SK Group to invest $770 mn to build integrated R&D center in Bucheon

[Courtesy of SK innovation]

South Korea’s SK Group is set to invest 1 trillion won ($770 million) to establish SK Green Techno Campus (tentatively) on a site of 137,000 square meters in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. This campus aims to accommodate over 3,000 researchers with doctorate and master’s degrees from seven SK Group companies, focusing on developing eco-friendly technologies such as next-generation batteries, semiconductor materials, carbon reduction and capture, renewable energy, and hydrogen.

Scheduled for completion by 2027, SK Green Techno Campus will house seven core SK Group affiliates in the eco-friendly energy technology sector, including SK innovation, SK energy, SK geocentric, SK on, SK E&S, SKC, and SK materials. The research facilities will be constructed on a total floor area of 400,000 square meters.

Reports suggest that the strong determination of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has significantly influenced the construction of the SK Green Techno Campus.

Last year, Chey established an environmental business committee under SK Supex Council, the top decision-making body of the group, replacing the energy and chemical committee. SK Group is striving to enhance competitiveness at a group-wide level by believing in the future of eco-friendly technologies, said an SK Group official.

During an SK Group CEO seminar in October 2020, Chey instructed the management to develop specific strategies for the transition to eco-friendly initiatives, emphasizing that member companies that have adopted green business strategies need to come together to find ways to implement them.

In 2004, Chey introduced a unique incentive system for group researchers as the first of its kind in South Korea, aimed at motivating their R&D efforts. Under this system, if researchers contribute to technology development, they receive 5 percent of the profits generated by that technology. Former SK Group Vice Chairman Park Sang-hoon reminisced, saying that “I suggested introducing the R&D rewards system to motivate researchers to Chey and he was particularly interested in motivation, even asking if there should be no limit to the rewards.”

SK Group has aggressively expanded its R&D workforce over the years. Initially, when establishing a technology support research center in Ulsan, the hiring scale for doctoral-level personnel was around 15. By the completion of Daeduk Institute of Technology in 1995, SK innovation’s entire R&D workforce increased to 340. By 2016, it reached 600, and this year, the R&D workforce has grown to over 2,300, nearly 20 percent of the total employees.