Kaist

Main Cast Member of Drama KAIST Returns as KAIST A..

(KAIST New Year Alumni Reception) KAIST appointed Korean actor Min-woo Lee as KAIST Ambassador during the New Year Alumni Reception held on January 19. Lee was one of the main characters in a popular Korean drama named KAIST, which aired from 1999 to 2000. It drew on a campus story of the top brains at KAIST and he was casted as a student studying electrical engineering. Along with the drama, he was recognized for building the positive image of KAIST. As KAIST Ambassador, Lee will play various roles involved the promotion of Korea’s science and technology. For one year, he will be participating in major events and giving lectures to students. Lee said that he still has strong affection for this drama. He added, “It is my great honor to be appointed as KAIST Ambassador and I will do my best to promote KAIST, the global value-creative leading university.” (From left: Min-woo Lee and KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin)

President Shin Speaks on Closing the Skills Gap at..

(President Shin poses (far right) with the National University of Singapore President Tan Eng Chye (center) along with Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee in Davos last week.) President Sung-Chul Shin shared his ideas on how reskilling is a critical element of growth, dynamism, and competitiveness for countries during a session titled “Closing the Skills Gap: Creating a Reskilling Revolution” at the World Economic Forum on January 24 in Davos. While discussing a reskilling imperative alongside French Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud, he presented how the Korean government and KAIST are responding to the socio-economic transformation of workforces in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. After their presentation, Minister of Economy and Enterprise of Spain Nadia Calvirno Santamaria, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Oman Ali bin Masoud bin Ali Al Sunaidy, and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Skill Development, and Entrepreneurship of India Dharmendra Pradhan shared their views on the course of decision making regarding the proactive practices and policies they have applied for closing the gaps from their countries’ perspectives. President Shin presented how to upskill and reskill SMEs and startups, the real players who will jumpstart the economy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He explained that the government is striving to change the existing structure of the economy, which is dominated by a few giant conglomerates. He added that the Korean government is trying to support SMEs and startups in terms of both funding and technology reskilling in order to rejuvenate the economy. To better align itself with the government’s efforts, KAIST has introduced SME 4.0. SME 4.0 proposes to innovate the production process through the creation of a partnered platform between KAIST and SMEs across the country. With this platform, KAIST assists local SMEs for standardizing and systemizing all their processes of production, delivery, and management with enterprise resources planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution systems (MES). In addition, SME 4.0 offers retraining and re-tooling programs by linking the data generated through this platform in real time to better facilitate SMEs’ smart business. (President Shin shakes hands with H.E.Mohammed Al-Tuwairi, Minister of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia before holding a bilaterla meeting in Davos.) President Shin also explained about upskilling the leading corporations’ technological competitiveness, partnering with major leading corporations for upskilling their advanced technologies. He also held a series of bilateral meetings with dignitaries attending the WEF annual meeting to discuss partnerships and collaborations. He also attended the Global University Leaders Forum (GULF), a community composed of 28 presidents from the world’s top universities on January 23. President Shin, who is on the advisory board of the Center for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR), also participated in the board meeting and discussed the upcoming launching of the Korea C4IR, which will open at KAIST in March.

First Korean Member of OceanObs’19 Organizing Comm..

Professor Sung Yong Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering became the first Korean to be elected as an organizing committee member of the international conference OceanObs’19’, specializing in the ocean observing field. Professor Kim has been actively engaged in advisory panels, technical committees, and working groups for the North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES). Through numerous activities, he was recognized for his professionalism and academic achievements, which led him to be appointed as a member of the organizing committee. The organizing committee is comprised of leading scholars and researchers from 20 countries, and Professor Kim will be the first Korean scientist to participate on the committee. Since 1999, the conference has been held every decade. Global experts specializing in oceanic observation gather to discuss research directions for the next ten years by monitoring physical, biological, and chemical variables in regional, national, and global oceans and applying marine engineering. This year, approximately 20 institutes including NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the European Space Agency will support funds as well as high-tech equipment to the conference. This year’s conference theme is the governance of global ocean observing systems such as underwater gliders, unmanned vehicles, remote sensing, and observatories. The conference will hold discussions on monitoring technology and information systems to ensure human safety as well as to develop and preserve food resources. Additionally, participants will explore ways to expand observational infrastructures and carry out multidisciplinary approaches. There will also be collaborations with the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) to organize ocean observing programs and discuss priorities. Finally, they will set a long-term plan for solving major scientific issues, such as climate change, ocean acidification, energy, and marine pollution. Professor Kim said, “Based on the outcomes drawn from the conference, I will carry out research on natural disasters and climate change monitoring by using unmanned observing systems. I will also encourage more multidisciplinary research in this field.”

