Kaist

KAIST Awarded the IPBC R＆D Institution Team of the Year

KAIST was awarded the R&D Institution Team of the Year during the annual IPBC (Intellectual Property Business Congress) Asia 2019 held in Tokyo October 28-30. IPBC is a conference dedicated to IP value creation strategies hosted by IAM Media, a world’s leading IP business media platform. IPBC Asia 2019 recognized the institutions and businesses that employed innovative IP strategies and management to produce the greatest IP value in 11 categories covering automotive, electronics, healthcare and biotechnology, internet and software, R&D institutions, semiconductors, industrials, mobile and telecommunications, Asia IP deals, Asia teams, and Asia individuals. This year, KAIST was recognized as one of the most active patentees in the Asia-Pacific region by significantly increasing its IP value through licensing and tech transfers. Associate Vice President Kyung Cheol Choi of the Office of University-Industry Cooperation remarked, “We are so delighted to prove the strong research capacity of KAIST. This will help us accomplish our vision of being a leading university that creates global impact.”

2019 Open KAIST

KAIST to Transfer Core Tech to Domestic Companies amid Japan..

< Associate Vice President Kyung-Cheol Choi of the Office of University-Industry Cooperation (OUIC) at KAIST > KAIST will transfer four core technologies related to materials, parts, and equipment to domestic companies to help them combat the latest export curbs triggered by Korea’s removal from Japan’s ‘white list’ of preferential trade partners. In addition, KAIST’s five patented technologies in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and materials and parts will also be transferred to the companies in order to reduce the reliance on Japan and achieve technological independence through the ‘localization’ of key technologies. KAIST announced these university-industry cooperation promotion plans at the ‘2019 KAIST Core Tech Transfer Day Conference’ held in Seoul on September 17. More than 200 entrepreneurs and investors attended the briefing and on-site consulting sessions delivered by nine KAIST professors who led the development of the technologies. The four technologies were presented at the conference as those that can replace Japanese technologies subject to the export curbs. They include: 1. ‘Transparent fluorinated polyimide with low thermal expansion’ developed by Professor Sang-Youl Kim of the Department of Chemistry 2. ‘A non-destructive electromagnetic performance testing system’ developed by Professor Jung-Ryul Lee of the Department of Aerospace Engineering 3. ‘A nanotechnology-based electrode material for use in advanced secondary batteries’ developed by Professor Do-Kyung Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering 4. ‘A high-resolution photoresist’ developed by Professor Emeritus Jin-Baek Kim of the Department of Chemistry. Of particular interest is the non-destructive electromagnetic performance testing system technology developed by Professor Jung-Ryul Lee. This new cost-effective technology enables tests that were impossible to carry out using conventional technologies and yields a cost reduction of more than 50 percent compared to foreign technologies. By introducing Professor Do-Kyung Kim’s new electrode material technology, the efficiency of electric vehicles can be increased. As this technology uses relatively low-cost sodium ion batteries, industries can prepare for the possible jump from the more expensive lithium batteries currently being used. Another five patented AI and materials and parts technologies disclosed at the conference include: 1. ‘Enhanced HTTP adaptive streaming with CNN-based super-resolution’ developed by Professor Dong-soo Han of the School of Electrical Engineering 2. ‘Method and apparatus of brain-computer interface design for estimating choice behavior and decision strategy’ developed by Professor Sang-Wan Lee of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering 3. ‘Eco-friendly fabrication of metal oxide nanoparticles and fabrication of non-toxic polymer sunscreen ingredients by electron irradiation’ developed by Professor Sung-Oh Cho of the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering 4. ‘High-density nanofiber yarn-based coloricmetric gas sensors’ developed by Professor Il-Doo Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering 5. ‘Silicon-pocket energy storage electrode with high energy density and its manufacturing technology’ developed by Professor Jeung-Ku Kang of the Graduate school of EEWS. The patented nanofiber-based coloricmetric gas sensor technology developed by Professor Il-Doo Kim allows for the diagnosis of diseases by only using the patient’s respiration. Due to its high productivity and processability, it is expected to be applied to various fields in the fast-growing disease diagnosis sensor market, which includes mobile devices and wearable sensors. Moreover, Professor Dong-soo Han’s patented adaptive streaming technology attracted attention along with the ever-growing Over The Top (OTT) and Video On Demand (VOD) service markets, since it has significant potential for improving the streaming quality of videos and reducing costs for video providers. Professor Kyung-Cheol Choi, the Associate Vice President of the Office of University-Industry Cooperation (OUIC) at KAIST, said, “KAIST OUIC and KAIST Advisors on Materials and Parts (KAMP) have been working tirelessly to help Korean companies cope with the recent Japanese export restrictions. KAIST’s efforts will enhance the competitiveness and growth of the Korean industry and economy, turning this national crisis into opportunity.”

