Stevens Institute of Technology agrees to explore the establishment of University City in Pyeongteak, South Korea

HOBOKEN , N.J. — Stevens Institute of Technology and the South Korean city of Pyeongtaek have agreed to explore the establishment a University City and High Tech Park in Pyeongtaek. At a signing ceremony, both sides spoke of a promising scenario that would feature the creation of inventive new technologies and result in a large number of business and employment opportunities throughout both South Korea and the United States .

As part of the Memorandum of Understanding, Stevens, a prominent US technological research university, agrees to explore the establishment of a graduate school and research centers in the Pyeongtaek University City.  In addition, Stevens is agreeing to work to attract other universities to this site along with other high tech companies.

The new venture is expected to open in two or three years. The South Korean government has approved a $100 million, privately funded Pyeongtaek University City.

Pyeongtaek Mayor Myung ho Song and Stevens President Hal Raveche signed the agreement during a ceremony at Stevens’ Hoboken , New Jersey campus. After a tour of the campus, Mayor Song was the guest of honor at a luncheon, during which time he learned more about Stevens’ model of technology commercialization, academic entrepreneurship.

Unlike the traditional technology transfer model found at other research universities Stevens’ academic entrepreneurship model is designed to enrich the learning environment though a deeper of the understanding of the marketplace by faculty and students.

Under the Stevens model, the university establishes external partnerships with entities such as angel investors, product development specialists, and experts in developing business plans.  In this way companies are launched with the intellectual property from faculty and student and broad opportunities are created for all, President Raveche says.

“Together,” President Raveche says, “we hope our model is followed throughout Asia and North America .”

Encouraged to visit South Korea by a group of Korea natives who are Stevens graduates, President Raveche toured Pyeongtaek back in September and discussed a partnership during that time with Mayor Song. President Raveche came away from the meeting with a favorable impression of Pyeongtaek, a newly developed port city on the coast of the Yellow Sea , about 55 miles south of Seoul .

“Mayor Song told me he envisioned Pyeongtaek as a city with a strong high-tech focus,” President Raveche said. “It aligned very closely to our own climate of academic entrepreneurship with the lineage of education to research to business. Together, we will help educate students who will be able to be competitive in the global marketplace.”

As a rapidly growing city, Pyeongtaek can lean on high-tech as an industry that can create professional opportunities for residents there, Mayor Song said. “Technology is one of the things that can help create jobs for people in Pyeongtaek. We will have the best technology in the country concentrated in one area.”

Currently, 400,000 people live in Pyeongtaek – but that number could reach 1 million residents by 2020, Mayor Song says. The City is home to Camp Humphreys , a US Army Base that is expected to grow during this transition by as much as 500 percent by 2012, making it the largest installation on the peninsula.