Chungcheongbuk-do said it held an opening ceremony for the tentative Kaist Bio Square on the 6th at the Chungbuk Cosmetics Clinical Research Support Center with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Cheongju City.
Attendees at the ceremony included Kim Young-hwan, governor of Chungcheongbuk-do; Lee Kwang-hyung, president of KAIST; lawmaker Lee Yeon-hee; Kim Dae-soo, dean of the College of Life Science and Technology at KAIST; Kim Yong-jin, vice president for research at Seoul National University Hospital; Han Sang-bae, dean of the College of Pharmacy at Chungbuk National University; Lee Gyu-seon, head of the Research Strategy Headquarters at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB); and Lee Myung-su, chair of KBIO Health.
Kaist Bio Square aims to be a convergence research and education platform that breaks down boundaries among diverse disciplines such as AI (artificial intelligence), physics, and mechanics, centered on bio technology.
KAIST plans to use the site as a forward base to build a cooperative system with Seoul National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University, Chungbuk National University Hospital, the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), and KBIO Health. Through this, it plans to deliver results in aging-response R&D (research and development), including the development of Parkinson's disease treatments and medical devices.
It will also serve as a base for bio startups. KAIST produces 120 venture corporations annually. The plan is to pass on this know-how to tenant corporations.
The Chungbuk Cosmetics Clinical Research Support Center, where the facility is located, was completed in Apr. 2017. It consists of one basement level and three above-ground floors. The first floor will be used as a seminar room and an industry-academia-research-hospital networking space, and starting in June, the entire building will be remodeled to create lecture rooms, faculty research rooms, a graduate department office, an open lab (Lab), and a shared kitchen.
Governor Kim Young-hwan said, "I am grateful to President Lee Kwang-hyung and Dean Kim Dae-soo of the College of Life Science and Technology for their bold decision." Lee said, "We will mobilize the full capabilities of KAIST to actively push so the Osong Biomedical Campus Town can take root early."