JBNU Intellectual Property Professional Workforce Development Project Group (Director: Professor Yang Yun‑seok) has signed an agreement with Gimje Agro‑Life Meister High School (Principal: Park Jun‑ho) and will work to cultivate intellectual property (IP) specialists to lead Jeonbuk’s core agricultural and life‑science bio industries.

The agreement is part of establishing an industry–university–research collaboration model to systematically develop regional IP specialists from high school students to undergraduates and graduate students. The two institutions will cooperate on patent‑filing education and invention camp operations, linking IP curricula between high school and university, supporting students’ patent applications and participation in competitions, building an IP‑based industry–university collaboration network, and connecting these efforts to employment opportunities.

Under the slogan "Design Project Reports as Intellectual Property," the education model focuses on converting students’ project outputs into actual patent applications rather than limiting them to academic evaluation.

Through professional mentoring from the JBNU project group, the plan is to concretize problem‑solving ideas from the agricultural and life‑science bio industry into intellectual property outcomes.

To this end, the two institutions established an IP curriculum between high school and university and conducted three tailored training sessions covering understanding patents and IP fundamentals, and hands‑on prior‑art search methods.

Participating students said, "It was an opportunity to understand intellectual property not simply as a legal concept but as a concrete business asset for companies," and, "Applying prior‑art search techniques to project reports was beneficial because it helped us develop practical skills that can link projects to actual patent filings."

Through this collaboration, students in three majors—Seed Industry, Smart Farm Industry, and Bio‑Food—will be able to integrate IP capabilities into their major‑specific technologies. Consequently, not only is the qualitative level of project reports expected to improve, but students are also expected to grow into practice‑oriented IP professionals who contribute to productivity improvements in industry.

Going forward, the two institutions will refine major‑specific, customized curricula to support students’ projects leading to actual patent filings and will strengthen the use of prior‑art search techniques during competition participation. They also plan to hold recruitment briefings linked with outstanding local agro‑life companies to expand students’ employment opportunities.

Yang Yun‑seok, Director of the JBNU Intellectual Property Professional Workforce Development Project Group, said, "This collaboration aims to enhance competitiveness in the agro‑life bio sector and to cultivate tailored IP specialists required in industry," adding, "We will create an educational environment that can be applied directly to field practice rather than remaining theoretical, supporting the innovative growth of local companies."