AI Graduate School to Take the Lead in Shaping the Future of..

(Dean Chung shows the plaque of the AI Graduate School with Vice Minister of Science and ICT Min during the opening ceremony on Aug.26) KAIST opened its AI Graduate School on August 26 with its first cohort of 22 Master’s and 10 PhD students for the 2019 fall semester. The new graduate school will provide students with a multidisciplinary curriculum incorporating the five key fields of healthcare, autonomous vehicles, manufacturing, security, and emerging technologies, and will offer 18 courses this semester. KAIST was selected as one of the first three AI graduate schools that the Korean government will financially endorse to nurture top-tier AI specialists. The government will provide 9 billion KRW and KAIST will invest an additional 4.2 billion KRW in the school over the next five years. KAIST aims to foster top-tiered AI engineers who will work for advancing emergent technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The school will produce original technologies by driving high-risk, innovative AI research projects and will be the main supplier of highly competent engineers who will lead the industry and advance the global market. KAIST has a long history of AI research and has a top-level AI education and research infrastructure. In 1990, KAIST launched the first AI research center in Korea. Since then, KAIST has taken the lead in the field by making breakthroughs in intelligent sensing information systems and AI platforms. About 20 percent of the faculty members at KAIST, or about 120 professors, are conducting AI-related research while offering 136 AI-related courses. The Dean of the AI Graduate School, Song Chong, said, “Our faculty members are the cream of the crop and are all in their early 40s. Although we started with only eight professors, we will employ 20 full-time professors by 2023 and will spare no effort to make the world’s best AI research hub and develop the brightest minds.” Dean Chung said that three professors are already listed in the top ten when measured by the number of publications from the top two AI conferences, Neural Information Processing System (NIPS) and ICML (International Conference on Machine Learning). KAIST has several highly recognized faculty members who have published more than 10 NIPS/ICML papers over nine years, winning numerous awards including the ACM Sigmetrics Rising Star Award, Google AI Focused Research Award, and INFORMS Applied Probability Best Publication Award. The number of students attempting to gain admission to the school is also very high. The admission office said that the percentage of applicants being offered admission stood at 9.1 percent. From next year, the school plans to increase the number of enrollments to 40 Master’s and 20 PhD students. The school will also open the AI Graduate School Research Center in Songnam City next month and expand its collaboration with local companies in the Songnam and Pangyo region, both emerging techno and ICT valleys. With the placement of 60 research personnel in the center, the school plans to play a leading role in building the companies’ technical competitiveness. (President Shin delivers welcoming remarks during the opening ceremony.) The government’s keen interest was well highlighted at the opening ceremony held at KAIST with the attendance of many dignitaries including the Mayor of Daejeon City Tae-Jong Huh, Vice Minister of Science and ICT Won-Ki Min, and National Assemblyman Sang-Min Lee. KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin stressed the importance of AI as a growth engine, saying, “AI will be a game changer and a key enabler of major industries. But the winner takes all in industry. Therefore, without producing the world’s top technology, we will not survive in the global market. To foster highly competitive specialists who will take the lead in this industry, we will educate students who can converge multiple disciplines and contribute to national growth and beyond in the years ahead.”

