Participants pose for a photo at the orientation and launch ceremony for the K-New Deal Academy Cell-In program, held Monday at Celltrion's Pharmaceutical-Bio Convergence Research Center in Songdo, Incheon. [Celltrion]
Participants pose for a photo at the orientation and launch ceremony for the K-New Deal Academy Cell-In program, held Monday at Celltrion's Pharmaceutical-Bio Convergence Research Center in Songdo, Incheon. [Celltrion]

Celltrion is partnering with the government to train young people who have dropped out of the job market and help them enter the biotech industry.

The company said Monday it held the launch ceremony for the K-New Deal Academy Cell-In program at its Pharmaceutical-Bio Convergence Research Center in Songdo, Incheon, marking the official start of the initiative developed jointly with the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Cell-In is a boot camp offering foundational biotech education and employment support to unemployed people between the ages of 18 and 34 who have had little hands-on experience in the field. Participants were selected regardless of academic major through a process that included a document review, an AI aptitude test and an interview.

The program runs five days a week, eight hours a day, through Oct. 23 — a roughly three-month course. It combines theory classes and project assignments in Songdo with job-specific training and field practice in Siheung. The curriculum also incorporates industry-academic partnerships to sharpen practical skills, including virtual reality lab sessions at Seoul National University, a project assignment with Sartorius, and training at Yonsei University's K-NIBRT (Korea National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training).

Developed in cooperation with local and central government to provide hands-on infrastructure for young people who have given up on job hunting, the initiative advances ESG management at a leading pharmaceutical-biotech company while addressing the industry's chronic labor shortage.

Participants receive fully subsidized tuition under government support, along with a training stipend of 300,000 won ($211) per person. Additional benefits include laptop loans, one-on-one career consulting, mock interviews and resume-writing workshops.

"We hope this program gives young people a chance to build real skills and take their first step toward independence," a Celltrion official said. "Working with the government, we will actively nurture the next generation of talent for the biotech industry."


silverpaper@heraldcorp.com