South Korea and China are speeding up efforts to boost cooperation on project management to seize opportunities, according to the International Project Management Association Korea on Wednesday.

Kim Soo-hong, CEO of Incheon Bridge Corp., the operator of the 21-kilometer Incheon Bridge, and vice president of IPMA Korea, met with Ding Ronggui, a professor at Shandong University, and discussed plans to strengthen bilateral cooperation in project management from Monday to Wednesday.

In June last year, IPMA Korea and the China Project Management Education Union led by Shandong University signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the Global Project Institute to build a global platform led by Asian countries in the market dominated by the US and European players.

During the three-day meeting, the two sides drew up specific plans for the GPI, including many educational programs and research projects, an official from IPMA Korea said.

For college education, it will run exchange programs and conduct joint research projects on multilateral project management and public-private partnership project management.

For companies, it plans to introduce a certificate program and promote the Project Excellence Awards hosted by the IPMA, the official said.

The new institute will launch research programs for the Korea-China PPP and other government- and industry-level project management.

It will also develop educational project management programs for executives and officials.

“When you look at Incheon Bridge, which received the world best PM award in Panama, the future of PM in Korea is unlimited,” said Ding. “GPI will become a bridge for the exchanges of academics and national projects.”

Ding on Tuesday introduced China’s project management cases and the current situation there.

China’s project management has been robust since 10 years ago when the Chinese government began to support project management in areas such as aerospace, high-speed railway and medical sectors, IPMA Korea quoted Ding as saying.

China‘s involvement with project management is likely to continue as China is leading small and massive projects such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

IPMA Korea was launched in April last year after Incheon Bridge won an award in the mega-sized construction project category at the Project Excellence Award 2015 held in Panama.

Member schools of the CPMEU encompass Chinese universities including Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Shandong University and Tianjin University.

IPMA also cooperates with Seoul National University, Korea University, Hanyang University and the University of North Korea Studies. 



By By Park Ga-young and Lee Hong-seok (gypark@heraldcorp.com) (gilbert@heraldcorp.com)