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Robot Valley Project Activation of the Korean style Robot and AI Startup Ecosystem Fully Underway
< From left: Top Excellence Award winner Robolight (Pre-startup Founder Han-seol Choi), Top Excellence Award winner Coils (CEO Seong-ryeol Heo), Professor Jung Kim of KAIST, Grand Prize winner Noman (CEO Jung-wook Moon), Professor Kyoungchul Kong of KAIST, CEO Dae-hee Park of Daejeon Creative Economy Innovation Center, Excellence Award winner Gigaflops (CEO Min-tae Kim), Excellence Award winner BLUE APEX (Pre-startup Founder Na-hyeon Kwon) >
KAIST announced on December 10th that KAIST Holdings (CEO Hyeonmin Bae), a specialized technology commercialization investment institution, successfully held the '2025 KAIST Hu-Robotics Startup Cup' on the 9th at the main building of Daejeon Startup Park. This was held as part of the Robot Valley Project, aiming to discover and foster promising startup teams in the robotics field and establish a robot scale-up ecosystem based on a technology platform.
This competition was conducted as a core program of the Robot Valley Project (Deep-Tech Scale-up Valley Fostering Project), which is promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and supported by Daejeon Metropolitan City. The competition proceeded through a meet-up day with KAIST Mechanical Engineering researchers, robotics companies like Angel Robotics and Twinny, and startup experts such as Bluepoint, leading to the final round. Throughout this process, a support system for the scale-up of robot startups was established, linking technology verification, strengthening entrepreneurial capabilities, and investment linkage.
KAIST Holdings and the Deep-Tech Valley Project Group (hereinafter referred to as the Project Group) stated that this competition marks the beginning of 'establishing a Korean-style Robot and AI startup ecosystem.' Their goal through the Robot Valley Project is to create a Korean-style robot scale-up ecosystem centered around Daejeon and KAIST, and furthermore, to build a technology circulation structure utilizing verified technology platforms.
KAIST has produced successful scale-up cases in the robotics field, such as Rainbow Robotics and Angel Robotics. However, the recent robotics industry has seen a rapid increase in technological difficulty due to the convergence of mechanical engineering, AI, and control software, creating structural limitations for early-stage founders to challenge alone.
To solve this, the Project Group proposed the 'Scale-up Valley Construction Strategy,' which opens up the verified technologies of established senior companies to junior founders. This strategy focuses on supporting startups to concentrate on developing market-ready robot services and applications on top of verified technology platforms, rather than consuming excessive time on developing basic hardware like motors and controllers.
The Angel Robotics technology platform, presented as the core underlying technology of this strategy, consists of actuators, control modules, and core software. KAIST plans to gradually open up these foundational technologies for use by early-stage startup teams.
The Project Group emphasized that enabling startup teams to utilize such technology platforms from the initial stage is the core infrastructure for accelerating the Korean-style robot startup ecosystem.
A total of 21 teams participated in this competition, including pre-startup founders (Track A) and early-stage startups established within 3 years (Track B), all possessing human-centered robotics technology and convergence business models.
After fierce preliminaries, 8 teams advanced to the final round, and a total of 5 teams were finally selected: one Grand Prize winner, two Choi Woo-sung (Top Excellence Award) winners, and two Excellence Award winners.
The Grand Prize was awarded to 'Noman' for proposing an integrated system for a strawberry farm work robot and a rotating vertical cultivation module.
The Woo-sung Choi (Top Excellence Award) went to 'Robolight' and 'Coils.'
The Excellence Award was awarded to BLUE APEX and Gigaflops.
Professor Jung Kim, Head of the KAIST Mechanical Engineering Department and General Manager of the Robot Valley Project, said, "This competition has become the starting point for discovering future robot unicorns. For the next three years, we will continue to provide practical support for the growth of robot startups, and KAIST will play a leading role in building and expanding the deep-tech robot ecosystem centered in Daejeon."
< Group Photo of Award Winners >
Meanwhile, this competition was jointly hosted and organized by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Daejeon Metropolitan City, and the Research and Business Development Special Zone Foundation, as well as startup support organizations including KAIST, KAIST Holdings, Daejeon Technopark, and Daejeon Creative Economy Innovation Center.
2025.12.10 View 1694 -
A Boom in Robot Startups: Global Ventures from the Legacy of HUBO's Creator
KAIST announced on September 16 that it is gaining attention as a "cradle of Korean robotics" as various robot startups founded on campus have recently succeeded in attracting investment.
