Yonsei News

The bio-industry is an industrial group that generates a wide range of value-added products and services through the utilization of biotechnology associated with DNA, protein, and cells. This particular field also accommodates new industries that converge biotechnology with technologies in other areas such as medicine, chemicals, electronics, energy, agriculture, and food.

The South Korean government has been pushing for a series of investments to nurture the development of the biopharmaceutical industry along with semiconductors and future cars as the three major "growth engines of the future." On top of investing 469.9 billion won last year, the government plans to make additional investments of 771.8 billion won in the biopharmaceutical industry, striving to strengthen its global competitiveness. Universities play a major role as they are the key operating entity of the government policies as well as hubs for fostering research and development and professionals in biotechnology.

Yonsei University in South Korea is at the lead by taking extensive initiatives for the development of the nation’s future innovative industries and the creation of humanity's sustainable life. In October 2018, Yonsei established the "Institute for Convergence Research and Education in Advanced Technology (I_CREATE)" on the International Campus (YIC), as an innovation platform for industry-university-institute cooperation, and operation of open, shared campuses.

The Yonsei I_CREATE has been fulfilling the role as a platform of paradigm-shifting research education by launching state-supported projects such as "the Makerspace Construction and Operation Project" in May 2020, "Industry-University-Institute Complex on Campus" in June 2020, and the "Operation of the Korean NIBRT Program and the Construction of the Bioprocessing Human Resource Training Center Project" in October 2020.

The Yonsei I_CREATE has also launched and operated the "Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Integrative Biotechnology & Translational Medicine (IBTM)" in the spring semester of 2020 to foster bio-innovation talent that pioneer new technologies through utilizing bio and other technologies. The institute made the most out of Songdo where numerous bioresearch centers and corporations are located in.

IBTM, Fostering Human Resources to Create Practical Bio-Convergence Technologies 

The main trend of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is to create new industries and values that combine both technology and content. IBTM under the Yonsei I_CREATE was established under the vision of "pioneering new technologies through convergence with bio and other technologies" and students are given master's and doctor's degrees. in science or engineering according to their fields of research. As of the spring semester of 2021, a total of 21 students, including 9 for master's, 5 for doctor's, and 7 for integrated courses, are enrolled in the course.

Basically the IBTM is to foster professionals that converge high-tech technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, AI-based advanced analysis equipment, and OMX-based advanced experimental technologies with bio-related fields such as medicine, pharmaceuticals, and biomaterials. On top of that, it aims to encourage students to create high-tech technologies with the cooperation of bio companies. To do so, IBTM offers a range of educational courses to lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution by securing excellent professionals in the fields of biotechnology, new drug development, medical information and equipment, life information, and artificial intelligence.

While the demand for manpower in the high-tech biopharmaceutical sector is expected to surge, there is a lack of bio-specialists in South Korea. Graduates of IBTM are expected to have a variety of career options since the demand for manpower in biotechnology is to grow in a range of fields due to the growth of biotechnology industries in the future.

Creative and Interdisciplinary Education Program Focusing on Industry-Academic Cooperation

The Yonsei I_CREATE is in charge of "industry-academic cooperation-oriented convergence education" which is operated as a part of the creative and convergence education program during the third year (March 2021 – February 2022) of the ROK Ministry of Education’s University Innovation Support Project. The "Study on How to Introduce Convergence Education Centering on Industry-Academic Cooperation on the Yonsei International Campus" was conducted by Prof. Yeon Seob Ha, Senior Vice President of the YIC, Prof. Joon Mo Ahn of Korea University, and Prof. Min-Hee Kim of Daegu University. Since the winter semester of 2020, undergraduate students participating in Career Yonsei's field-training program are given opportunities to participate. These students are given the opportunities to not only obtain credits but also explore their career paths in the field. Also, the companies participating in the program can find and secure excellent talent in advance. So far, a total of 25 companies and a total of 35 students have participated in field training.

Since January 2021, the institute has been conducting online forums related to industry-university-institute cooperation every month with customized content for students such as resume preparation and career design. In June, about 140 students participated in the "Winner's Dialogue and Praise-Worthy Presentation" forum which was held successfully despite the COVID-19 situation.

'Makerspace' – Leading Life-Friendly Manufacture Innovation and Promoting Start-ups

The Yonsei I_CREATE has attracted three major state-funded projects and has been operating project groups. The "Makerspace Establishment and Operation Project," organized by the ROK Ministry of SMEs and Startups, aims to expand maker space nationwide to support innovative activities, and Yonsei was selected as a "Makerspace Professional Lab" in May 2020, expecting to receive up to 4 billion won for construction and operation costs of maker space. As Yonsei was selected for the maker space construction and operation project, it organized a maker space project group within the Institute and opened the maker space-specialized lab "i7" in February 2021.