KAMP to Help SMEs Achieve Technological Independence

After the Japanese government dropped Korea from its ‘White List’ of favored trade partner status last week, KAIST launched an advisory group to help the SMEs that are expected to be the most affected by the decision. President Sung-Chul Shin announced on August 5 that KAIST is launching KAIST Advisors on Materials and Parts (KAMP), which is composed of 100 faculty members from five fields. President Shin said that KAIST would like to use this national crisis as an opportunity to make another leap forward by taking very timely and appropriate actions to help Korean SMEs achieve technological independence. Headed by the Vice Dean of the College Engineering, Sung-Yool Choi, KAMP will mainly advise in the fields of materials, parts, and equipment, which are crucial components for Korea’s key industries of semiconductors, energy, and automobiles. President Shin made the announcement following a meeting with senior leadership over the weekend. Faculty members including honorary professors from each committee’s department will be included as advisory group members. In the letter sent out to the entire faculty right after the meeting, President Shin stressed the roles and responsibilities of scientists and engineers, especially from KAIST, which was founded with the national mission to foster the scientists and engineers urgently needed to work for the nation’s industrialization and R&D. He also said, “We now take on our new calling to deal with technology hegemony in the midst of this crisis caused by the worsening tensions between the two countries.” He added, “Soldiers were the main force in the frontline protecting the country during the period in which the military ruled. However, in this era where technology reigns, especially in the face of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, scientists and engineers should come forward to the frontlines.” KAMP will be composed of the following five technology committees: - The Advanced Materials Committee led by the Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering - The Chemistry and Biology Committee led by the Head of the Department of Chemistry - The Chemical Engineering and Equipment Committee led by the Head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering - The Electronics and Computer Committee led by the Head of the School of Electrical Engineering - The Machinery and Aerospace Committee led by the Head of Department of the Mechanical Engineering KAMP will support the development of 159 key technologies out of the 1,194 on the affected list. To promptly respond to the SMEs’ technological challenges, KAMP will designate an exclusive advisor based on the technological challenges they are experiencing. Serving as emergency tech service providers, KAMP will identify and analyze the problems and will systematically manage the problem-solving procedures. In close collaboration with the Office of University-Industry Cooperation, KAMP will drive the innovative growth of Korea and will help it become highly technologically competitive and independent in the fields of key materials, parts, and equipment. President Shin said the university will make every effort institutionally and financially to make this advisory group’s work successful. For SMEs who wish to use the KAMP advisory service, call ＋82-(0)42-350-6119 or send an email to smbrnd＠kaist.ac.kr. < Head Advisor of KAMP Sung-Yool Choi providing advisory service to SMEs >

KAIST-Google Partnership for AI Education and Research

(President Shin shakes hands with John Lee, country director of Google Korea after signing the collaboration agreement on July 19 at KAIST.) Google has agreed to support KAIST students and professors in the fields of AI research and education. President Sung-Chul Shin and Google Korea Country Director John Lee signed the collaboration agreement during a ceremony on July 19 at KAIST. Under the agreement, Google will fund the Google AI-Focused Research Awards Program, the PhD Fellowship Program, and Student Travel Grants for KAIST. In addition, Google will continue to provide more academic and career building opportunities for students, including Google internship programs. KAIST and Google has been collaborating for years. Professor Steven Whang at the School of Electrical Engineering and Professor Sung Ju Hwang at the School of Computing won the AI-Focused Award in 2018 and conduct their researches on "Improving Generalization and Reliability of Any Deep Neural Networks" and "Automatic and Acitionable Model Analysis for TFX," respectively. Outstanding PhD students have been recognized through the PhD Fellowship Program. However, this new collaboration agreement will focus on research, academic development, and technological innovation in AI. Google plans to support research in the fields of deep learning, cloud machine learning, and voice technologies. Google will fund the development of two educational programs based on Google open source technology each year for two years that will be used in the new AI Graduate School opening for the fall semester. John Lee of Google Korea said, “This partnership lays a solid foundation for deeper collaboration.” President Shin added, “This partnership will not only advance Korea’s global competitiveness in AI-powered industries but also contribute to the global community by nurturing talents in this most extensive discipline.”

