The "ANCHOR Stage" — a national youth talent development framework centered on Gangwon Province — is expanding into a supra-regional collaboration to maximize its impact.
The Gangwon ANCHOR Center will co-host the "2026 Greater Seoul and Three Special Autonomous Provinces ANCHOR Summer Forum" with the Ministry of Education, the Presidential Commission on Balanced National Development, and five metropolitan and provincial governments — Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, Incheon, North Jeolla Province and Jeju — starting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Yonsei University's main auditorium. Gangwon Province and the Gangwon ANCHOR Center operate as a single team working to strengthen cooperation among universities, businesses and local communities, building a virtuous cycle in which young people study, find jobs and settle in Gangwon, with the goal of realizing a "Youth Gangwon where young people can freely pursue their dreams."
The Yonsei University event will be held under the theme "Hexagon Synergy: Leading Balanced Growth." It is the final installment in a series of regional summer relay forums already held in the Honam, Southeast, Daegyeong and Jungbu regions. As the last in the relay series, it is also the largest, with about 700 participants expected — including officials from the Ministry of Education, the Presidential Commission on Balanced National Development, central and regional ANCHOR centers, and university ANCHOR project teams from the Greater Seoul area and the three special autonomous provinces.
The forum was organized to help the Greater Seoul area and the three special autonomous provinces identify supra-regional collaboration tasks that cross administrative boundaries and to expand exchanges and cooperation among universities, local communities and industries — all under the ANCHOR framework for regional growth and talent development.
Rather than pursuing innovation, growth and talent development within the confines of individual local governments, the six cities and provinces will pool the collective thinking of special autonomous entities and share each region's strengths and capabilities, interacting with the Greater Seoul area at the heart of the country.
The forum's significance lies in jointly developing a sustainable cooperation strategy to lead the era of five major hubs and three special autonomous provinces.
Through the forum, Gangwon Province plans to give concrete shape to the supra-regional linkage at the core of the Gangwon ANCHOR initiative — officially launched July 28 — and to jointly explore directions for talent development and industrial cooperation between the Greater Seoul area and the three special autonomous provinces.
The Gangwon ANCHOR is a regional growth and talent development framework designed to train the workers companies need at local universities and to build a virtuous cycle in which young people study, find employment and put down roots in Gangwon.
At the Gangwon ANCHOR launch ceremony on July 28, organizers unveiled a new policy vision shifting the existing university-centered regional innovation approach to a student-centered talent development framework, with student focus, performance orientation and supra-regional linkage as its three core directions.
The event will also feature creative performances by students from Dong-A Broadcasting Arts University and Howon University, followed by a keynote address, a joint vision declaration by the Greater Seoul area and the three special autonomous provinces, a relay presentation of supra-regional cooperation plans by each of the six cities and provinces, and a general discussion. Park Seong-seon, president of Chuncheon National University of Education, will deliver a welcoming address on behalf of the three special autonomous provinces.
After a ceremony declaring the joint vision of the Greater Seoul area and the three special autonomous provinces, the six cities and provinces will take turns presenting their supra-regional cooperation plans linking each region's strengths and resources. Gangwon Province will be represented by Gu Gang-mo, deputy head of the ANCHOR project team and director of future planning at Yonsei University's Mirae Campus.
A general discussion will follow on the theme "ANCHOR and the Era of Five Hubs and Three Special Provinces: Industrial Cooperation Strategy for the Greater Seoul Area and the Three Special Autonomous Provinces," aimed at organically linking regional industries with talent development and expanding practical cooperation across regions. Lee Hui-je, head of the LRS Shared University Headquarters at Kangwon National University, will participate as a discussant representing Gangwon Province.
Kim Mi-suk, director of the Gangwon ANCHOR Center, said the official launch of the Gangwon ANCHOR had shifted the axis of talent development policy from university-centered to student-centered, and that the forum would serve as an opportunity to expand supra-regional cooperation by linking the industrial strengths and university capabilities of the Greater Seoul area and the three special autonomous provinces.
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