Rainbow Robotics, founded by Professor Jun-Ho Oh of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, set a new milestone in the robotics industry by successfully going public with its world-class humanoid technology. Following this, Angel Robotics, a company specializing in rehabilitation and medical robots founded by Professor Kyung-chul Kong of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, also went public, making the achievements of KAIST-born robot startups more visible.
Following in their footsteps, a number of other startups are on a rapid growth trajectory after their founding in various technological fields, including quadrupedal, collaborative, and wearable robots, as well as autonomous walking. These include Pureun Robotics (2021, Hyunchul Ham, MS from Mechanical Engineering), Wero Robotics (2021, Yeonbaek Lee, MS from Mechanical Engineering), Raion Robotics (2023, Professor Jaemin Hwangbo, Mechanical Engineering), Triangle Robotics (2023, Jinhyuk Choi, PhD candidate in Computer Science), URobotics (2024, Byungho Yoo, PhD from Electrical Engineering), and Diden Robotics (2024, Junha Kim, PhD from Mechanical Engineering).
In particular, Raion Robotics, founded by Professor Jaemin Hwangbo of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, recently secured a Series A investment of 23 billion KRW from leading domestic investors, including SBVA, Company K Partners, FuturePlay, KDB Capital, IBK, and IBK Venture Capital.
< (Left) Raibo1, (Right) Raibo2 participating in a marathon >
Raion Robotics' flagship product, the quadrupedal robot 'Raibo,' is equipped with reinforcement learning-based AI, enabling stable walking on uneven terrain. It also boasts a distinctive performance with an 8-hour operating time. Recently, it successfully completed a full marathon (42.195 km) alongside a human, proving its durability in real-world conditions and attracting attention from the global robotics industry.
This trend is also evident in URobotics, a startup from Professor Hyun Myung's lab in the Department of Electrical Engineering. URobotics recently secured a 3.5 billion KRW seed investment and was selected for the 1.5 billion KRW Deep Tech TIPS program, accelerating its growth in the field of autonomous walking robots. The company is preparing to apply its technology to various industrial sites, including defense, construction, logistics, and smart cities, by internalizing its control and autonomous walking technologies and applying them to humanoids. The industry is already taking note of its high growth potential from the early stages.
< (Left) URobotics' general-purpose autonomous walking solution being tested on a quadrupedal robot, (Right) Developing core spatial intelligence technology >
< URobotics' autonomous walking solution >
Diden Robotics, a startup from Professor Haewon Park's lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is leading the industrial application and commercialization of walking mobile robot technology. The company's key competitive advantages lie in its hardware design capabilities through the internalization of core components, advanced Physical AI technology based on reinforcement learning, and a special magnetic foot technology. Robots developed with this technology can move freely on vertical steel walls and ceilings to perform high-difficulty tasks like welding and non-destructive testing. Based on this technology, Diden Robotics attracted a 7 billion KRW investment in a Pre-A round and has signed supply contracts with major shipyards, proving its commercial viability.
< (Left) Diden Robotics' mobile robot DIDEN30 for shipbuilding sites (Right) Various work scenarios inside a ship block >
KAIST recently secured 10.5 billion KRW in government funding by participating as the lead institution in the Deep Tech Scale-up Valley project. With this funding, it plans to create a virtuous cycle among companies, technology, and talent in the robotics industry and emerge as a next-generation robotics hub. URobotics and Angel Robotics are also participating in this project.
Bae Hyun-min, head of the Startup Center, said, "Researchers from KAIST are entering the global stage through challenging startups. The Startup Center will actively support them to help KAIST establish itself as a 'hub for deep tech startups'."
KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee emphasized, "KAIST is a cradle of innovation that creates social value through startups, beyond education and research. The achievements of these robot startups show that KAIST is at the center of leading the paradigm of the global robotics industry. This also aligns with KAIST's vision of preparing for the era of 'Physical AI,' which fuses artificial intelligence with the physical world. KAIST will continue to strengthen its global technological leadership through innovation that connects academia and industry.
