Seoul will expand its global cooperation network from North America to Europe to foster artificial intelligence (AI) startups.
Seoul said Seoul AI Hub, the city's AI industry base, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Imperial College London at the British Embassy in Korea on the 18th.
The MOU centers on building a cooperation system for joint research, technology commercialization, researcher exchanges, and entry into overseas markets. The plan is to connect Imperial College London's world-class research capabilities to give AI startups opportunities to work with overseas researchers on their technical challenges.
Regarding the agreement, Seoul said it "focused on building a practical cooperation model centered on joint research with direct participation by Seoul AI corporations and Imperial College London researchers, going beyond simple exchanges between institutions."
Imperial College London is a leading research university in the United Kingdom. It has built global research competitiveness through research in science, engineering, and medicine, including AI, and through active industry-academia cooperation. It also tied for second in the World University Rankings announced annually by QS, a U.K.-based global university evaluation agency.
The first collaboration will begin in Oct. This Oct., Seoul AI Hub will select two AI startups and send them to London for 10 weeks to run a pilot joint research program that solves the technical challenges corporations face together with Imperial College London researchers. Based on this, both sides plan to expand the number of participating corporations and the duration of joint research.
Afterward, they plan to gradually expand the scope of cooperation, including ▲ expansion of joint research projects ▲ researcher exchanges ▲ expansion of global industry-academia cooperation programs ▲ connection to global investment networks ▲ support for entry into the U.K. market.
This is not the first time Seoul AI Hub has partnered with an overseas institution. Starting with Mila, a Canadian AI institute, in 2023, it has supported and promoted joint research by a total of 20 AI startups through this year, establishing a cooperation model in which Seoul corporations tackle technical challenges that are difficult to solve on their own together with world-class researchers. The agreement with Imperial College London is meaningful in that it expands this joint research model from North America to Europe.
Cho Hye-jung, Seoul's director of creative industry planning, said, "Joint research with top-tier research institutions is an important opportunity for AI startups to solve technical challenges that are difficult to address on their own and to take their technology to the next level," adding, "We will support Seoul AI Hub so it can establish itself as a base for joint research."