KAIST

KAIST will participate in the 2017 Summer Davos Forum in Dalian, China from June 27 to 29. The Summer Davos Forum with the official title “Annual Meeting of New Champions” is an annual international meeting co-hosted by China and the World Economic Forum (WEF) to address global issues which has been held since 2007.

Focusing on this year’s theme ‘Achieving Inclusive Growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,’ science and technology experts from 90 different countries will participate in various sessions to present on and discuss pending global innovative issues. KAIST is to be the only Korean university to run ‘IdeasLab,’ in which researchers will introduce current research trends and discuss ideas with global leaders. This is the sixth year for KAIST to run IdeasLab.

This year’s IdeasLab has the theme ‘Materials of the Future,’ and will include presentations and discussions on materials developed at KAIST which could lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution. President Sung-Chul Shin, the chairman of the session, will first introduce the current status of KAIST and IdeasLab, followed by a presentation of cutting-edge integrated research findings by KAIST professors.

President Shin will also participate in various sessions organized by the Global University Leaders Forum (GULF) as discussion leader. President Shin is the only Korean member of GULF, a community comprised of the presidents of the world’s top 27 universities. Other members include the presidents of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in the U.K., MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia Universities in the US, and the University of Tokyo in Japan.

Further, President Shin will participate in a strategy session for inclusive growth in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a meeting with the WEF directors.

The Dean of KAIST Institutes, Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee from the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, who has been invited to the Davos Forum and Summer Davos Forum for the last 15 years, is to present in the ‘Future of Life: Medicine’ session to introduce advancements in traditional medicine through systems biology such as his research on microbiomes (gut microbes).

Professor Lee, as the chair of the Global Future Council on Biotechnology at the WEF, and committee member of the Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is to participate in various bio-sessions and the Fourth Industrial Revolution banquet session to lead the discussions.

President Shin said, “KAIST has been sharing global research findings with global leaders through IdeasLab at the Davos Forum for the past six years and it has always been well received.” He continued, “The forum will be the place for in-depth discussion on the technological changes that accompany the Fourth Industrial Revolution and human-centered development plan, as well as introducing innovative research and integrated research findings from KAIST.”

This year’s speakers include Li Keqiang, the current Premier of the State Council of China; Guo Ping, the rotating C.E.O. of Huawei; and Ya-Qin Zhang, the President of Baidu, a company leading technological innovation in various fields such as robotics and autonomous vehicles. Two thousand distinguished guests in politics, administration, finance, and academia from 90 countries are to participate in the meeting.