West Midlands to collaborate with South Korean city to boost innovation

Last week, Tech West Midlands signed memorandums of understanding with the Ulsan Creative Economy & Innovation Center and Ulsan Technopark. These new partnerships are part of the UK-Republic of Korea Innovation Twins and DIATOMIC programmes, led by Connected Places Catapult in collaboration with Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Combined Authority, respectively. The DIATOMIC programme is a key component of the broader West Midlands Innovation Accelerator, with its global initiatives stemming from the Innovation Twins Programme. Both programmes are funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Innovate UK.

Research commissioned through Innovation Twins identified a series of shared characteristics and challenges between Birmingham and Ulsan, Republic of Korea that makes this a high-potential pairing for future cooperation.

Representatives of Birmingham and the West Midlands have visited Ulsan several times in the past three years, including a delegation earlier this year, to meet with counterparts and establish the dialogue that has led to today’s signings. The signings took place during Birmingham Tech Week, at an event officiated by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham.

The memorandums set out a series of shared objectives.

Tech West Midlands and Ulsan Creative Economy Innovation Center (UCCEI) aim to:

• Establish a global network of clusters
• Facilitate knowledge exchange and best practice sharing
• Explore Collaborative Opportunities
  

Tech West Midlands and Ulsan Technopark aim to:

• Promote regional innovation and economic growth
• Support startup ecosystems:
• Enhance technological capabilities
• Facilitate talent exchange and development
• Strengthen global competitiveness

“Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Only by working together, locally, nationally and globally, can we effectively support our start-up communities and nurture the technologies of the future.
The signing of these new collaborations is an important moment for the West Midlands and Ulsan as we mark the beginning of what I hope will be a very beneficial international collaboration.”

Alex Weedon, Executive Director for SME engagement at Connected Places Catapult

“Signing this MoU with the Ulsan Creative Economy Innovation Center and Ulsan Technopark marks a significant step forward in fostering international collaboration to support our mission to drive the global superpower status of our West Midlands ecosystem. Together, we aim to empower SMEs in Birmingham and Ulsan, providing them with the tools and opportunities to innovate and expand globally.”

Yiannis Maos MBE, CEO and founder, Tech West Midlands

"We expect this MOU to provide opportunities for Ulsan startups to directly connect with the innovation ecosystem of Birmingham. By participating in a large event like Birmingham Tech Week, we were able to see the potential for collaboration with companies in Birmingham, which gave us confidence that our startups would be able to grow further in the global market. In particular, we felt that Birmingham's characteristic as an industrial city and Ulsan have much in common, and we expect that the two cities will be able to create great synergy if they work together"

Lee Jinkyung, Global Strategy Team Lead, UCCEI

“This MOU will provide new opportunities for Ulsan’s SMEs to challenge the global market. Cooperation in the energy sector in particular is one of the key elements of this MOU, and with clean energy and sustainable technology development as key areas of cooperation, the two countries are expected to be able to lead technological innovations that contribute to improving energy efficiency and achieving carbon neutrality goals.”

Cho Young-shin, President, UTP