KAIST

An era in which robots decide "how to walk" on their own has arrived. A four-legged robot has been developed that, much like a person or an animal, autonomously chooses the appropriate gait strategy for its surroundings — changing its gait on stairs, leaping over gaps, and keeping its balance on forest trails. KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on the 16th of July that a research team led by Professor Hae-Won Park from the Department of Mechanical Engineering has developed a core control technology for four-legged robots that lets a single controller select and switch in real time among walking, running, jumping, and other locomotion skills, allowing the robot to move quickly and stably, even in real outdoor environments. Four-legged robots move on four legs, giving them an advantage over wheeled robots on rough terrain. But in real outdoor settings, obstacles such as stairs, ledges, stepping stones, gaps, and tree branches appear one after another in different forms, meaning the ability to simply walk and run fast is not enough. Existing four-legged robots have excelled at running quickly across flat ground or clearing simple obstacles, but they have struggled to maintain both speed and stability in real-world environments where obstacles combine in complex ways. Because walking, running, jumping, and other gaits had to be controlled individually, the robots were also limited in how naturally they could switch between them as conditions changed. To overcome these limitations, the research team developed a new learning-based control technology called APT-RL (Action Pretrained Transformer-based Reinforcement Learning). APT-RL is a control technology designed to enable a robot to first learn a range of locomotion skills — such as walking, running, and jumping — and then freely combine and transition among them in real-world environments as the situation demands. Rather than filming the movements of real people or animals, the team generated 15.5 hours of training data covering a variety of gaits using computer simulations alone, in just eight minutes. That data was used to teach the robot basic movement capabilities, drawing on robot dynamics (a mathematical model of how a robot moves) and trajectory optimization (a technique for calculating the efficient path of movement). The approach is far faster and more efficient than earlier methods that relied on motion capture, a technology that records human or animal movement using sensors. The team then applied reinforcement learning — an artificial intelligence technique in which an agent learns optimal behavior through repeated trial and error — so the robot could autonomously select and switch gaits suited to complex three-dimensional terrain such as stairs, ledges, and gaps. Finally, the team combined a depth camera (which measures the distance to objects in order to obtain three-dimensional information) with LiDAR (Laser Detection and Ranging, a sensor that uses lasers to measure the distance and shape of the surrounding environment in three dimensions), enabling the robot to recognize its surroundings and target speed in real time and choose the most appropriate walking strategy. The team tested the control technology on its own four-legged robot, 'KAIST HOUND.' The experiments were conducted not only on an indoor obstacle course but also in real outdoor environments, including KAIST’s campus and forest trails. KAIST HOUND moved stably across urban terrain that included stairs, grass, and slopes, as well as irregular natural terrain such as fallen trees, exposed roots, and paths covered in fallen leaves, switching gaits in real time to match the conditions. In rugged terrain with obstacles, the robot reached a peak instantaneous speed of six meters per second (about 22 kilometers per hour), demonstrating that it can achieve both fast movement and stability in real outdoor environments. The experiments showed that KAIST HOUND autonomously selected and switched between a trot (alternating diagonal legs) and a bound (a leaping gait using the front and back leg pairs together) depending on the terrain and target speed, and that it could integrate walking, running, jumping, and ledge-clearing into a single controller. Professor Hae-Won Park said "We expect this to become a foundational technology that expands the potential uses of physical-AI-based walking robots in rugged environments such as disaster sites, defense missions, and industrial facility inspections." Jun-Gill Kang (affiliated with the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) at the time of the research) and Jaehyun Park, a Ph.D. candidate in KAIST's Department of Mechanical Engineering, are co-first authors of the study. Professor Hae-Won Park and Professor Seungwoo Hong from Korea University are co-corresponding authors. The research was selected as the cover paper for the July issue of Science Robotics, the world's leading academic journal in robotics, and was published on July 15 (U.S. Eastern time). Paper title: Agile perceptive multi-skill locomotion for quadrupedal robots in the wild DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adz7397 Authors: Jun-Gill Kang (the Agency for Defense Development at the time of the research, co-first author), Jaehyun Park (KAIST, co-first author), Hae-Won Park (KAIST, corresponding author), Seungwoo Hong (Korea University, corresponding author) Related Video: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1306_hddGZGh7xwvWFc4B-9lLXwYisirN This research was supported by funding from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR) and the Korea Planning & Evaluation of Industrial Technology (KEIT) (RS-2024-00427719), as well as by the Agency for Defense Development's Future Challenge Defense Technology R&D program (912768601).

