Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) has partnered with Buan County (County Governor Kwon Ik-hyun) to begin full-scale efforts to cultivate tailored talent that will drive the region's new growth engines and to advance Industry–University Collaboration.

JBNU announced on the 15th that, on the afternoon of the 14th at the University Headquarters, it signed a local government–university memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate on the 'Create 10 Seoul National Universities' initiative, with President Yang O-bong and Buan County Governor Kwon Ik-hyun in attendance.

This agreement was established to facilitate active cooperation between universities and local governments on the 'Create 10 Seoul National Universities' initiative, which seeks to concentrate efforts to cultivate regional national universities to the level of Seoul National University in order to promote national balanced development and to overcome the crisis of regional decline.

Through this, the two institutions agreed to cultivate tailored talent based on local conditions and to establish a joint education and research cooperation system in which the university and local government grow together.

In particular, JBNU and Buan County will concentrate their efforts on jointly advancing Industry–University Collaboration necessary for training local talent linked to growth engines. The plan is to combine Buan County's priority future strategic industries and other key growth engines with JBNU's excellent research and educational infrastructure to actively cultivate practical core talent required by the regional industrial field.

To this end, the two institutions will jointly plan and support field-oriented Industry–University Collaboration projects linked with local companies and industries. The core idea is for the university's research outcomes and human resources to directly strengthen Buan County's industrial competitiveness, and for the resulting growth of local companies to, in turn, create high-quality jobs that retain local talent, thereby establishing a virtuous-cycle ecosystem.

In addition, they plan to strengthen a multifaceted cooperation network for regional co-prosperity by expanding shared infrastructure such as joint use of educational and research facilities and by promoting projects such as the '5-Poles, 3-Specialties Shared University' project, an anchor system for cultivating regional growth talent.

JBNU President Yang O-bong said, “We will closely link the university's research and educational capabilities with Buan County's key growth drivers to create a successful model of Industry–University Collaboration that practically drives regional development,” and added, “We will continue to fulfill our responsibilities as a national flagship university and realize the 'Create 10 Seoul National Universities' vision through a strong partnership with local governments.”