KAIST Presents Innovations at CES 2019

Ten of the most innovative technologies spun off from KAIST made a debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019, the world’s largest consumer electronics and IT exhibition being held in Las Vegas from January 8 to 11. The KAIST booth at the CES featured technologies made by KAIST research teams and five startup companies including LiBEST, Memslux, and Green Power. In particular, the KAIST Alumni Association invited 33 aspiring alumni entrepreneurs selected from the KAIST Startup Competition to the show. At the exhibition, KAIST is presenting innovations in the fields of AI and Bio-IT convergence for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. These include real-time upscaling from Full HD to 4K UHD using AI deep learning-based convolutional neural networks (Professor Munchurl Kim, School of Electrical Engineering) and an AI conversation agent that responds to user’s emotions (Professor Soo-Young Lee, School of Electrical Engineering). Other technologies include optimal drug target identification by cancer cell type through drug response prediction to be used in personalized cancer treatments (Professor Kwang-Hyun Cho, Department of Bio and Brain Engineering), a nanofiber-based color changing gas sensor with greater sensitivity than conventional paper-based color changing sensors (Professor Il-Doo Kim, Department of Materials Science and Engineering), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) for brain imaging and muscle fatigue measurement (Professor Hyeonmin Bae, School of Electrical Engineering).  The KAIST booth also features startups founded by KAIST alumni including LiBEST with a flexible lithium polymer secondary cell optimized for smart wearable devices and Rempus with a high-performance lithium ion cell packaging technology for outstanding safety, high capacity, long life, and fast charging. Green Power and Smart Radar Systems are also joining the booth with a highly efficient and eco-friendly wireless charging system for electrical cars, and a 4D image radar sensor that detects 3D images and speed in real time for applications in self-driving cars, drones, and security systems respectively. Faculty-founded startup Memslux (CEO Jun-Bo Yoon, School of Electrical Engineering) is presenting a transparent surface light source solution for next-generation display devices. Associate Vice President of Office of University-Industry Cooperation Kyung Cheol Choi said, “I believe that universities should play a role in connecting technological innovations to business startups for creating value at a global level. In that sense, it is a great opportunity to present innovative technologies from KAIST and promote outstanding KAIST startups at CES 2019. Hopefully, this experience will lead to joint R&D, investment, cooperation, and international technology transfer contracts with leading companies from around the world.” Here are the five key technologies presented by KAIST at CES 2019.

[AI＋X Forum] AI ＋ Politics

The KAIST School of Computing is excited to announce AI＋X Forum, a series of talks and discussions designed to ask how AI can impact various aspects of our society, including but not limited to politics, policy, education, law, labor, life, and art. Our first event will be on AI＋Politics with two distinguished speakers. Please refer to the poster below for details. Refreshments will be provided from 9:30. The talks and discussion will be in English. Date & Time: 10:00-12:00, Jan. 17, 2019 (Thu) Location: N1-201 Speakers: - Co-designing Policy and Technology for AI (Prof. So Young Kim, KAIST) - Mapping Political Communities: A Statistical Analysis of Lobbying Networks in Legislative Politics (Prof. In Song Kim, MIT) Best, AI＋X Forum Organizers (Sung-Hyon Myaeng, Alice Oh, Meeyoung Cha, Juho Kim) https://irnlpkaist.wixsite.com/aix-kaist