“Create an AI assistant trained only on our company’s documents.” The era of building “personalized AI” by training AI models on individual or corporate documents and data is beginning. However, while such customization can improve task performance, it can also weaken the model’s existing safety safeguards. KAIST researchers have developed a core AI technology that preserves customized performance while further strengthening safety. KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on the 15th of July that a research team led by Professor Changick Kim from its School of Electrical Engineering has developed “Buffer-and-Reinforce,” a training framework for safe fine-tuning that prevents safety degradation when large language models (LLMs), such as  ChatGPT, are retrained on data from individuals or companies to better suit their needs. Until now, one of the biggest challenges in the era of personalized AI has been that fine-tuning improves a model’s ability to perform new tasks, but can also weaken its existing safety rules. The research team focused on prior findings showing that, counterintuitively, fine-tuning an AI model while it is in a temporarily jailbroken state — a state in which it may respond even to dangerous requests it would normally refuse — does not significantly compromise its safety. The team then devised a new approach in which this jailbroken state is not used in actual services, but is applied only temporarily during the fine-tuning process through a buffering module called “BufferLoRA,” which is removed after training. The research team was the first to clarify why this phenomenon occurs. They found that, in the temporarily jailbroken state, the AI model becomes less easily influenced by harmful information, while still effectively learning the new task abilities desired by the user. In other words, the model can continue learning useful knowledge without additionally absorbing harmful behaviors. Based on this insight, the team developed a two-stage learning method consisting of “buffering” and “safety reinforcement.” First, the temporary buffering module, BufferLoRA, is applied to the AI model during user fine-tuning, where it acts as a protective layer that prevents harmful data from directly affecting the base model. Once fine-tuning is complete, this module is removed. Next, a safety reinforcement module called “ReinforceLoRA” is applied to restore and strengthen the model’s safety. In this process, the team used QR decomposition, a mathematical technique that separates different types of information and selectively reflects only the necessary components. This allowed the model to retain the new functions learned from user data while selectively reinforcing safety. Simply put, the researchers first placed a temporary protective layer, BufferLoRA, over the AI model so that harmful data could not directly affect it, while allowing the model to learn the necessary task. They then removed the protective layer and applied ReinforceLoRA to strengthen the model’s safety safeguards. As a result, the model maintained its customized performance while achieving even stronger safety. In experiments, the AI model maintained high safety even in an extreme setting where all user data consisted of harmful questions and answers. After fine-tuning, the rate at which the AI generated harmful responses was about 8%, lower than the roughly 18% observed in the original model that had not been fine-tuned at all. The framework also achieved strong customized performance and state-of-the-art safety without requiring additional safety data during user fine-tuning or significantly increasing computational cost, suggesting its practical applicability to real-world personalized AI services. Professor Changick Kim stated, “This research provides a key foundational technology that allows anyone to build customized AI with their own data while using it more safely,” adding, “We expect it to contribute significantly to building a trustworthy AI service environment in the era of personalized AI and AI agents.” This research was led by Seokil Ham, a doctoral student in KAIST’s School of Electrical Engineering, as first author. The paper was selected as a Spotlight presentation at the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2026, one of the world’s most prestigious conferences in artificial intelligence, an honor given to only about the top 2.2% of all submitted papers, drawing international attention. ※ Paper title: Jailbreak to Protect: Buffering and Reinforcing via Temporary Jailbreaking for Safe Fine-Tuning in Large Language Models DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2605.24550 ※ Author information: Seokil Ham (KAIST, first author), Jaehyuk Jang (KAIST, second author), Wonjun Lee (KAIST, third author), Changick Kim (KAIST, corresponding author) ※ Related video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gfok06dE8699qtiUR7gVsRoVmBGADaWQ/view?usp=sharing This work was supported by Institute of Information & Communication Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) grant funded by Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT) (No. RS-2025-02215344, Development of AI Technology with Robust and Flexible Resilience Against Risk Factors).