2025.09.16 View 4989 -
Startup Nation Korea International Forum to be Held at KAIST
On September 9, KAIST announced that it will be co-hosting the 4th "2025 Startup Nation Korea International Forum" with JoongAng Ilbo and Seoul National University. The two-day event will be held from September 10 to 11 at the KI Building on the main KAIST campus in Daejeon. The forum aims to bring together various members of the startup ecosystem—including government officials, universities, research institutions, investors, entrepreneurs, media, and students—to find practical solutions to the "R&D paradox," where research and development achievements in the Korean science and technology sector don't lead to successful startups. First held at Seoul National University in 2022, this year's forum will take place at KAIST.
<KI Building, where the Startup Nation International Forum will be held>
This year's theme is "The Path to an Innovative Startup Cluster." The goal is to properly foster a startup cluster in Korea through industry-academia-research cooperation, which can serve as a new growth engine, similar to global innovation clusters like Boston in the United States, a hub for the biotech industry, and Zhongguancun, China's top innovation hub.
Day 1: Startup Nation Korea International Forum
On the morning of the first day, a pre-event will feature presentations on the future of innovation clusters centered in Hongneung, Seoul, and Daedeok, Daejeon, by Professor Lee Ji-hoon of Kangwon National University, Director Im Moon-taek, Chairman Park Han-oh of Bioneer, and Director Kim Hyun-woo of the Seoul Bio Hub Project. Separately from the main event, a "Corporate-Early Career Researcher Networking Day," hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, is also scheduled.
The opening ceremony on the first day will begin with opening remarks by Hong Seok-hyun, Chairman of JoongAng Holdings, welcome addresses by KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung and Seoul National University President Yoo Hong-lim, a congratulatory speech from President Lee Jae-myung (read on his behalf by Ha Jung-woo, Chief of AI Future Planning), and congratulatory remarks from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Federation of Korean Industries.
Following the opening ceremony, keynote speeches will be delivered by Oh Sang-rok, President of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST); Johannes Fruehauf, President of LabCentral; and Liu De-ying, President of the Peking University Innovation and Entrepreneurship College. A panel discussion on fostering startups with a focus on clusters will also be held. The discussion will be moderated by Hyun-min Bae, Director of the KAIST Center for Entrepreneurship, and will include panelists such as Johannes Fruehauf, Liu De-ying, Moon-taek Im, Director of the Daedeok Innopolis Cluster Headquarters, Jong-tak Han, Director of the Daejeon City Corporate Support Policy Division, and Hyun-woo Kim, Director of the Seoul Bio Hub Project.
Innovation Startup Competition Awards Ceremony
The Innovation Startup Competition awards ceremony will be held on the afternoon of the first day. This year, the number of awards has been significantly expanded to 13 across three categories: the Grand Prize (9 awards), the Innovation Startup Challenge Award (3 awards), and the Innovation Startup Ecosystem Contribution Award (1 award).
Nine startups were selected for the Grand Prize: Rebellion (Minister of Science and ICT Award), Cureverse (Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award), Cryptolab (Minister of SMEs and Startups Award), SEMIFIVE (Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Award), Solivis (Chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries Award), Medical IP (KAIST President's Award), Selectstar (Seoul National University President's Award), Bluetile Labs (Chairman of the National Research Council of Science & Technology Award), and Naeil Technology (Chairman of the Innopolis Foundation Award).
Three startups were selected for the newly established Innovation Startup Challenge Award (for startups less than 3 years old): Panacia (Minister of Science and ICT Award), HyperAccel (Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award), and WatertreeNeZ (Minister of SMEs and Startups Award). Additionally, Korea Technology Finance Corporation was chosen for the first-ever Innovation Startup Ecosystem Contribution Award (Chairman of JoongAng Holdings Award).
Kim Kyung-hwan, Dean of the Sungkyunkwan University Graduate School of Global Entrepreneurship and head of the judging committee, said, "This year's competition featured a large number of deep-tech startups at a global level in AI, biotech, and semiconductors. A notable feature was the high number of companies with intellectual property rights, such as patents."
<Startup Nation Korea International Forum Poster>
Day 2: Startup Nation Korea International Forum
On the second day (September 11), Part 1 will feature IR pitching from eight startups recommended by KAIST, Seoul National University, and the Korea Technology Finance Corporation. A subsequent discussion on revitalizing the innovation startup ecosystem will be moderated by Professor Ahn Tae-wook of the KAIST Center for Entrepreneurship. The discussion will include experts from industry, academia, research, and investment, such as Park Dae-hee, Chairman of the Creative Economy Innovation Center Council; Cho Young-soo, Director of Planning and Coordination at the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development; startup CEOs Kyu-nam Kim, Ji-min Park, and Kyung-jin Jung; and Ji-young Jang, CEO of Rising S Ventures. They will engage in an in-depth discussion on the current status and future direction of the startup ecosystem.
