South Korea's three major shipbuilders will provide publicized patents to their smaller local counterparts to help them build eco-friendly ships, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.

The three shipbuilders are Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world's largest shipyard; Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world's second-biggest shipyard; and Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a shipbuilding unit of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate.

The three shipbuilders will open about 2,500 patents, which will be managed by a new innovation center in the southeastern industrial city of Ulsan, the presidential office said.

The rare move came as the International Maritime Organization, the U.N. agency responsible for maritime safety, and countries around the world are strengthening maritime regulations to reduce emissions of pollutants.

"We should capitalize on the move to strengthen environmental regulations as it's a chance for a new innovative challenge," Park said in the opening ceremony of the latest innovation center.

The innovation center, the 15th of its kind in South Korea, is supported by Hyundai Heavy Industries and tasked with, among other things, providing the patents to smaller shipbuilders to help them build eco-friendly ships.

Eco-friendly ships are designed to boost energy efficiency and drastically cut emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere and the sea.

South Korea has been pushing to set up innovation centers across the country to match up local startups and venture firms with conglomerates, known here as chaebol, which can provide resources to smaller companies so that they can turn creative ideas into real businesses.

The presidential office also unveiled a plan to build a 37-million-barrel oil storage facility by 2020 as part of South Korea's efforts to become one of the world's top four oil hubs.

Currently, the three major oil hubs are United States, the Netherlands and Singapore. (Yonhap)