Until now, satellites and space payloads have required new optical filters and sensors to be designed whenever their missions changed. A future is now on the horizon in which a single ultra-compact optical chip can perform a variety of roles—including those of a thermal imaging sensor, spectrometer, and infrared camera—using electrical signals alone. KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on 14th of July that a research team led by Professor Hyun Jung Kim from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, in collaboration with a research team led by Professor Juejun Hu at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has demonstrated the first transmissive mid-infrared amplitude-only spatial light modulator based on a scalable two-dimensional, electrically addressable metasurface architecture. The key achievement of this research is that a single optical chip can perform a variety of sensor functions using electrical signals alone. Previously, new optical filters and sensors had to be fabricated for each new mission. In the future, the technology is expected to enable the realization of “software-defined sensors,” whose functions can be changed without replacing the hardware. The device developed by the research team is a transmissive mid-infrared spatial light modulator, or SLM, based on a metasurface. A metasurface is an ultrathin optical structure that uses microscopic patterns much smaller than the width of a human hair to freely control the intensity, direction, and wavelength of light. A spatial light modulator controls the spatial distribution of light on a pixel-by-pixel basis. In the present device, each pixel switches the intensity of transmitted mid-infrared light between two programmed states. The research team succeeded, for the first time in the world, in electrically and independently controlling each individual pixel. Conventional spatial light modulators face significant limitations in the mid-infrared. Liquid-crystal-based devices suffer from material absorption and relatively slow response, while digital micromirror devices operate in reflection. Transmissive mid-infrared SLMs have therefore remained largely unexplored. This has limited their application to satellite sensors, ultra-compact spectrometers—which analyze light according to wavelength—and adaptive optical systems, which automatically adjust their optical performance in response to changes in the surrounding environment. To address these limitations, the researchers used GSST—Ge₂Sb₂Se₄Te, or germanium-antimony-selenium-tellurium—an optical phase-change material (PCM) whose light transmittance changes when it receives an electrical signal. Once GSST receives an electrical signal, it retains its state and continues to maintain the same optical performance even after the power is turned off. This nonvolatile characteristic eliminates the need for a continuous power supply, making the material suitable for satellites and space payloads, where the available electrical power is limited. As the number of pixels on an optical chip increases, electrical current can flow into pixels other than the selected pixel, causing unintended pixels to operate as well. This is known as the “sneak-path” problem. The research team solved this problem by integrating a silicon PIN diode into each pixel. A PIN diode is a semiconductor device that allows electrical current to flow only to the intended pixel. This enabled the researchers to accurately select and control only the desired pixels. Using this approach, the team independently controlled all the pixels in a 6 × 6 pixel array and successfully produced desired optical patterns. The device also maintained stable performance after more than 16,700 switching cycles, demonstrating approximately 13 times greater endurance than previous technology. The device was fabricated using silicon photonics, a technology that produces optical devices through standard semiconductor manufacturing processes. This makes it relatively easy to scale the technology to larger optical chips containing hundreds, thousands, or even more pixels. The current device controls only the amount of transmitted light. In the future, however, more sophisticated metasurface designs are expected to enable the technology to develop into “universal reconfigurable optics,” capable of freely controlling the direction and polarization of light as well. The greatest significance of this research is that it presents a new concept in which “optics, too, can be changed like software.” In other words, the study provides a foundation for programmable optical hardware that could support different sensing functions through reconfiguration rather than hardware replacement. In the future, this is expected to usher in an era of software-defined sensors, in which a single optical chip can perform different functions depending on the situation, serving as a thermal imaging sensor, spectrometer, infrared camera, or optical communication device. Once commercialized, the technology is expected to make it possible to implement a wide range of optical systems on a single platform. Potential applications include satellites and space payloads, launch-vehicle health diagnostics, thermal monitoring of space stations, measurement of in-space manufacturing processes, infrared imaging, and optical communications. This research is an achievement that further advances MIT–NASA collaborative research initiated in 2018, when Professor Hyun Jung Kim was working as a researcher at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and subsequently continued at KAIST. Building on this foundation, KAIST’s STAR Lab and Professor Juejun Hu’s research team at MIT are currently conducting joint research on active meta-optics, silicon photonics, and space sensor systems, with the goal of applying the technology in actual space environments. The two teams have established a full-cycle international collaborative research framework encompassing material development, chip design and fabrication, sensor-system integration, space-environment verification, and future flight demonstrations. Professor Kim’s research team is now developing the technology into an operational space sensor. Under the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Young Researcher Program, the team is developing an ultra-precise system for measuring the surface temperature of launch vehicles. The research is also being expanded through the “Space Services and Manufacturing Research Center” under the Innovation Research Center Program. The team is conducting research to develop the technology into a common optical platform that can be used for space-station thermal monitoring, anomaly diagnosis, measurement of in-space manufacturing processes, and optical communications. “This research is not simply about creating one more new optical device,” said Professor Kim. “It presents the foundation for an era of software-defined sensors, in which a single optical chip performs a variety of functions depending on the mission.” “By combining MIT’s nanophotonics technology—which uses nanostructures to control light—with KAIST’s space sensor technology, we plan to develop this technology into an actual space system,” she added. The research was published online in the international journal Nature Communications on July 7. Paper title: “Two-Dimensional Pixel-Level Addressable Mid-Infrared Metasurface Spatial Light Modulator” DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-75346-5 This work was funded by the Air Force SBIR Program under contract FA2394-23-C-5076, the National Science Foundation under awards 2329088 and 2132929, and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (RS-2025-00515651 and RS-2025-02213804).