In the afternoon, a special session will be dedicated to showcasing cases of student startups from KAIST. CLASSUM, Smoore Talk, Innersia, and OINS will present their entrepreneurial journeys and achievements. These presentations are expected to highlight the competitiveness of university-based startup ecosystems.
Additionally, the "PEN Global Investment Forum (Investor's Reverse Pitch)" will be held with the participation of global investors. Venture capital experts from the United States, China, Hong Kong, and other regions will take the stage to share their investment strategies and outlook on the global market.
Following this, at the Innopolis Campus Lab Startup Seminar hosted by the KAIST Center for Entrepreneurship, Myung-soo Song, CEO of PEN Ventures, will give a presentation on overseas expansion for deep-tech companies through collaboration with global Corporate Venture Capital (CVCs), providing practical insights for startups looking to expand internationally. A networking session will also be held for participants to discover new collaboration opportunities. On the same morning, the Innopolis Foundation will hold a concurrent seminar to celebrate its 20th anniversary, focusing on "The Dissemination of AI and Deep-Tech Achievements."
Seok-hyun Hong, Chairman of JoongAng Holdings, said, "For Korea to leap forward as a startup nation, universities, research institutions, and industry must join forces. I hope this forum will serve as a starting point for presenting a vision for the Korean startup ecosystem and creating a startup cluster model that can compete on the world stage."
Hong-lim Yoo, President of Seoul National University, stated, "Seoul National University has been striving to connect research achievements to social value. I hope that through this forum with KAIST, we can create a cooperative model necessary for Korea to move toward becoming a global innovation startup nation."
Kwang-hyung Lee, President of KAIST, said, "KAIST is taking the lead in creating a Korean-style innovation model by connecting research and development achievements to actual startups and industries. I hope this international forum will be an opportunity to establish a Korean-style startup cluster model and strengthen our global competitiveness."
Innovation Startup Exhibition
An exhibition of innovative startups will also be held on the first floor of the KAIST building where the international forum is taking place. In addition to booths for the 13 startups selected in the Innovation Startup Competition, visitors can also meet 23 other innovative startups chosen by participating institutions like Seoul National University and KAIST.
The forum is sponsored by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Korean Industries, the National Research Council of Science & Technology, the Innopolis Foundation, the Korea Technology Finance Corporation, Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Government, PEN Ventures, Korea Technology Finance Corporation, and DaedeokNet. The forum will be live-streamed on YouTube and the official websites (www.snkforum.co.kr, www.joongang.co.kr), where anyone can watch.
2025.09.09 View 5193 -
KAIST Office of Global Initiative Hosts 2024 Global Startup Internship Seminar
< Photo of ImpriMed CEO Sungwon Lim’s lecture >
The Office of Global Initiative at KAIST successfully hosted the 2024 Global Startup Internship Seminar (GSIS) from Wednesday, November 20, to Friday, November 22.
Now in its third year, following the 2022 Global Startup Internship Fair, the GSIS aims to introduce KAIST students to internship opportunities at U.S.-based startups and encourage participation in global internship programs, particularly for students with entrepreneurial aspirations. This year’s seminar featured notable startups including ImpriMed, a precision medical AI company; Klleon, an AI culture tech firm; and Bear Robotics, renowned for its autonomous serving robots. Approximately 80 KAIST students attended the event through prior registration.
A key highlight of this year’s seminar was the participation of the CEOs from Bear Robotics and ImpriMed, two prominent Silicon Valley startups. Both CEOs, who had previously participated in the 2024 Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (GESS) last June, offered insights into their companies, provided one-on-one career counseling sessions, and discussed the concept of global entrepreneurship with students interested in U.S. startup internships.
In addition to company presentations, the seminar offered practical workshops on resume and email writing tailored for U.S. internships, testimonials from current KAIST students and alumni who interned at Silicon Valley startups, and a J1 Visa Information Session, all aimed at preparing students for internships in the United States.
