205 Master's and Doctoral Students to Be Trained at Kangwon National University to Lead Gangwon's Bio Industry

[Financial News, Chuncheon = Reporter Kim Gi-seop] Kangwon National University (KNU) has been selected for a specialized graduate school program that will train 205 master's and doctoral-level professionals to lead the bio industry.
According to Gangwon State on the 31st, KNU was selected for the bio field of the 2026 advanced industry specialized graduate school support project run by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. As a result, KNU will receive about 15 billion won in state funding over up to five years from this year through 2031 and will train 205 core master's and doctoral-level specialists needed by the bio industry. The project will select five universities nationwide in advanced sectors such as semiconductors, batteries and displays, and KNU was chosen for the bio field.
The selection is significant because it secures a foundation for training specialists who can support the competitiveness of Gangwon's bio specialized complex. The bio industry requires a high level of expertise from research and development to production processes, and securing outstanding talent determines corporate investment and growth. The province expects the selection to accelerate efforts to attract bio companies and develop the specialized complex.
KNU will move away from a thesis-centered, compartmentalized education model and build a new end-to-end training system involving industry, academia and research institutions. It will introduce four common courses covering AI exploration, drug design, mechanism verification and commercialization, while fully implementing a project-based semester focused on practical training. Students will solve real R&D challenges proposed by an 81-member consortium of companies and institutions, and use the results in place of a thesis to earn their degrees. The university will also operate a dual mentoring system that pairs each student with a faculty adviser and an industry expert.

In particular, the university will establish a campus at the Hongcheon National Antibody Cluster and train practice-oriented talent by working on projects assigned by tenant companies. Through this, it plans to create an industry-academia-research ecosystem that uses the entire Gangwon bio cluster as a training ground, linking AI and process development in Chuncheon, basic research and immune verification at KNU, and antibodies and preclinical studies in Hongcheon County. The province said the talent produced through this process will lead R&D and commercialization at companies and institutions, while companies will strengthen industry-academia ties by reflecting on-site needs in the curriculum. It aims to build a virtuous cycle in Gangwon's bio industry, from the designation of the specialized complex to attracting companies, training talent, R&D and commercialization, and regional settlement. KNU aims to train 205 master's and doctoral students through this program and achieve a 95% employment rate and a 50% local settlement rate.
Gangwon State Governor Woo Sang-ho said, "We will build an ecosystem in which the talent companies want is trained in Gangwon and grows by conducting research in Gangwon again," adding, "As the province is now steadily establishing a foundation for R&D and commercialization, as well as a system for cultivating advanced talent, following the designation of the specialized complex, we will support Gangwon State's leap forward as a new growth hub for Korea's bio industry."

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter