Korean public research university KAIST said Wednesday that it would hold a cultural festival at its main campus in Daejeon with Asia’s top science universities until Aug. 9.

The three-day event, called the ASPIRE League E-Olympics, will invite students from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, China’s Tsinghua University and Japan’s Tokyo Institute of Technology. ASPIRE stands for Asian Science and Technology Pioneering Institutes of Research and Education.

Although they have regularly gathered to exchange academic research and studies since 2009, students from those universities have rarely met specifically for cultural exchanges, KAIST said.

KAIST and four other universities suggested holding the E-Olympics festival at a science forum hosted by China’s Tsinghua University last month.

Some 150 students, 30 each from Asia’s five top science universities, will participate in music concerts and athletic games such as basketball and a dragon boat race.

They are also scheduled to tour not only the KAIST campus but its research labs, where students and professors are developing robots, electric vehicles and drones.

KAIST said that it hopes this event will open a new chapter of collaboration among Asia’s top research universities, not only in science and technology but also in culture.

“The E-Olympics marks a new opportunity for the best science students to boost cultural networks and exchanges, and will encourage them to lead in creating a ‘New Asia’ through collaboration rather than competition,” the Korean university said in a statement.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)