So Young Kim, Vice President of the International Office and Director of the Office of Global Initiative, expressed her hopes for the event, stating, “through this event, KAIST students will be inspired by the global entrepreneurial spirit of mentors who have started businesses abroad, and that it will help further spread a culture of challenging adversity and overcoming the risks of failure.” She further added that KAIST is committed to continuously developing programs that cultivate a global entrepreneurial mindset among its students.
The 2024 Global Startup Internship Seminar successfully concluded, providing KAIST students with vision and opportunities in global entrepreneurship.
2024.11.25 View 5572 -
KAIST holds its first ‘KAIST Tech Fair’ in New York, USA
< Photo 1. 2023 KAIST Tech Fair in New York >
KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced on the 11th that it will hold the ‘2023 KAIST Tech Fair in New York’ at the Kimmel Center at New York University in Manhattan, USA, on the 22nd of this month. It is an event designed to be the starting point for KAIST to expand its startup ecosystem into the global stage, and it is to attract investments and secure global customers in New York by demonstrating the technological value of KAIST startup companies directly at location.
< Photo 2. President Kwang Hyung Lee at the 2023 KAIST Tech Fair in New York >
KAIST has been holding briefing sessions for technology transfer in Korea every year since 2018, and this year is the first time to hold a tech fair overseas for global companies.
KAIST Institute of Technology Value Creation (Director Sung-Yool Choi) has prepared for this event over the past six months with the Korea International Trade Association (hereinafter KITA, CEO Christopher Koo) to survey customer base and investment companies to conduct market analysis.
Among the companies founded with the technologies developed by the faculty and students of KAIST and their partners, 7 companies were selected to be matched with companies overseas that expressed interests in these technologies. Global multinational companies in the fields of IT, artificial intelligence, environment, logistics, distribution, and retail are participating as demand agencies and are testing the marketability of the start-up's technology as of September.
Daim Research, founded by Professor Young Jae Jang of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, is a company specializing in smart factory automation solutions and is knocking on the door of the global market with a platform technology optimized for automated logistics systems.
< Photo 3. Presentation by Professor Young Jae Jang for DAIM Research >
It is a ‘collaborative intelligence’ solution that maximizes work productivity by having a number of robots used in industrial settings collaborate with one another. The strength of their solution is that logistics robots equipped with AI reinforced learning technology can respond to processes and environmental changes on their own, minimizing maintenance costs and the system can achieve excellent performance even with a small amount of data when it is combined with the digital twin technology the company has developed on its own.
A student startup, ‘Aniai’, is entering the US market, the home of hamburgers, with hamburger patty automation equipments and solutions. This is a robot kitchen startup founded by its CEO Gunpil Hwang, a graduate of KAIST’s School of Electrical Engineering which gathered together the experts in the fields of robot control, design, and artificial intelligence and cognitive technology to develop technology to automatically cook hamburger patties.
At the touch of a button, both sides of the patty are cooked simultaneously for consistent taste and quality according to the set condition. Since it can cook about 200 dishes in an hour, it is attracting attention as a technology that can not only solve manpower shortages but also accelerate the digital transformation of the restaurant industry.
Also, at the tech fair to be held at the Kimmel Center of New York University on the 22nd, the following startups who are currently under market verification in the U.S. will be participating: ▴'TheWaveTalk', which developed a water quality management system that can measure external substances and metal ions by transferring original technology from KAIST; ▴‘VIRNECT’, which helps workers improve their skills by remotely managing industrial sites using XR*; ▴‘Datumo’, a solution that helps process and analyze artificial intelligence big data, ▴‘VESSL AI’, the provider of a solution to eliminate the overhead** of machine learning systems; and ▴ ‘DolbomDream’, which developed an inflatable vest that helps the psychological stability of people with developmental disabilities.
* XR (eXtended Reality): Ultra-realistic technology that enhances immersion by utilizing augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality technologies
** Overhead: Additional time required for stable processing of the program
In addition, two companies (Plasmapp and NotaAI) that are participating in the D-Unicorn program with the support of the Daejeon City and two companies (Enget and ILIAS Biologics) that are receiving support from the Scale Up Tips of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, three companies (WiPowerOne, IDK Lab, and Artificial Photosynthesis Lab) that are continuing to realize the sustainable development goals for a total of 14 KAIST startups, will hold a corporate information session with about 100 invited guests from global companies and venture capital.