The era of "biomanufacturing", in which microbes, not petroleum, produce chemical products, is one step closer. A KAIST research team has analyzed the key challenges limiting the commercialization of biomanufacturing and proposed an AI-driven strategy for industrialization. KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on the 14th of July that a research team led by Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has comprehensively analyzed the key bottlenecks to commercializing biomanufacturing and proposed an industrialization strategy and a roadmap for future growth to address them. Most chemical products today — including plastics, textiles, and pharmaceutical raw materials — are produced from petroleum. But as concerns over carbon emissions and environmental pollution grow, biomanufacturing, which uses microbes to produce chemicals, is drawing attention as a next-generation manufacturing technology. Still, scaling up lab-developed technologies into economically viable mass production at actual factories remains a major challenge. Systems metabolic engineering, a core technology in biomanufacturing, designs and optimizes microbial metabolic pathways to build "microbial cell factories" that produce desired chemicals. But technologies that show high productivity in the lab often perform worse once moved to industrial settings — productivity drops, production costs rise, and many fail to achieve price competitiveness, ultimately failing to commercialize. The research team analyzed succinic acid, a bio-based chemical feedstock, and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a biodegradable plastic, as representative cases illustrating this "gap between the lab and industry," often called the "valley of death." Succinic acid is a key raw material for producing eco-friendly plastics and various chemical materials. The team explained that for succinic acid to compete with existing petrochemical products, competitiveness depends not just on production volume, but also on raw material and separation/purification costs, the fermentation process, and market size — all of which must be weighed together. The team also suggested that a phased strategy — entering high-value markets such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food ingredients first — could be a realistic solution. PHA is a biodegradable plastic that microbes accumulate inside their cells, an eco-friendly material that breaks down naturally in the environment after use. But PHA is currently less price-competitive than conventional plastics due to high production and recovery costs, and its intrinsic material properties pose a separate barrier: the archetypal polymer P(3HB) is highly crystalline, becomes brittle with age, and has a narrow window between its melting and decomposition temperatures, meaning PHAs are generally not suitable as direct "drop-in" replacements.The team found that a phased approach is needed — simplifying the production process and first applying it to high-value fields such as medical applications and food packaging before expanding into general-purpose markets. The team predicted that artificial intelligence will become a key to industrializing biomanufacturing going forward. AI can optimize the entire biomanufacturing process — from enzyme and microbial design to digital twins that virtually simulate production processes, and technologies that simultaneously analyze economic feasibility and environmental impact. The team explained that this can shorten development timelines, reduce production costs, and increase the likelihood of successful commercialization. The team also proposed that techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) should be applied as design criteria from the earliest stages of research, rather than as evaluations conducted only after research is complete. The team further emphasized that supply chain resilience — accounting for raw material availability and shifts in the international landscape — should be considered a new design standard for biomanufacturing. This study is significant not for developing a new production technology, but for comprehensively analyzing the conditions for successful biomanufacturing industrialization and presenting an industrialization roadmap spanning the entire cycle — from securing raw materials to microbial design, fermentation, separation and purification, and market entry. The team expects the study to accelerate the commercialization of the bio-based chemical industry and, over the long term, contribute to shifting the petroleum-centered chemical industry toward an eco-friendly bioeconomy. The paper, with Ji Yeon Kim and Hye Eun Yu as co-first authors, both Ph.D. candidates in KAIST's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was published online on May 30 in the international journal Nature Communications. ※ Paper title: Beyond petrochemicals: challenges and opportunities in industrial-scale biomanufacturing ※ DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-73835-1  ※ Authors: Ji Yeon Kim (KAIST, co-first author), Hye Eun Yu (KAIST, co-first author), Min Ho Kim (KAIST), Sang Yup Lee (KAIST, corresponding author) This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea, funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, through the “Development of Platform Technologies of Microbial Cell Factories for Next-Generation Biorefineries” project (Project No. 2022M3J5A1056117) and the “Development of Advanced Synthetic Biology Source Technologies for Leading the Biomanufacturing Industry” project (Project No. RS-2024-00399424).

