Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group is to join hands with Seoul National University (SNU) to nurture talented individuals in artificial intelligence (AI), in an effort to secure a future growth engine.

The Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SNU to cooperate in AI technology for heavy industry use at the school's administrative building located in Seoul on June 2.

The signing ceremony was attended by Kwon Oh-gap, Chairman & CEO of HHI Holdings; Chung Ki-sun, Head of Management Support Office; Kim Sung-jun, Head of Advanced Research Center at Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE); Oh Se-Jung, President of Seoul National University; and Choi Haecheon, Vice President for Research Affairs of Seoul National University, among others.

Under the MoU, the two parties will jointly conduct strategic research to develop next-generation ships and construct smart shipyards, while also operating educational programs to help foster AI professionals.

HHI Group will periodically conduct joint research with SNU's shipbuilding and marine engineering departments.

By working on research projects to develop self-sailing ships that are environmentally friendly and highly efficient, the Group aims to combine AI and manufacturing technology to come up with its own unique AI-based technology "AI+X solution."

The Group's Global R&D Center, set for completion in 2022, will be used for the joint research, while SNU will establish a graduate school curriculum to train specialists.

From the latter half of 2022, a heavy industries AI curriculum will be offered by SNU with HHI Group covering the tuition. Graduates will be given benefits and incentives when applying to the Group's affiliates.

Through the MoU, HHI Group will be able to attract talented researchers in advance who will be responsible for the Group's future growth while SNU will be able to foster AI specialists with funding from HHI Group.

"Following the paradigm change in the shipbuilding industry, securing talent in the fields of future technologies has emerged as a key task that can make or break the Group's competitiveness," said the HHI Holdings chairman. "Going forward, we will make all-out efforts to develop AI technologies and foster AI specialists to implement a ‘super gap’ strategy to build an unassailable advantage over our rivals."

"We will be able to respond to the ever-changing paradigm of the fourth industrial revolution by combining the value of new knowledge to be created by SNU's top-class researchers and HHI Group's state-of-the-art smart heavy industries technologies," said the SNU president. "We hope this MoU will serve as a role model for the industry and academia to work together to create innovative growth opportunities."