Distinguished Alumni Awardees 2018

The KAIST Alumni Association (KAA) announced four recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Awards 2018. The Distinguished Alumni Awards recognize graduates who have achieved outstanding accomplishments in their professional and personal lives, and who have been an inspiration to fellow alumni and students in Korea and around the globe. Since the establishment of the award in 1992, a total of 99 alumni at home and abroad have been honored as recipients. The awards ceremony will take place during the New Year Alumni Reception on January 19 in Seoul. Yeungnam University President Gil-Soo Sur (’75 MS, ’78 PhD in Chemistry) has demonstrated leadership in higher education and gained trust in academia for playing a leading role in educational innovation as well as serving as an educator who has fostered outstanding research talents for decades. Professor Kwang-Soo Kim (’77 MS, ’79 PhD in Life Science) is the director of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at McLean Hospital at Harvard Medical School. He has more than 20 years of experience investigating molecular and developmental neurobiology of the midbrain dopamine neuronal system. He has contributed to developing cell replacement therapy for Parkinson’s disease and has pioneered a generation of safe human-induced pluripotent stem cells through the direct delivery of reprogrammed proteins. Young-Hwan Moon (’82 MS, ’87 PhD in Chemistry and Biomolecular Engineering) is the CEO of Coretech, which specializes in producing specialty gases and environmental catalysts required for chemical processes. He was recognized for enhancing national competence by securing competitive technology for manufacturing products. Young-Hyun Jun (’84 MS, ’86 PhD in Electrical Engineering), the CEO of Samsung SDI, is a globally renowned expert in memory semiconductors. By bringing about innovative technology to enhance productivity and processes, he led Samsung Electronics to become the number one company at the global level in the field of semiconductors.

President Shin Presents Opportunities ＆ Challenges..

(President Shin makes a keynote speech at the 2018 Summer Davos Forum in China on Sept.20.) KAIST co-hosted the Asia Session with the World Economic Forum during the 2018 Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin, China from September 18 through 20. The session highlighted regional collaboration in Asia to promote inclusive growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. KAIST is working closely with the WEF to take the lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Last July, KAIST established the Fourth Industrial Revolution Information Center (FIRIC) at the KAIST Institute and signed an MOU with the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) at the WEF in October. The session is a follow-up event KAIST and the C4IR agreed to last year during the Roundtable Session held in Seoul. Many experts in new emerging industries as well as many project directors, including Director Murat Sonmez of the C4IR, attended the session KAIST hosted. Director Chizuru Suga at the C4IR in Japan, Director Danil Kerimi in China, and Director Shailesh Sharda in India also attended the session and discussed ways to expand collaboration and networks among the countries. In his keynote speech at the session on September 20, President Sung-Chul Shin presented how the Korean government is trying to drive the economy by strategically investing in focused industries in the new global industrial environment. President Shin introduced the government’s strategic roadmap to build the competitiveness of emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and precision medicine. He also stressed that the three components of innovation, collaboration, and speed should be prioritized in all sectors for the successful realization of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. For instance, innovation in education, research, and technology commercialization, expansive domestic and international collaboration beyond the private and public sectors, speedy deregulation, and efficient governance will all be critical. He also said that KAIST will launch new pilot collaboration projects along with the WEF soon. “We paved the way for leading the network with major countries including Japan and India for advancing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through this session,” President Shin said.

KAIST Develops IoT Platform for Food Safety

A research team led by the KAIST Auto-ID Labs developed a GS1 international standard-based IoTs infrastructure platform dubbed Oliot (Open Language of Internet of Things). This platform will be applied to Wanju Local Food, the nation’s largest cooperative, and will be in operation from April 5. A total of eleven organizations participated in the development of Oliot, with KAIST as the center. This consortium is based on the GS1 international standard-based Oliot platform, which allows collecting and sharing data along the entire process of agrifood from production to processing, distribution, and consumption. It aims at increasing farm incomes and establishing a global ecosystem of domestic agriculture and stockbreeding that provides safe food. Wanju Local Food is now the world’s first local food co-op with a traceability system from the initial stage of production planning to end sales based on GS1 international standards, which will ensure food safety. KAIST has been sharing Oliot data in order to apply it to industries around the world. As of April 2018, approximately 900 enterprises and developers from more than 100 countries have downloaded it. Professor Daeyoung Kim from the School of Computing, who is also Research Director of Auto-ID Labs said, “We are planning to disseminate Oliot to local food cooperatives throughout the nation. We will also cooperate with other countries, like China, Holland, and Hong Kong to create a better ecosystem for the global food industry. “We are currently collaborating with related business to converge Oliot with AI or blockchain technology that can be applied to various services, such as healthcare and smart factories. Its tangible outcome will be revealed soon,” he added. Auto-ID Labs are a global research consortium of six academic institutions that research and develop new technologies for advancing global commerce, partnering with GS1 (Global Standard 1), a non-profit organization that established standards for global commerce such as introducing barcodes to the retail industry. The Auto-ID Labs include MIT, University of Cambridge, Keio University, Fudan University, ETH Zurich/University of St. Gallen, and KAIST. The consortium was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT as well as the Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion for three years from 2015. The launching of Oliot at Wanju Local Food will be held on April 5.