Chungnam National University is renowned for its vast campus size, and it boasts almost 60 distinct buildings. With so many buildings, you may have wondered what each building is used for when walking by. For some buildings, it is obvious, such as the central library or the College of Engineering, but for others, it is not. For example, people who frequently walk through the side gate of our campus may have wondered about Tipstown. In this article, I would like to introduce Daejeon Tipstown and the Convergence Education Innovation Center, which were built recently, and, therefore, are still somewhat unknown to students.

First, Daejeon Tipstown is located right in front of the side gate, near the International Language Education Center and Jeongsimhwa Hall. TIPS for Tipstown stands for Tech Incubator Program for Startups. It is one of the technology start-up support projects under the management of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It aims to support innovative technology start-ups in the private sector.

Tipstown, initially established in Yeoksam-ro, Seoul in 2015, expanded to Daejeon in 2021 for the first time in a non-capital area due to its success. It features five floors above ground and one underground, covering around 5,300 cubic meters. Approximately 30 companies and institutions, including eight investment institutions and 22 start-up companies currently occupy the space.

Daejeon Tipstown not only helps companies move in but also, directly and indirectly, facilitates their growth through assistance and resources. In addition to small- and medium-sized corporate office spaces, it stimulates innovation among facility users through the provision of meeting lounges and coworking spaces that help to create a comfortable working environment. Inside, Tipshall (40 seats) and Townhall (200 seats) are available for seminars and other activities. Furthermore, there are rest areas and public cafes for added convenience, and the products of the start-up companies at Daejeon Tipstown are exhibited in the TIPS exhibition hall on the 1st floor. Its rent support policy, which is surprising, is also worth noting. The rental fee is 8,000 won per cubic meter (an average of 320,000 won per month for a seven-person room), which is half the price of the surrounding area in Daejeon. Last but not least, Daejeon Tipstown supports networking among investors, start-ups, and Daejeon start-up support organizations. For example, through a program called Tiptalk, investors give lectures to start-up companies, and meetings between existing companies and new tenant companies are hosted.

One of the main features of Daejeon Tipstown is that tenant companies and investment institutions are located in the same space, which facilitates cooperation. Moreover, because Daejeon Tipstown is situated on the campus of Chungnam National University, it contributes to enhancing students' job and start-up readiness. Every year, it creates fresh opportunities for school members by collaborating with various school-based institutions, including BTS (Big Boss Talk for Startups), CNUIR Democratic Day in 2022, and the Global Academy of Teachers (Preliminary) Start-up Companies in 2023. In sum, Daejeon Tipstown offers a range of unique experiences and opportunities to our school, Daejeon, and the local community by fostering promising start-up companies. If you are interested in launching a startup company or pursuing future employment, why don't you drop by?

Next, The Office of Education Innovation held an opening ceremony for its Innovation-Factory (Inno-Factory) on May 22, 2023. Approximately 50 people attended the ceremony, including CNU’s president, Lee Jinsook. The construction of the Inno-Factory started in 2021, and it is located between the College of Engineering Building 2 and the Human Resources Development Institute.

The Inno-Factory consists of three floors above ground and one floor below ground, totaling 2,827 square meters. Furthermore, it has a Fab-Lab (fabrication laboratory), convention hall, seminar room, and other shared facilities. The Fab-Lab and convention building are connected by a bridge. In the Fab-Lab, the 'Smart Idea Fab-Lab' (1st floor) is a space for fostering idea generation in humanities, social sciences, and engineering convergence; the 'Soft Fab-Lab' (2nd floor) is dedicated to SW design and programming including, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence; and the 'Innovation Fab-Lab' (3rd floor) is equipped with specialized tools to support prototype production. These spaces serve as a hub for innovative startups and industry-academia-university convergence technology collaboration in emerging fields like future mobility. The convention building includes a convention hall, an active smart mirroring classroom based on ALC (Active Learning Classroom), a hybrid (virtual) classroom, and a convergence education support room. It serves as a collaborative networking space to facilitate industry-academia-university convergence technology cooperation using the Inno-Factory, strengthening the foundation for regional coexistence and national competitiveness.

With the full operation of the Inno-Factory, Chungnam National University will perform tasks related to the Local Government and University Innovation Support (RIS) Project. It will support both university education and professional technology initiatives and make the facility accessible to the wider community, including the general public and middle and high school students. It will function as a space that fosters collaborative outcomes through openness and cooperation.

The Inno-Factory serves as a bridge connecting university education to entrepreneurship in Daejeon's TIPS Town. If you aspire to become an ICT professional or start a unicorn company, you will be most welcome to explore the opportunities it offers! Give it a try!

During your time at CNU, you have likely explored many campus buildings. Besides the buildings that you have visited before, why don’t you go to a new place to refresh your mind? Perhaps Daejeon Tipstown and the Inno-Factory might inspire new ideas and help you find the career that you want. I hope that many students visit these places and gain experiences that benefit their futures.