Korea University Business School Opens KUBS Trading Zone,

a New Hub for Boundary-Spanning Exchange

For Jungwoo Park, a student from the School of Art & Design, May 8 was a day of unexpected discovery. "Because students from different departments came together, I was able to gain insights into information I normally would not have encountered or considered. That was what impressed me the most." Hozayfa, a KUBS student, had a similar experience that day. "After multiple rounds of discussion, we were able to find the best point of agreement by reconciling one another's opinions." This did not happen in a classroom. It happened on the B1 floor of Hyundai Motor Hall, inside the newly opened KUBS Trading Zone.

On Friday, May 8, Korea University Business School (KUBS) held the KUBS Trading Zone Opening & Demo Day. The event, which proceeded through an opening ceremony, artistic session, DOOSAN Art & Culture Room tour, Demo Day, and networking session, brought together around 100 participants, including corporate representatives, students, artists, and faculty members, creating a space where different perspectives could meet, collide, and give rise to new questions.

From Pipeline to Platform
At the opening ceremony, Dean Eonsoo Kim explained the background behind the creation of the space.
"In the past, universities trained students and sent them out, much like a pipeline," he said. "Now, we wanted to create a place on campus where companies can come in, meet students, and connect with future talent. Going forward, campuses will become places not only for students and faculty, but also for diverse internal and external participants to gather, find solutions and ideas, and interact with one another."
The KUBS Trading Zone is an industry–academia collaboration platform designed around the 3Cs of Curiosity, Collaboration, and Contribution. Comprising an LED display, a baby grand piano, artworks, and a multimedia practice room, the space also serves as a hub for realizing the "3C 4Tech" vision, a key pillar of the KUBS 2030 strategy that connects business with four technology areas: AI, AI semiconductors, AI robotics, and AI energy.

Where Art and Business Meet: Seeing, Listening, and Asking
At the center of the space stands artist Jeongsoon Oum's installation artwork, "The Elephant Without Trunk K." Oum is known for her artistic language that challenges conventional ideas and offers new ways of seeing human beings and the world. Taking the microphone during the artistic session, she said:

"When the trunk, the source of absolute power for an elephant, disappears, we finally come to discover something we had not been able to see before. This work is not only an object of appreciation, but also a work that asks endless questions. The greatest power of contemporary art lies in raising new questions that have never been asked anywhere before. My work has also been collected by RM of BTS and covered by the media, but more than anything, I am proud that this piece now stands at KUBS."
This is not the first time KUBS has brought art into an educational space. Following the installation of Lee Ufan's "Relatum–The Location" in front of the KUBS Main Building in 2022, the school has now placed an artwork at the very center of a core learning space. KUBS's philosophy has remained consistent: art is not treated as decoration, but as a device that brings a different perspective into business education.

The artistic session also featured a piano quartet performance by the Unhyun Ensemble, led by Dr. Juhi Kee. The space was filled with William Bolcom's "Graceful Ghost Rag," the third movement, "Andante Cantabile," from Schumann's Piano Quartet, and Brahms's "Rondo alla zingarese" from Piano Quartet No. 1. Dr. Kee said, "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to perform in a space that allows such a rich sound."
After the performance, a three-way conversation followed among Dean Eonsoo Kim, artist Jeongsoon Oum, and Dr. Juhi Kee. When asked about the source of creativity, Oum replied, "I designed experiences through the process of meeting others who are completely different from me, yet ask similar questions." Dean Kim echoed this view, presenting "Boundary Spanning" — the idea that disruptive innovation emerges through interaction among people from different fields — as the guiding direction of the KUBS Trading Zone. It was a moment when business and art, two fields that may seem distant at first glance, converged toward the same question.
 

Real-World Discussions Between Companies and Students

During Demo Day, the highlight of the event, four companies — Twinny in robotics, Finda in fintech and AI, Amorepacific in beauty and consumer goods, and SK Siltron in semiconductors — presented real business challenges and risks as discussion topics. The student teams responding to these topics were composed of participants from diverse academic backgrounds, including KUBS, the College of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts, the School of Art & Design, and international students at KUBS. The very process of people viewing the same problem through entirely different lenses and working toward a single solution was at the heart of Demo Day.

The responses from corporate representatives were more enthusiastic than expected. Youngseok Cheon, CEO of Twinny, said, "If I had had an opportunity like this as a student, I might not have chosen a public enterprise for my first job," adding, "I think this could become an opportunity to work with even more outstanding talent." Hyemin Lee, CEO of Finda, said, "I gained a great deal of inspiration through the process in this space," expressing her intention to actively use the space. Yeonjin Park, Brand Strategy Team Leader at Amorepacific, remarked, "I was surprised that students could so quickly and accurately predict beauty trends I had been thinking about for more than a decade." Geonsoo Park, Pro at SK Siltron, said, "They identified the very problems our company had been thinking about with startling accuracy," adding, "When we want to gain fresh perspectives, it would be very helpful to come here and talk with students."

Professor Daehoon Noh (LSOM) said, "Smooth information exchange requires a setting where outstanding students and companies can come together and collaborate without being placed in a competitive relationship. I felt proud to see students doing so outside the classroom." Professor Minjung Kim (Strategy) said, "At first, the name 'Trading Zone' felt somewhat abstract, but after seeing the site today, I could understand why this space was given that name." She added, "I saw the potential for this space to become a true platform for exchanging ideas, where companies, students, and faculty members cross their respective boundaries, exchange knowledge and perspectives, and develop new ideas together."
 

"It Helped Me See Things Differently"
In the latter part of the event, Broaden, a KUBS student dance club, gave a demonstration in the DOOSAN Art & Culture Room. Created with the aim of connecting artistic thinking with business innovation, the space will be operated on a regular basis as a practice venue for student dance and band clubs, as well as the faculty band. The event concluded successfully with a networking session accompanied by catering.

It was the students' words that best captured the day. Jungwoo Park, a student from the School of Art & Design, said, "What impressed me the most was gaining insights into information that I usually could not access." Hozayfa, a KUBS student, said, "After multiple rounds of discussion, we were able to find the best point of agreement by reconciling one another's opinions." These were experiences that would have been difficult to encounter inside a classroom. The KUBS Trading Zone aims to become a space where precisely such experiences can take place as part of everyday life.

KUBS Business Newspaper Student Press Corps (1st Cohort): Woojin Shin, Yeontae Kim, Dajin Kim, Jinyoung Park, Hyunji Lee, Chaewoo Lee