President Shin Shares Innovation Strategy at Moscow

(President Shin engages in discussion during the Island 10-22 Conference held at Skoltech in Moscow.)  President Sung-Chul Shin shared the recipe for success for rapid national development through university education during the Island 10-22 Conference held at the Skolov Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow on July 16. President Shin stressed how urgent it is for higher education to rapidly embrace the new global economic environment brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution in his keynote address entitled ‘Roles and Responsibilities of Universities for Rapid National Development’. The Island 10-22 Conference is a summit co-organized by the National University of Science and Technology MISIS and University of the National Technological Initiative 2035 and supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. More than 30 world-renowned experts, presidents of leading technological universities including President Peretz Lavie from the Israel Institute of Technology Technion, President Scott Pulsipher from Western Governors University and specialists in big data participated in the conference as speakers and discussed a diverse spectrum of ideas for making innovations and digital transformations in universities. More than 1,600 participants joined the conference. During his keynote speech, President Shin explained how Korea has achieved such rapid economic growth over the past half century. He cited the Korean government’s vision and innovation policies as factors leading to Korea’s phenomenal success. KAIST, one of the results of the Korean government’s innovation policy, led the nation to advanced technological breakthroughs in industries such as semiconductors. Such visionary policies and investments in science, technology, and education eventually made the Korea of today possible. President Shin said that KAIST distinguished itself through its new vision of C3 that fosters intellectual creativity, caring for others, and a challenging mind . Under Vision 2031, a blueprint for becoming a leading global university, President Shin said the KAIST continues to strive for innovations in convergent education,research and entreprenurship.

It’s a Blessing： Lawyer Couple Donates 82 Acres of Land

(From right: International IP Alternative Dispute Resolution Center (IIPAC) Chairman Kim Cheol-ho, his wife Korea Abraham Lincoln Society Founder Kwak Sung-hyun, President Shin and Mrs Shin) Korea Abraham Lincoln Society Founder Kwak Sung-hyun and International IP Alternative Dispute Resolution Center (IIPAC) Chairman Kim Cheol-ho have committed to donate a large tract of land to KAIST during a ceremony on July 3. The couple will donate about 82 acres of land located in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province. The value of the property is estimated at over 10 billion won. Kim, a lawyer who taught at the Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy from 2009 to 2014, said, “It is a real blessing to make a gift to KAIST." The property is a part of family inheritance that has been passed down for generations. “We’ve thought about the right way to give back to society from a long-term perspective. KAIST will be the best place to honor my father’s generosity and spirit to help young students,” Kwak said at the ceremony. Kwak’s late father who was also a lawyer was a big landowner in Seongnam City back in the 1970s. But he also had to buy nearby parcels of land because he could not refuse the local farmers asking him to buy their land when they urgently needed to sell their property to pay their children’s college tuition fees. So, he bought the land, paying more than double the asking price. The couple finalized their donation plan after having a meeting with President Sung-Chul Shin earlier this year. President Shin personally guided them on a campus tour and presented his vision to make KAIST a world-class university. “We were quite moved by President Shin and the faculty members’ passion and hard work. And we really wanted to help KAIST be the real top university in the world by educating young talents needed for the new era,” Kim said. President Shin said the university will use the land to establish a new campus for entrepreneurship that combines education, research, and technology commercialization so that it can become an advance base in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era.

