Pukyong National University

PKNU's new technology and start-up cluster area, has been 'Doubled' in 6 years.
Expanded designation by Ministry of SMEs and Startups ... 400 companies and 2,000 employees in an area of 40,000㎡

△ Front view of Dragon Valley at Yongdang Campus of PKNU. ⓒPhoto by Lee Sung-jae (PR Team)

The new technology start-up cluster area on the campus of Pukyong National University (President Kim Young-seup) has been doubled in six years, and is attracting attention as a 'cradle' of founders and venture companies.

Pukyong National University has announced on June 29 that it received 40,000㎡ of land for the Yongdang campus from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) as a 'new technology and start-up cluster area'.

The 'new technology and start-up cluster area' is a government project that promotes new technology entrepreneurship through public technology commercialization, entrepreneurship promotion, and provision of entrepreneurial space by creating an entrepreneurial space on the site of a university or research institute.

In 2014, for the first time in the Yeongnam region, Pukyong National University began to build a 20,000㎡ new technology and start-up cluster area on the Yongdang campus, and expanded to 30,000㎡ in 2015, and then expanded to 40,000m2 at this time.

There are currently 400 companies in the campus, with more than 2,000 employees. The annual sales of companies that are occupied in the campus amount to 260 billion won.

Companies in the new technology and start-up cluster area are provided with various benefits, such as permitting the installation of urban factories in accordance with the Small and Medium Business Start-up Support Act, reduction of acquisition tax and property tax. Another advantage is that they can utilize research and development infrastructure such as the university's manpower and facilities.

Pukyong National University named the new technology and start-up cluster area as 'Dragon Valley', and the entire Yongdang Campus (330,000㎡) has been built and operated as an industry-academy-innovation campus.

In order to attract and carry out various industry-academic cooperation and start-up government projects, Pukyong National University is carrying out a variety of projects, such as the district project, the engineering special area project in Busan, and the Dragon Valley Youth Job Project in Nam-gu, Busan and it has established the Ministry of Education's University Industry-University Cooperation Complex in the Yongdang Campus, the Inno polis Campus of the Busan R&D Zone, the initial start-up package project of the Small and Medium Venture Business Department, and promoted the start-up of Busan City.

Seo Yong-cheol, head of the industry-university cooperation foundation at Pukyong National University, said, "We will leap the Pukyong National University Yongdang Campus into the largest cluster of industry-university-research in the southeastern area through the expansion of the new technology and start-up cluster area. We will work hard to develop the technology start-up ecosystem base by further expanding the support facilities for start-up companies in cooperation with the government and Busan City." <Pukyong Today>