< Photo 4. Presentation for AP Lab >
Prior to this event, participating startups will be visiting the New York Economic Development Corporation and large law firms to receive advice on U.S. government support programs and on their attemps to enter the U.S. market. In addition, the participating companies plan to visit a startup support investment institution pursuing sustainable development goals and the Leslie eLab, New York University's one-stop startup support space, to lay the foundation for KAIST's leap forward in global technology commercialization.
< Photo 5. Sung-Yool Choi, the Director of KAIST Institute of Technology Value Creation (left) at the 2023 KAIST Tech Fair in New York with the key participants >
Sung-Yool Choi, the Director of KAIST Institute of Technology Value Creation, said, “KAIST prepared this event to realize its vision of being a leading university in creating global value.” He added, “We hope that our startups founded with KAIST technology would successfully completed market verification to be successful in securing global demands and in attracting investments for their endeavors.”
2023.09.11 View 29861 -
KAIST gearing up to train physician-scientists and BT Professionals joining hands with Boston-based organizations
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 29th that it has signed MOUs with Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system and a world-class research-oriented hospital, and Moderna, a biotechnology company that developed a COVID-19 vaccine at the Langham Hotel in Boston, MA, USA on the morning of April 28th (local time). The signing ceremony was attended by officials from each institution joined by others headed by Minister LEE Young of the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), and Commissioner LEE Insil of the Korean Intellectual Property Office.
< Photo 1. Photo from the Signing of MOU between KAIST-Harvard University Massachusetts General Hospital and KAIST-Moderna >
Mass General is the first and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, and it is one of the most innovative hospitals in the world being the alma mater of more than 13 Nobel Prize winners and the home of the Mass General Research Institute, the world’s largest hospital-based research program that utilizes an annual research budget of more than $1.3 billion.
KAIST signed a general agreement to explore research and academic exchange with Mass General in September of last year and this MOU is a part of its follow-ups.
Mass General works with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as local hospitals, to support students learn the theories of medicine and engineering, and gain rich clinical research experience.
Through this MOU, KAIST will explore cooperation with an innovative ecosystem created through the convergence of medicine and engineering. In particular, KAIST’s goal is to develop a Korean-style training program and implement a differentiated educational program when establishing the science and technology-oriented medical school in the future by further strengthening the science and engineering part of the training including a curriculum on artificial intelligence (AI) and the likes there of.
Also, in order to foster innovative physician-scientists, KAIST plans to pursue cooperation to develop programs for exchange of academic and human resources including programs for student and research exchanges and a program for students of the science and technology-oriented medical school at KAIST to have a chance to take part in practical training at Mass General.
David F.M. Brown, MD, Mass General President, said, “The collaboration with KAIST has a wide range of potentials, including advice on training of physician-scientists, academic and human resource exchanges, and vitalization of joint research by faculty from both institutions. Through this agreement, we will be able to actively contribute to global cooperation and achieve mutual goals.”
Meanwhile, an MOU between KAIST and Moderna was also held on the same day. Its main focus is to foster medical experts in cooperation with KAIST Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering (GSMSE), and plans to cooperate in various ways in the future, including collaborating for development of vaccine and new drugs, virus research, joint mRNA research, and facilitation of technology commercialization.
In over 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across seven modalities. The Company has 48 programs in development across 45 development candidates, of which 38 are currently in active clinical trials.
“We are grateful to have laid a foundation for collaboration to foster industry experts with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, a leader of science and technology innovation in Korea,” said Arpa Garay, Chief Commercial Officer, Moderna. “Based on our leadership and expertise in developing innovative mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, we hope to contribute to educating and collaborating with professionals in the bio-health field of Korea.“
President Kwang Hyung Lee of KAIST, said, “We deem this occasion to be of grave significance to be able to work closely with Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the world's best research-oriented hospitals, and Moderna, one of the most influential biomedical companies.”
President Lee continued, "On the basis of the collaboration with the two institutions, we will be able to bring up qualified physician-scientists and global leaders of the biomedical business who will solve problems of human health and their progress will in turn, accelerate the national R&D efforts in general and diversify the industry."
2023.04.29 View 21954 -
2022 Global Startup Internship Fair (GSIF)
From November 30 to December 1, 2022, the Center for Global Strategies and Planning at KAIST held the 2022 Global Startup Internship Fair (GSIF) on-line and off-line, as well.