When the pathways through which electricity flows inside a semiconductor become blocked, device performance declines and power loss increases. A Korean research team has developed a new structure that could resolve this “electrical bottleneck” and, for the first time, directly confirmed that electric charges flow continuously without interruption. This achievement is expected to become a key technology for improving the performance and power efficiency of future semiconductors, including AI semiconductors and ultra-low-power semiconductors. KAIST announced on July 13 that a research team led by Professor Seungbum Hong from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Kibum Kang from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST and Professor Sung Beom Cho’s research team at Sungkyunkwan University, has realized a new structure in which electricity flows without obstruction in a two-dimensional material—an ultrathin material only one or two atomic layers thick—that is attracting attention for next-generation semiconductor devices. The team also developed an analytical platform capable of directly observing this charge transport at the nanometer scale. In semiconductors, contact resistance, which arises at the interface where a metal electrode meets a semiconductor, degrades performance and causes power loss. Especially as semiconductors continue to scale down, the influence of contact resistance becomes even greater, making it one of the most challenging technical bottlenecks in developing next-generation semiconductors. Instead of attaching a metal electrode on top of a semiconductor as in conventional approaches, the research team continuously formed semi-metallic and semiconducting regions within a single two-dimensional m aterial. By creating a structure in which the two regions are naturally connected within the same material, the team demonstrated for the first time that current can flow across the boundary without being blocked. Specifically, the team continuously implemented a semi-metallic region and a semiconducting region within a single thin film of platinum diselenide (PtSe₂), an atomically thin two-dimensional material. By realizing a monolithic structure, in which a single material is formed continuously without interruption, the team proposed a new structure that allows current to flow across the boundary without obstruction. Using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), a microscope that uses a probe to measure surface and electrical properties down to the atomic level, the team directly visualized charge transport inside the thin film at the nanometer scale. As a result, the team confirmed for the first time that, when current moved from the semi-metallic region to the semiconducting region, the flow continued naturally without an “electrical bottleneck,” such as a blockage or bending of the current path. This is the first experimental demonstration that a monolithic interface does not interfere with current flow. Furthermore, the team verified device operation by applying an electric field to the semiconducting region. The results confirmed that current flow can be stably controlled in a metal–semiconductor junction structure, demonstrating the potential of the structure for next-generation electronic devices. This study presents a source technology that can dramatically reduce contact resistance in next-generation semiconductor devices based on two-dimensional materials. It is expected to be widely applicable to the development of future semiconductor technologies, including AI semiconductors, ultra-low-power semiconductors, and next-generation logic semiconductors. The study was co-first-authored by Yeongyu Kim, a Ph.D. candidate and Dr. Minseung Gyeon from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST; and Ji Hoon Hong, a Ph.D. candidate at Sungkyunkwan University. The work was published in the July 2026 issue of Matter, an international journal in the field of materials science. ※ Paper title: Nanoscale imaging of charge transport across the semimetal-semiconductor interface in monolithic platinum diselenide DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2026.102873 This research was supported by the STEAM Research Program and the Nanomaterials Technology Development Program of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on the 16th of July that Beomgyu Lee, CEO of AI education company TeamSparta, donated 100 million KRW (approximately $66,000 as of July 2026) to the School of Computing to support a research program centered on the use of generative AI agents. With the support of this donation, KAIST plans to run a two-year program enabling master’s and doctoral researchers from all departments to use generative AI agents. Participating researchers will receive access to the latest AI development agents, including Claude Code and Codex, along with related training and regular seminars. The donation ceremony was held on the 15th of July at KAIST's main campus in Daejeon and was attended by Beomgyu Lee; Jae-Gil Lee, Dean of the KAIST School of Computing; and Professor Sukyoung Ryu from the School of Computing. This marks Lee’s second private contribution, following his first donation in September 2025. The program will operate in six-month cycles, with 20 researchers selected for each cohort. KAIST aims to select the first cohort by the end of 2026 and plans to gradually expand both the scope of support and donor participation. The program is meaningful in that, amid the rapid spread of generative AI across research settings, it lays the groundwork for KAIST researchers to be early adopters of cutting-edge AI tools and apply them to their research. In particular, the program is expected to foster a new research culture in which master’s and doctoral researchers actively incorporate AI agents into their research workflows and share their experiences with one another. “I sincerely thank alumnus Beomgyu Lee for once again making a meaningful contribution in support of junior researchers,” said KAIST President Choongsik Bae. “His generous commitment will provide a strong foundation for researchers to actively use generative AI and pursue new research challenges. KAIST will continue to provide sustained support so that researchers can produce creative and innovative outcomes in the best possible environment during this era of AI transformation.” “AI agents have already become a new standard across industry, and I was concerned that researchers who will lead the development of future technologies were unable to make full use of them because of the associated costs,” said Beomgyu Lee. “I hope this support will help researchers freely use cutting-edge AI tools to help produce world-class research outcomes.” Professor Sukyoung Ryu from the KAIST School of Computing said, "I am deeply grateful to alumnus Beomgyu Lee for continuing to support junior researchers for a second year in a row." She added, “As generative AI agents are significantly enhancing research productivity and transforming approaches to problem-solving, I hope this program will encourage researchers to actively use the latest AI tools and foster a new culture of sharing their experiences.” Jae-Gil Lee, Dean of the KAIST School of Computing, said, “We will actively support training and regular seminars so that researchers across all KAIST departments—not just the School of Computing—can use the latest generative AI agents in their research, allowing AI-driven research innovation to spread across the university.”