The 'i7' lab is a specialized start-up support space where students can turn their ideas into reality by using high-tech digital equipment. Reconstructing a part of the basement within YIC, the lab offers a range of high-tech digital equipment including a 3D print shop, electronic and precision measuring room, woodworking shop, welding shop, printing and computer lab, and filming studio. On top of that, it also has an open collaboration space including the Design Factory Korea (DFK) Idea Shop and the Proto Shop.

The i7 is the first and only professional maker space in Incheon and it plans to play a central role in creating new businesses and platforms for start-up and investment, and finding successful examples of convergence technologies to eventually contribute to the digital transformation of the local community and its economic growth.

The i7 goes further from playing the role that specialized labs have been doing, such as supporting local communities and arranging facilities for commercialization, and it aims to be an open platform to lead life-oriented manufacturing innovation through organizing digital transformation projects.

In order to achieve the goal of 'innovative life,' the lab has been assisting various customized support programs for various targets from local residents to professional makers and startups. It utilizes seven-dimensional strategies including organization, specialization, prototype commercialization, digital and design transformation, manufacturing process automation, quick commercialization, and sourcing diversification.

It also runs a program called "i-NEXT 7" which is made up of online and offline lectures and mentoring programs to support prospective start-ups. It also runs an educational program on using equipment and software for both students and faculty members. It is also expanding to regional-based specialized programs by holding networking and capacity-building workshops with Incheon-based maker spaces and has signed MOUs with nine organizations, including the Yonsei University Industry Foundation, the Yonsei Institute for Higher Education Innovation, National Rehabilitation Center, Seoul Library, and the Hope Institute. Its programs have been contributing to the fostering of manufacturing-based start-ups and social ventures that eventually will lead to the creation of employment opportunities for our youth.

"Industry-University-Institute Cooperation Complex" – Creating a Biocluster That Coexists and Develops with Local Community

The Industry-University-Institute Cooperation Complex Project is organized and operated within the Yonsei I_CREATE, with a total of 12 billion won in governmental support for five years up to 2025, as Yonsei was selected for the "University's Industry-University-Institute Cooperation Complex Project" in June 2020.

The Industry-University-Institute Cooperation Complex is preparing an active corporate support policy aimed at "fostering innovative bio-companies through open innovation." It provides educational programs such as matching co-researchers and supporting joint research for graduate students, obtaining degrees for faculty members, and opening customized contract departments, and supporting international cooperation using the YFL global network on YIC.

The complex has the only bio c-GMP facility in South Korea, animal laboratories that can be applied to developing environment breeding systems, and a joint institute with more than 100 types of bio-nano equipment, allowing bio companies to focus solely on research. It also provides low rent and business-friendly conditions, and above all, it is expected to establish cooperative relations with Incheon BioHealth Valley and become a hub for Songdo's bio industry. It also helps match students and companies by setting up global challenges and field internship systems where tenant companies and students can cooperate.

Currently, 11 bio companies, including the Medicinal Bioconvergence Research Center (Biocon), MirimGene, Baobab AiBIO, ZYMEDI, and Amyloid Solution, have settled in the Industry-University-Institute Cooperation Complex. These companies that were selected for being technology-oriented are growing into bio-companies, drawing attention by attracting 61 billion won worth of investments. It is expected that successful investment attraction of tenant companies will not only set an important stage in the startup lifecycle, but will also lead to securing sustainability and independence of industrial-academic cooperation complexes, and the spread of bio-start-ups.

Companies moving into the complex are not only supported with physical infrastructure but also carrying out joint research projects with Yonsei to commercialize the technology. The period of the joint research project for technology commercialization is two months in the first year and one year in the second year. In the first year of technology commercialization, which took place from April to May 2021, S2Cbio conducted a study on drug activity evaluation of AN06 inhibitors with Prof. Wan Namkung (Department of Pharmacy), and AbChemBio conducted a study on the derivation and development of candidate materials using organic selenium compounds with Prof. Jong Hyuk Sung (Dept. of Pharmacy). MirimGene worked with Prof. Jung Min Han (Dept. of Pharmacy) to develop sepsis treatment, and Baobab AiBIO worked with Prof. Hyun Soo Cho (Dept. of Systems Biology) to establish and optimize the CRYO-EM protein processing system.

K-NIBRT – Leading the Realization of Healthy Life of Humankind through Bio-Industry Development

K-NIBRT is a national project of South Korea organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Incheon Metropolitan City, Yonsei University, and Incheon Techno Park to train experts in bio-processing. It attempts to apply the excellent education program of the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) of the Republic of Ireland to Korea, thereby nurturing professionals in bioprocessing.

