Amid fierce competition for R&D and technology to improve the performance of core secondary battery materials, Pohang City is establishing a mutual cooperation system for R&D with leading domestic universities in the secondary battery field and leading the global secondary battery industry with a super-gap.
On the 5th, Pohang City signed an agreement with 8 university business collaboration centers, including POSTECH, Korea University, Kangwon National University, Kyungpook National University, Pukyong National University, Yeungnam University, Widuk University, and Handong University, at the city hall conference room to build an ecosystem for secondary battery R&D cooperation.
About 30 people attended the signing ceremony, including Pohang City Vice Mayor Kim Nam-il, Pohang City Council Chairman Baek In-gyu, POSTECH Advanced Materials Corporate Collaboration Center Professor Park Kyu-yeong, Korea University Small Business Innovation Center Deputy Center Director Lee Jae-ryung, Kangwon National University Professor Bong Han-jong, Kangwon National University ICC Collaboration Center Director Lee Kang-yong, and more.
Eight universities and Pohang City that participated in the agreement will build a secondary battery research and development ecosystem to secure super-gap secondary battery technology and strengthen industrial competitiveness, while actively cooperating in fostering secondary battery manpower, discovering and carrying out joint projects, and exchanging people, materials, and technology.
With this agreement, Pohang City plans to establish an organic collaboration system with secondary battery material research and development universities, and lead the super-gap of global technological innovation as well as leading K-batteries through cooperation covering the southeast region, Daegyeong region, the Seoul metropolitan region, and the Gangwon region.
Pohang is the only city in Korea where mass production and research and development of key materials for secondary batteries are carried out simultaneously.
The Pohang Accelerator Research Institute is leading the secondary battery technology competition by analyzing and researching core materials for secondary batteries using 3rd and 4th generation synchrotron accelerators.
The Secondary Battery Material Research Center of the Pohang Institute of Industrial Science and Technology is conducting scale-up research for the operation and commercialization of a pilot plant specialized in secondary battery research. In addition, technology development and high-quality human resources are being nurtured through world-class R&D infrastructure, such as POSTECH Graduate School of Steel and Energy Materials, Pohang Techno Park, Pohang Metal Material Industry Promotion Institute, and Nano Convergence Technology Institute.
In addition, with the expansion of the secondary battery material business of the POSCO Group, the headquarters of the Future Technology Research Center opened in April and began to build innovative infrastructure specialized in the field of secondary battery original technology and expand human resources in earnest, further solidifying Pohang's position as a global leading city for secondary battery technology development.
Deputy Mayor Kim Nam-il of Pohang City said, “The secondary battery industry is the core of economic security that determines future national competitiveness, and super-gap technology, corporate support, and securing excellent human resources are the most important.”