The 2026 Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (GESS), organized by the KAIST Office of Global Initiatives, has successfully concluded its fifth annual program. Now in its fifth year, GESS has become KAIST's flagship global entrepreneurship program, providing students with firsthand experience in Silicon Valley—the world's leading startup ecosystem—and equipping them with the entrepreneurial mindset and global competencies needed to launch ventures on the international stage. Participants in the 2026 GESS program, including both undergraduate and graduate students, were selected through a competitive process consisting of document screening, interviews, team presentations, and peer evaluations. Prior to traveling to Silicon Valley, the selected students completed a four-month preparatory program that included team building, customer discovery, business model development, and pitch preparation. Throughout the program, they received mentoring from entrepreneurs, venture investors, and industry experts, enabling them to refine their business ideas and evaluate their potential for entering global markets. The Silicon Valley program, held in late June, was organized in collaboration with leading startup support organizations, including KOTRA Silicon Valley, IBK Changgong Silicon Valley, and Plug and Play. Through meetings with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and representatives from global technology companies, students gained firsthand insight into the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem while developing a deeper understanding of global markets. For the fourth consecutive year, students from the KAIST College of Business Impact MBA program also participated in the Silicon Valley program, creating valuable opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and exchange among students with diverse academic backgrounds and professional experiences. A highlight of this year's program was a startup storytelling workshop conducted in collaboration with educators from Stanford University. The workshop helped students strengthen their communication skills by learning how to present their ideas more persuasively—an essential competency for aspiring global entrepreneurs. In partnership with KAIST alumni based in Silicon Valley, participants also visited leading global technology companies and unicorn startups, including Meta, NVIDIA, and Moloco. They attended networking events with local professionals and alumni, gaining firsthand exposure to the innovation culture and growth strategies of global technology companies while broadening their perspectives on international careers and entrepreneurship. To put into practice one of the core values of entrepreneurship—creating positive social impact—GESS participants also organized "Let's Play AI+Tech," a community outreach program for elementary school students from underserved families in Sunnyvale, California. Designed and led entirely by KAIST students, the program introduced fundamental concepts in artificial intelligence through engaging, hands-on activities for children and their parents. The initiative also offered KAIST students a meaningful opportunity to give back to the local community while sharing their expertise in AI and technology. The program concluded with the Final Pitch Competition, where each team presented the business models they had developed over several months to a panel of Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurship experts. Through expert feedback and evaluation, participants had the opportunity to validate the global potential of their ventures. Following a highly competitive final round, Team CUPID was named the overall winner. Team CUPID presented an AI-powered developer platform that automatically routes coding tasks to the most cost-effective AI model, significantly reducing developers' AI usage costs. The team received high praise from the judges for its clear problem definition, strong market potential, and scalability in the global market. Gianidita Nurani Pertiwi, a member of Team CUPID and a student in the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, said, "GESS provided an invaluable opportunity to experience Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial ecosystem firsthand. Through conversations with founders, investors, and industry experts, I learned how to refine our ideas from a global perspective. The experience has motivated me to continue pursuing innovation that can create meaningful impact beyond borders." The 2026 GESS program has been organized for the fifth consecutive year by the Office of Global Initiative in collaboration with the Impact MBA program and the Startup KAIST. KAIST will continue strengthening partnerships with Silicon Valley and other global innovation hubs to nurture entrepreneurial talent capable of leading future industries worldwide.

KAIST announced on June 16 that it will co-host 'STARTUP NATION KOREA 2026' (2026 Innovation Entrepreneurship Nation Korea International Forum) with Seoul National University and The JoongAng from June 17 to 18 at the Haedong Advanced Engineering Building on Seoul National University's Gwanak Campus. Celebrating its 5th anniversary this year, the forum serves as a platform to overcome the so-called 'R&D Paradox'—where outstanding research and development achievements fail to fully connect with entrepreneurship and industry—and to seek solutions for realizing a science and technology-based innovation entrepreneurship nation. Universities, government agencies, research institutions, investment firms, conglomerates, startups, and media will participate to discuss cooperative methods for connecting technological potential to market and industrial value. In particular, this year's forum focuses on the role of patient capital and innovative finance, which are critical challenges for the growth of deep tech startups, under the theme “Deep Tech: Beyond the Valley of Death.” Deep tech startups require long-term investment and large-scale funding throughout the entire process from research and development to technology verification, demonstration, and market entry. However, the domestic venture investment market is relatively focused on short-term returns, often causing these startups to face severe difficulties during the commercialization phase. Therefore, this forum will intensively discuss strategies to establish an innovative financial ecosystem where 'patient capital'—which invests based on the long-term growth potential of technology—is organically linked with investments, guarantees, and policy finance required for the entire life cycle of technology commercialization. Kwang Hyung Lee, President of KAIST, said, “Although Korea possesses