In October 2020, Yonsei University and Incheon Metropolitan City were selected as the "K-NIBRT Program Operation and Bio-Process Human Resource Training Center Project." Yonsei and Incheon City became the third government-led biopharmaceutical process and development training institution worldwide after NIBRT and the BTEC in the United States; it was the first in Asia. In order to operate educational programs, Yonsei has formed a K-NIBRT project group within the Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology and is promoting the project.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the demand for new workers in the bioprocessing sector is expected to be 16,500 by 2023, but the supply of new workers is estimated to be about 1,300 annually. The demand for manpower in the high-tech biomedicine sector is expected to surge especially. The government plans to introduce a Korean-style NIBRT program and establish an educational institution to develop more than 2,000 experts per year that companies can hire immediately.

In order to attract the project from the government, Yonsei and Incheon City formed a consortium and participated in the project plan submission and presentation evaluation meeting in August last year. Although other universities and local governments were also fiercely engaged, the Incheon City-Yonsei Consortium (Incheon Metropolitan City-Incheon Techno Park-Yonsei University) was selected as the number 1 after the presentation evaluation meeting. This project is a large state-run project with a total cost of 139.8 billion won investment for six years from 2020 to 2025. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will invest 30.6 billion won in the operation of the Korean-style NIBRT program and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will invest 52.7 billion won in the construction of the center. In addition, Incheon City will spend 19.2 billion won on the construction and operation of the center, while Yonsei will spend 67.9 billion won on the construction of land and additional buildings.

The K-NIBRT project will establish a world-class GMP education facility by the end of 2023 and officially open a human resources training center in 2024. The K-NIBRT project group aims to provide training courses specialized in the development and process of biopharmaceuticals and cultivate the ability of talented people who have completed the courses to be recognized as the best in the industry. If a large number of professionals who have completed customized training courses for companies begin to emerge, it is expected to solve the problem of the lack of high-tech manpower needed for the rapidly increasing bioproduction industries.

Amid fierce competition among countries to become leaders in the bio-health industry, the Korean NIBRT project, in which Yonsei, the South Korean government, and Incheon City cooperate with the Irish NIBRT, will play a pivotal role in boosting the nation's bio-health competitiveness.

Currently, the Yonsei I_CREATE, which plays a pivotal role in bio-convergence education, research, and industry-university-institute cooperation with major state-funded projects, is dedicated to the success of convergence research, education, and industry-academic relationship platform. Here are the visions and wishes of Senior Vice President Yeon Seob Ha, who is in charge of the project of the institute, and Professors Younah Kang, Gyoonhee Han, and Jin-Hyun Jeong, who are in charge of each project group.

"If the past decade of the International Campus (YIC) was a period of 'education and internationalization,' the next decade will be a period of 'research and industry-academic cooperation.' The YIC, which aims to create a global impact through convergence and industry-academic cooperation, will be reborn as a leading cluster representing Korea in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. At the heart of it is the I_CREATE."

Professor Yeon Seob Ha
Senior Vice President of International Campus
Dean, Institute for Convergence Research and Education in Advanced Technology (I_CREATE)

"Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail. There's only make. The Makerspace i7 is constantly seeking new things. Through various methods such as manufacturing facilities, hardware/software education, product/service consulting, expert networks, and mass-production corporate networks, students and prospective entrepreneurs can experiment from idea development to prototyping. The i7 is where innovation that can change the world begins."

Professor Younah Kang
Vice Chair, Makerspace Project Group, I_CREATE

"'An innovative ecosystem where universities are at the center' is a good phrase composed of impressing words. However, no one can guarantee that the day the YIC will be cited as a successful university-centered innovation ecosystem will actually come. We don't even have the experience of what efforts are needed to achieve an innovative ecosystem. It's not easy. But if you give up without trying, you add a spoon of salt to someone else's wound. Whether the current effort will go to success or failure will not depend entirely on efforts, but I believe today's footprint will be the next person's milestone. I hope that the project to create an industry-university-institute cooperation complex within the university will be evaluated like that. I will wrap up with an old Chinese poem that Mr. Kim Gu (a leader of the Korean independence movement during the Japanese colonial period) enjoyed reading. "踏雪夜中去 不須胡亂行 今日我行跡 遂作後人程. - Those who walk on snowy night paths, do not make a mess of your steps. The footprints I walked today will be a milestone for the people behind me.""

Professor Gyoonhee Han
Vice Chair, Industry-University-Institute Cooperation Complex Project Group, I_CREATE

"The K-NIBRT, which will be established on the YIC, will receive the know-how of NIBRT, the world's top bio-process human resources training agency established in 2011 by the Republic of Ireland government. The K-NIBRT, a South Korean bio-process human resources education institution, will play a pivotal role in fostering bio-industry manpower in the Asia-Pacific region by training personnel for antibody, advanced bio-medicine, and vaccine-process."

Professor Jin-Hyun Jeong

Vice Chair, K-NIBRT Project Group, I_CREATE