In collaboration with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), KAIST hosted a two-week workshop for Dominican Republic officials from October 23 to November 3. 20 key personnel from the Dominican industrial and academic sectors, including the Assistant Minister of the Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCYT) and the deans of major engineering colleges, participated in lectures given by industry-academia cooperation experts and site visits to companies.

As part of KAIST and KOICA’s collaborative “Human Resource Development in Science and Technology in Dominican Republic” project, this workshop aimed to encourage the establishment of industry-academia policies in the Dominican Republic. The programs provided participants with knowledge on industry-academia cooperative research, and guided them in creating a detailed action plan that they could apply upon their return to the Dominican Republic. As Korea’s cradle of science and technology human resources development, KAIST has the role to aid the Dominican Republic’s cultivation of a well-educated workforce by sharing our school’s experiences and tips concerning industry-academia collaboration systems.

Pedro Antonio Eduardo, the Assistant Minister of MESCYT, said, “This was a good opportunity to deepen our understanding of industry-academia cooperation by learning from experts about Korea’s experience with science and technology development and nurturing of educated human resources.”

He added, “In this workshop, I learned about the driving force behind Korea’s advances in the science and technology area, and that cultivating sciences and engineering manpower will be key to the future development of the Dominican Republic’s industries,” expressing pleasure.

The “Human Resource Development in Science and Technology in Dominican Republic” project was initiated in early 2016 and will run until late 2019. It is an official development assistance (ODA) project funded by the government to promote academia-industry cooperation by training those in charge of manpower education.

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