world-class R&D capabilities, major barriers still exist in the process of translating research achievements into startups and new industries. I hope this forum serves as a collective effort to seek solutions through patient capital, innovative finance, and a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem so that deep tech startups can overcome the valley of death and grow into the global market.” Hyun Min Bae, Director of the KAIST Startup Institute, stated, “The success of deep tech entrepreneurship cannot be achieved through technology alone. Through this forum, we look forward to discussing the growth ladders and collaborative measures that connect laboratory technologies to markets, investments, and global expansion, thereby discovering a new direction for Korea's deep tech startup ecosystem.” On the first day of the forum, Professor Jeong Dong Lee of the College of Engineering at Seoul National University, author of The Way of Accumulation and The First Question, will deliver a keynote speech emphasizing the role of finance in accelerating technological innovation and the importance of patient capital. This will be followed by a roundtable featuring domestic and international experts to discuss long-term investment case studies and policy directions for innovative finance. In addition, the presentation ceremony for the '2026 Korea Innovation Entrepreneurship Awards' will be held simultaneously. This year, a total of 13 awards will be presented across three categories: the Innovation Entrepreneurship Award, the Innovation Entrepreneurship Challenge Award, and the Innovation Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Contribution Award. The recipients of the Innovation Entrepreneurship Award include Sovagen, EndoRobotics, WIRobotics, Exo Systems, Marine Drone Tech, Daughter, MUSTBIO, IMNEWRUN, and Narnia Labs. These companies are promising deep tech enterprises recognized for their technological innovation and growth potential in national strategic sectors such as AI, robotics, bio/healthcare, drones, and mobility. The Innovation Entrepreneurship Challenge Award will be presented to Scionic AI, RX, and TDS Innovation, while the Innovation Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Contribution Award will be awarded to the Commercialization Promotion Agency for R&D Outcomes (COMPA). Kyeong Hwan Kim, Chair of the Evaluation Committee (Dean of the Graduate School of Global Entrepreneurship at Sungkyunkwan University), remarked, “Promising deep tech companies that will lead future industries in fields like AI, robotics, semiconductors, and bio have stood out remarkably. This contest was a meaningful opportunity to confirm the robust growth potential of Korea's innovation entrepreneurship ecosystem.” An exhibition featuring innovative startups and various programs linked with government ministries will also run throughout the event. Participating companies will showcase their breakthrough technologies in sectors including AI, robotics, bio/healthcare, advanced materials, energy, and mobility, while exploring collaboration opportunities with investment institutions and industry leaders. Notably, WIRobotics plans to exhibit its humanoid robot 'ALLEX', which was previously unveiled at CES 2026. The forum is co-hosted by KAIST, Seoul National University, and The JoongAng, and sponsored by major agencies including the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The event will be broadcast live via the official YouTube channel and website of STARTUP NATION KOREA 2026.

<Professor S. Josephine Suh> Professor S. Josephine Suh wins the Frontiers of Science Award for the second consecutive year following last year - Honored for her paper published in November 2017, targeting research papers that have achieved significant results within the last 10 years - Recognized internationally for leading research achievements in the fields of quantum gravity and quantum field theory KAIST announced on June 12th that a co-authored research paper by Professor S. Josephine Suh of the Department of Physics was selected as a winning paper for the '2026 Frontiers of Science Award' presented by the International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS). Professor Suh has won this award for two consecutive years, following her win in 2025. The Frontiers of Science Award is presented to papers published within the last 10 years in the fields of mathematics, physics, and information science that have achieved outstanding academic originality and impact. The award ceremony will take place during the ICBS event to be held in Beijing, China, in August 2026. The award-winning paper is "The soft mode in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model and its gravity dual," a joint research project between Professor Alexei Kitaev of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Professor S. Josephine Suh. ※ Paper Title: The soft mode in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model and its gravity dual, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2018)183) The SYK (Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev) model is a quantum physics model in which a large number of Majorana fermions (special quantum particles whose particles and antiparticles have identical properties) interact randomly and strongly. Despite being a highly complex quantum many-body system (a system where many particles entangle and interact simultaneously), it allows for mathematically exact analysis. Furthermore, because its characteristics of quantum chaos (chaotic phenomena occurring in quantum systems) are remarkably similar to those of black holes, it has drawn attention as a core theory for understanding the microscopic structure (the fine quantum states that make up a black hole) of black holes. The award-winning paper demonstrated that the physical properties displayed by the SYK model in a low-energy state precisely connect with two-dimensional gravity theory (a gravity model simplified by leaving only one dimension each for space and time). This research has since become a core theoretical foundation for black hole and quantum gravity research, establishing itself as one of the most widely cited representative papers in the relevant field. In addition, the SYK model is utilized as a representative theoretical model to explain how information is stored and disappears inside a black hole, drawing attention as a key research topic for solving conundrums in modern physics. The 'Frontiers of Science Award' is an international academic award that the International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS) has been presenting since 2023. The Global Committee makes the final selection of winning works through recommendations