KPI begins to formalize fascinating initiatives of Korean partners

By Vladimir V. Sytin

The 5th Korea-Ukraine Economic Forum entitled "Economic Cooperation within the Context of Eurasian Integration" took place at the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kiev Polytechnic Institute" (KPI) on July 27-28.

In his speech of welcome, KPI Rector Mikhail Zgurovsky pointed out that the University is successfully applying the strategy of integration of education, research and innovation, providing the most fertile ground for leading engineering schools, creating an innovative environment, namely Science Park "Kyivska Polytechnica" that includes 110 high-tech companies based in the United States, European Union, China, Japan and Australia, as well as 14 venture funds and seven Ukrainian leading high-tech enterprises. According to him, cooperation with the Republic of Korea, which has defended the No. 1 spot for the fourth year running on the list of 50 most innovative economies in the Bloomberg Global Innovation Index, can play a huge role. Incidentally, the Wall Street Journal notes that Samsung Electronics, the Korean company best known for its smartphones and televisions, has recently taken the title of world’s largest chip maker by revenue, knocking Intel from a perch it held for nearly a quarter-century

Korea achieved great successes in the areas that are crucial for the economic development of Ukraine pursuing the path of reforms. The fascinating initiatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea are aimed at expanding cooperation between the two countries in the field of education, science and innovation, building up the institutional capacity of Ukrainian universities to develop the high-tech economy of Ukraine. As expected, discussions held within the Forum and recommendations will enable the implementation of joint international projects, using the scientific, educational and production potential of Ukraine, as well as the experience of Korea to build a competitive world-class economy.

Making his presentation, Sergey Sidorenko, KPI Vice-Rector for International Relations, said the Education Center of Information Technologies within the KPI setup was established in 2008 in accordance with the inter-governmental agreement between Ukraine and the Republic of Korea. Further development of this Education Center is seen as the establishment of the Ukrainian-Korean Center for Education, Science and Innovation that will immediately become integrated into the innovative environment of the University. Specifically, the new Center will commence active cooperation with KPI startups, the All-Ukrainian Festival “Sikorsky Challenge” and other activities within the KPI innovation ecosystem.

As regards the educational direction of the Center, keeping focus on IT technologies will be parallel to the development of educational programs in the field of innovative management, innovative entrepreneurship, promotional campaigns and protection of the intellectual property. The new Center may well become the basic facility for development of wide-ranging collaboration between Korea and Ukraine in the field of education, science and innovation.

It is important to note that Prof. Young Moo Lee, President of Hanyang University, will visit the University on September 10-12 to finalize founding documents. In his presentation, Mr. Sidorenko highlighted the considerable amount of work done by Lee Young Goo, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Ukraine, and KPI Rector Mikhail Zgurovsky who gave a great deal of thought to preliminaries of the above concept.