SK On established a secondary battery contracted department at Sungkyunkwan University. Following LG Energy Solutions and Samsung SDI, SK On’s contracted department directly secures master's and doctoral level experts for employment.
Starting next year, around 10 internal and external people will be selected. The contracted departments established so far are in Korea University, Yonsei University, and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST).
Battery contracted departments have been established one after another since last year, starting with LG Energy Solutions and Samsung SDI. This is because the electric vehicle battery market is rapidly expanding but there is a significant shortage of professional manpower on the other hand. It is an urgent need to secure R&D personnel for next-generation batteries such as lithium-ion batteries and solid-state batteries.
Battery material businesses are also seeing a growing demand for production workers. POSCO Chemical is pursuing a project to nurture human resources by supporting battery education courses or by providing scholarships in partnership with major domestic universities such as Hanyang University, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), UNIST, and Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST). EcoPro BM, LANDF, and Cosmo Advanced Materials Technology are growing material production manpower by partnering with universities near production bases in Pohang, Daegu, and Chungju.
An industry insider said, "The battery contracted department is not as sizeable compared to the semiconductor and display industries. There is a need to expand the scale of departments and training experts in response to the growth of the electric vehicle battery market.”
By Staff Reporter Ji-woong Kim (jw0316@etnews.com)