and evaluations from experts worldwide. In its official notification of selection, the ICBS stated, "Professor Suh's research has made an outstanding contribution to the field of Formal Quantum Field Theory*," adding, "The researcher's dedication to expanding the boundaries of human knowledge provides great inspiration to the scientific community." *Formal Quantum Field Theory: A field of theoretical physics that explores the mathematical principles and structures of quantum field theory, which explains the fundamental particles and forces of the universe. Professor S. Josephine Suh said, "The research in this paper was a work showing how a specific quantum many-body system and gravity theory correspond at a microscopic level," and added, "The research currently underway seeks to obtain a physical understanding of how spacetime is generated from a quantum many-body system based on this correspondence." The total prize money for this award is $25,000 (approximately 33 million KRW), which is shared jointly among the authors of the winning paper.   Reference: Official website of the Frontiers of Science Award: https://www.icbs.cn  

KAIST announced on June 11th that the Global Center for Development and Strategy (G-CODEs) hosted the "Forum on Global Cooperation in Science and Technology: Beyond Crisis, Toward Sustainable Cooperation" at the KAIST Academic Cultural Complex on June 10th. This forum was organized to review South Korea's international cooperation strategies and execution capabilities under a rapidly changing environment for international cooperation in science and technology, driven by intensifying competition for technological hegemony, restructuring of global supply chains, and rising uncertainty in energy security. In particular, this forum was organized as a follow-up event to the 'Global Science and Technology Cooperation Forum: Reflection and Outlook' held last year. While last year's forum discussed South Korea's response strategies amid the restructuring of the global science and technology order, this year's forum continued the discussion with a focus on more specific cooperation tasks, such as execution capabilities and institutional foundations for international cooperation, fostering professional talent, international joint research, and research security. Beginning with opening remarks by Sang-wook Kang, Director General for Planning and Coordination at the Ministry of Science and ICT, the forum proceeded with a total of three sessions. In the first session, 'Restructuring Science and Technology International Cooperation in the Era of Techno-Geopolitics,' So Young Kim, Vice President of International Office at KAIST, served as the chair to discuss the direction of international cooperation in science and technology according to changes in the economic security and techno-geopolitical environment. Wonho Yeon, Director at Hyundai Motor Group Global Policy Office, presented global cooperation strategies in the era of economic security; Eunkyo Cho, Head of Team at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET), presented the potential for Korea-China cooperation in the era of physical AI; and Inkyoung Sun, Research Fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), presented the importance of research security for international joint research. Subsequently, Damian Bank, Professor at the Global Center for Development and Strategy (G-CODEs) at KAIST, and Chaegwon Lim, Professor at the School of Electrical Engineering at KAIST, participated in the panel discussion. In the second session, 'International Joint Research: Issues and Challenges,' Jae-Yong Choung, Professor at the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy at KAIST, served as the chair to address practical experiences and institutional challenges of international joint research. Eunseong Kim, Professor at the Department of Physics and the Graduate School of Quantum Science and Technology at KAIST, shared the experiences of the KAIST-MIT global partnership, and Dr. Hae-Jung Lee from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States presented South Korea's collaborative capabilities and areas for improvement from the perspective of an overseas partner. Seokkyun Woo, Professor at the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy at KAIST, analyzed the current status and characteristics of international cooperation research by government-funded research institutes currently being conducted by the G-CODEs research center, and discussed directions for improving the international cooperation support system. Ju Young Kim, Policy Officer at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Korea, and Hyerin Park, Center Head at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), participated in the panel discussion. In the third session, 'Fostering Talent for Science and Technology International Cooperation,' Sukyung Park, Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST, served as the chair to discuss fostering professional talent and institutional foundations for international cooperation. EunJu Jun, Director at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Mi-Jung Um, Center Head at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Jonghoon Moon, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Science and ICT, Jinyeob Na, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Eun Jung Koh, Head of Division at the Korea Institute of Human Resources Development in Science and Technology (KIRD), participated as panelists to discuss ways to foster convergence talent, capabilities and training required for practical personnel in international cooperation, career development, and establishing support systems. Kyung Ryul Park, Director of the Global Center for Development and Strategy (G-CODEs) at KAIST, said, "This forum was a venue to examine the changes and challenges surrounding international cooperation in science and technology and to seek sustainable cooperation measures. Reflecting its recently surging importance, students and participants showed high interest in nurturing future convergence talent for international cooperation in science and technology." Kwang Hyung Lee, President of KAIST, stated, "International cooperation in science and technology is an important foundation for national competitiveness and future growth. I hope this forum serves as an opportunity to seek sustainable methods for international cooperation in science and technology amid a rapidly changing global environment." (End)  ※ Forum Presentation Materials: Global Center for Development and Strategy Website (https://global.kaist.ac.kr/) <Forum on Global Cooperation in Science and Technology>

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