, support facilities, research and education space exclusively for resident companies, a common space for sharing innovative ideas, and a student practice room.

Construction began in earnest in late 2019 when the National Assembly secured a national budget of 20.6 billion won for BTL (private-lease project), and construction began in February 2022 after selecting a project operator. After 1 year and 6 months of construction, it was completed in August 2023.

The investment fund formation ceremony between UNIST Technology Holdings and ATP Ventures was also held on this day. This fund, in which a large number of mid-sized and small businesses in the Ulsan area participated, is expected to create a virtuous cycle of investment by focusing on investing in local startups. ATP Ventures moved its headquarters from Seoul to the UNIST Industry-Academic Cooperation Center at the end of last year and is focusing on fostering startups in the Ulsan region.

President Lee Yong-hoon said, “I hope that through open innovation created by bringing together local mid-sized companies, technology startups, and venture capital firms, we can serve as the center of the innovation and startup ecosystem in the Southeast region.”