The groundbreaking ceremony for the National Incubation Centre of Cambodia (NICC) takes place at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), attended by South Korean ambassador to Cambodia Park Heung-kyeong and Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Hang Chuon Naron. SUPPLIED
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) will donate about $8 million to finance education and industrial linkage, and $2.7 million of the grant will go to the construction of the National Incubation Centre of Cambodia (NICC), which will held its groundbreaking ceremony on September 3.
The ceremony took place at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), attended by South Korean ambassador to Cambodia Park Heung-kyeong and Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Hang Chuon Naron.
The three-story building, scheduled to be completed by early 2023, will serve as a training and mentoring facility for talented Cambodian youth to hone their potential in the digital age.
It will provide an opportunity as a meeting point between investors, future entrepreneurs and students.
This centre is a part of the project for “Establishment of Business Incubation System between University and Industry in Cambodia”, a grant agreement signed between KOICA and the education ministry in 2019.
“KOICA will use $2.7 million of the $8 million grant for the construction of NICC, including equipment,” KOICA country director Rho Hyun-jun said in a press release on September 2.
He hopes this project will become another milestone to support the digital technology startups and market network in Cambodia.
Cambodia is one of South Korea’s key Official Development Assistance (ODA) partner countries. South Korea started with small-scale humanitarian aid for Cambodia in the early 1990s.
“Now our ODA partnership has expanded into 69 projects, covering such areas as education, industry, health, Information and Communications Technology [ICT], and culture,” ambassador Park said in the press release.
He said this project will be a model for industry-academia cooperation and industrial diversification in Cambodia.
Park hopes this project will be a good example of the successful business cooperation between Cambodia and South Korea.
Education ministry spokesman Ros Soveacha told The Post on September 2 that the ministry would use the NICC as a bridge to bring Cambodian students and youth into the digital age through training, consultations and meeting with investors.
He said this collaboration with KOICA is in response to the increased focus on digital education by the ministry in the strategic plan for education 2019-2023.
“The ministry welcomes and appreciates the cooperation from relevant ministries, institutions, development partners, including KOICA in contributing to improving the quality of education, especially in linking it to the industrial sector,” he said.