Class of ’79 Donates 2 Billion KRW at Homecoming Event

The class of 1979 held a reunion on May 25 at the College of Business at the KAIST Seoul campus, which was the main campus when they were students 40 years ago. These leaders, who now serve in diverse sectors of academia, research, business, and industry both in Korea and abroad, held a homecoming event in celebration of the 40th anniversary of their graduation. At the event, Chairman Chong-Don Kim of Miwon Commercial, who was representing their class, donated 2 billion KRW toward the KAIST development fund. Chairman Kim reminisced saying, “Today’s event takes my friends and I back in time and reminds us of our old school days here at KAIST. It means a lot to us to re-visit the campus with grateful hearts for our alma mater.” He continued, “We raised this fund in the spirit of ‘Honor KAIST’, hoping for KAIST to continue to grow towards its vision of becoming a world-leading institution. Our class always has and forever will dearly support KAIST with all our hearts.” ‘Honor KAIST’ is an alumni-led spontaneous donation campaign first initiated in 2015 by the class of ’75, the first group of masters students who graduated from KAIST, with the aim of raising 1 trillion KRW fund for the development of KAIST. President Sung-Chul Shin responded, “The deep contributions and consistent engagement being made by our alumni groups for KAIST’s institutional growth is truly beneficial, far beyond what meets the eye. The entire school would like to express our sincere gratitude to the class of ’79 for your generous donation which will serve as a run-up for the university's many future initiatives.” More than 100 graduates and emeritus professors including Professor Jae-Kyoon Kim and Professor Choong-Ki Kim from the School of Electrical Engineering, as well as Chairman of the KAIST Alumni Association Dr. Ki-Chul Cha, were able to attend.

‘Think Out of the Box,’ Team Circos Wins the P4G Innovation ..

 (The winning team of the P4G Innovation Sprint poses with the Crown Prince of Denmark (sixth from the left row and President Shin (fifth from the left row) during the awarding ceremony.) Team Circos from KAIST and Denmark made a new sustainable business model for Hempel, a global coating supplier group in Denmark, and won the first prize at the P4G (the Partnership for Green Growth and Global Goals) Innovation Sprint held at KAIST’s Seoul campus on May 22. The six-member team was awarded one million KRW in prize money by the Crown Prince of Denmark. Two of winning team members have the privilege of traveling to visit Hempel in Denmark. The winning team thought outside the box, inspired by box wine which reduced the sales price from traditional bottled wine. Six teams made up of members from different academic disciplines spent two nights and three days brainstorming ways to resolve the challenges of corporations such as Velux and Hempel from Denmark and SK from Korea. The P4G Innovation Sprint is one of the events co-hosted by KAIST and Technological University of Denmark in celebration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations establishment between Denmark and Korea and the 8th anniversary of the Green Growth Alliance between the two countries. The Crown Prince Couple also made a royal visit to Korea in honor of the 60th anniversary celebration and Green Growth Alliance between the two countries. This Innovation Sprint aimed to develop young academics’ perspectives, skills, and talents for the next generation to better research the Sustainable Development Goals set by UN. Three teams made their final five-minute pitches before the Crown Prince and President Sung-Chul Shin and responded to questions from the four-member jury. The Crown Prince of Denmark and President Shin both agreed that the collaborative and convergent ideas will address global problems. The Crown Prince stressed in his congratulatory remarks the importance of partnership in this polarizing world to achieve sustainable improvements saying, “Partnerships are only possible to sustain through collaboration and hard work while staying curious, creative, and critical. " He also shared the special relationship with KAIST. His father-in-law Professor John Donaldson used to be a visiting professor of applied mathmatics at KAIST back in 2003. President Shin added, “Collaboration across boundaries is most critical for responding to these issues. In that sense, this P4G Innovation Sprint is a shining example for demonstrating the collaborative efforts between teammates from diverse disciplines. When we work together and build convergent ideas, we will be more innovative and go further.” (Winning team member Nicolai Thorball from DTU pitches at the final in the presence of the Crown Prince of Denmark and KAIST President Shin.) “The canned packaging in the paint industry results in 40 times more carbon emission in the course of production. However, when using aluminum packaging which is recyclable, the waste amount will be cut dramatically,” pitched Nicolai Thorball from DTU on exchange at Seoul National University. Nicolai, whose major is environmental engineering, is one of two Danish students including Thomsen Xandra Flyvbjerg from the University of Southern Denmark. Flyvbjergy, majoring in business, is now on exchange at Sungkynkwan University. “I am very glad to have the chance to understand the concept of the circular economy and green growth at the sprint. It was also very challenging to make ideation from so many ideas brainstormed,” said Dong-Eun Lee, a KAIST undergraduate from the Department of Biological Sciences. He said that he learned a lot from his two other teammates who are from the Program of Green Business & Policy at KAIST College of Business, Jae-Hee Park and Kyung-Hyun Kim. Circos’ solution for a sustainable model received acclaim from the jury members. DTU Senior Vice President Marianne Thellerson, one of jurors, claimed their model has very high market feasibility, saying, “Their idea could be commercialized right now into the market.” Professor Hee-Kyung Park from KAIST who helped participants’ ideation as one of four mentors said, “The winning team perfectly met all the components of the evaluation criteria, Solution, Acceleration, and Pitch.” At this sprint, 10 students from Denmark and 29 KAIST students were divided into 6 teams and given the challenges of three companies. The Danish window facility company Velux presented its future glass window system and the paint company Hempel their circular economic new business model. SK challenged the students to help it become a global clean energy solution company. The event was based on a hacker blueprint that found the optimal solution to the topics proposed.

