GYEONGSAN — North Gyeongsang Province is launching an "AI talent innovation university" program at local universities that will make artificial intelligence training standard regardless of a student's major and link coursework to corporate projects to produce job-ready workers.
The province said on the 16th that it held a kickoff briefing the previous day at Yeungnam University for a research project on building and expanding AI talent innovation universities based on anchor innovation districts.
The briefing followed Yeungnam University's selection in March as an anchor university for AI strategic industries under a provincial initiative.
Yeungnam University will receive 20 billion won ($14 million) over four years starting this year to drive the AI transformation of the region's strategic industries and train 4,000 workers in related fields.
Officials from Yeungnam University, the Gyeongbuk Research Institute and the contracted research firm attended the briefing.
The research will survey demand among local companies for AI-skilled workers and analyze ways to ease regulations that hinder cooperation between universities and businesses.
It will also examine introducing basic AI education for students in all majors, adding corporate projects to curricula, running pilot programs led by Yeungnam University, and extending the results to Gyeongsan and the rest of North Gyeongsang Province.
The project will wrap up after an interim report next month and a final report in December, after which the province plans to draw up a detailed action plan for creating an AI hub that meets the needs of local businesses and industry sites.
The province will then seek funding through competitive government programs, including those run by the Ministry of Education.
"In the era of AI transformation, local universities must become more than institutions that simply train workers — they must serve as core anchors driving innovation in regional industry," said Lee Sang-soo, director general of the provincial government strategy bureau at North Gyeongsang Province. "Based on this research, we will work to make local universities hubs of the AI industry."