Professor Park at UPC-Barcelona Tech Receives Jong-Hoon Cho ..

(From left; Chan-Ho Song from KNUHS, PhD candidate Sang-Woo Chung at KAIST, Professor Hyuk Park at UPC-Barcelona Tech, and Eun-Hee Kang at Korea University) Professor Hyuk Park was honored to be the recipient of the Jong-Hoon Cho Award which was presented at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Barcelona Tech. The award recognizes young scientists in the field of aerospace engineering. Professor Park, a graduate of KAIST’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2001, earned his MS and PhD at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, and works at the Castelldefels School of Telecommunications and Aerospace Engineering at UPC-Barcelona Tech. He won this year’s award, which honors former PhD candidate Jong-Hoon Cho at the Aerospace Engineering Department who died in a lab accident in 2003. Professor Park also received 25 million KRW prize money. Cho’s family endowed the award and scholarship in his memory. Since 2005, the scholarship has selected three young scholars every year who specialize in aerospace engineering from Cho’s alma maters of KAIST, Korea University, and Kongju National University High School. Professor Park was selected as this year’s awardee in recognition of his studies of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite radiometer system, remote sensing radio frequency interference reduction system development, and 3CAT series research. The Award Committee also chose three students for scholarships: PhD candidate Sang-Woo Chung from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at KAIST with 4 million KRW, PhD candidate Eun-Hee Kang from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Korea University with 4 million KRW, and Chan-Ho Song from Kongju National University High School with 3 million KRW.

Education Innovation Day Reaffirms Rewarding of Excellence

(Professor Lee makes an presentation after accepting the Linkgenesis Best Teacher Award.) Professors Tae-Eog Lee and Il-Chul Moon from the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering received the Linkgenesis Best Teacher Award and the Soo-Young Lee Teaching Innovation Award on May 10. They were each awarded with 10 million KRW in prize money during the Education Innovation Day ceremony held at the Chung Kun-mo conference hall. The award was endowed by KAIST Alumni Scholarship Chairman Hyung-Kyu Lim and KAIST Foundation Chairman Soo-Young Lee to support the innovation initiative and acknowledge faculty members who made significant contributions to educational innovation and benefited the general public though their innovations. “KAIST’s vision for excellence and commitment to innovation is a game changer. Educational innovation is one of five pillars of Vision 2031, and it is our priority to foster critical and creative thinking students,” said President Sung-Chul Shin at the ceremony. All the awardees made presentation on their innovative projects and shared their ideas on better pedagogical methodology for next generation. Professor Lee, dean of the KAIST Academy and the head of the Center for Excellence in Learning & Teaching was recognized for his contribution to enhancing educational quality through innovative learning and teaching methodology development. He has set up an Education 3.0 Initiative, an online education platform for flipped learning at KAIST. Professor Moon also upgraded the online education platform to the 4.0 version and extended KAIST’s massive online courses through KOOC framework. This open platform offers more than 62 courses, with more than 170 thousand users registered since 2014. Professor Song-Hong Park from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering and Professor Jae-Woo Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering also won the Excellence Award.