Including the globally acknowledged unicorn companies such as PsiQuantum and Moloco, eleven startups — ImpriMed, Vessel AI, Genedit, Medic Life Sciences, Bringko, Brave Turtles, Neozips, Luckmon and CUPIX — joined the fair. Among the eleven invited companies, six were founded by KAIST Alumni representatives. The invited companies sought student interns in the field of AI, biotechnology, quantum, logistics, games, advertisement, real estate, and e-commerce. In response, about 100 KAIST students with various backgrounds have shown their interest in the event through pre-reservation.
Participating companies at this fair introduced their companies and conducted recruitment and career counseling with KAIST students. Sungwon Lim, the CEO of ImpriMed and a KAIST alumni, said, “It was very meaningful to introduce ImpriMed to junior students and share my experiences that I gained while pioneering and operating startups in the United States.” To share his journey as a global startup CEO, Lim has been invited as an off-line speaker during this event.
< ImpriMed CEO, Sungwon Lim >
In addition to the recruiting sessions, the fair held information sessions offering guidelines and useful tips on seeking opportunities overseas including information on obtaining a J1 visa, applying to U.S. internships, relocating to Silicon Valley, and writing CVs, cover letters, and business emails.
Professor Man-Sung Yim, the Associate Vice President of the International Office at KAIST, stressed, “A growing number of students at KAIST want to become a global entrepreneur, and hands-on experience gained from U.S. startups is absolutely necessary to achieve their goals.” He added, “the 2022 GSIF was one of those opportunities for KAIST students to further their dream of becoming global leaders.”
2022.12.01 View 10799 -
The 1st Global Entrepreneurship Summer Camp bridges KAIST and Silicon Valley, US
Twenty KAIST students gave a go at selling their business ideas to investors at Silicon Valley on the “Pitch Day” at 2022 Global Entrepreneurship Summer Camp.
From Tuesday, June 21 to Monday, July 4, 2022, KAIST held the first Global Entrepreneurship Summer Camp (GESC).
The 2022 GESC, which was organized in collaboration with Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), KOTRA Silicon Valley IT Center, and KAIST Alumni at Silicon Valley, was a pilot program that offered opportunities of experiencing and learning about the cases of startup companies in Silicon Valley and a chance to expand businesses to Silicon Valley through networking.
Twenty KAIST students, including pre-startup entrepreneurs and students interested in global entrepreneurship with less than one year of business experience were selected. The first week of the program was organized by Startup KAIST while the second week program was organized by the Center for Global Strategies and Planning (GSP) at KAIST in collaboration with the Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP), KAIST Alumni at Silicon Valley, and KOTRA at Silicon Valley.
Dr. Mo-Yun Lei Fong, the Executive Director of STVP, said, “The program offered an opportunity for us to realize our vision of empowering aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovation. By collaborating with KAIST and offering entrepreneurial insights to Korean students, we are able to have a positive impact on a global scale.” Mo added, “The program also enabled STVP to build bridges, learn from the students, and refine our culturally relevant curriculum by understanding Korean culture and ideas.”
On the “Pitch Day” on July 1, following a special talk by Dr. Chong-Moon Lee, the Chairman of AmBex Venture Partners, the students presented their team business ideas such as an AI-assisted, noise-canceling pillow devised for better sleep, a metaverse dating application, an XR virtual conferencing system, and an AI language tutoring application to the entice global investors’ curiosity. The invited investors, majorly based in Silicon Valley, commented that all the presentation was very exciting, and the level of pitches was beyond the expectation considering that the students have given only two weeks.
Ms. Seunghee Lee of the team “Bored KAIST Yacht Club”, which was awarded the first prize, explained, “our item, called ‘Meta-Everland’, is a service that offers real-time dating experiences similar to off-line dates. The GESC taught me that anybody can launch a startup as long as they are willing. Developing a business model from ideation and taking it to the actual pitching was challenging, but it was a very thrilling experience at the same time.” Lee added, “Most importantly, over the course of the program and the final pitch, I found out that an interesting idea can attract investors interest even at a very early stage of the launching.”
Mr. Byunghoon Hwang, a student who attended the program said, “Having learned the thoughts and attitudes the people at the front line of Silicon Valley, my views on career and launching of a start-up have been expanded a lot.”
Ms. Marina Mondragon, another attendee at the program, also said that the program was very meaningful because she was able to learn the difference between the ecosystem for the new start-up businesses at Korea and at Silicon Valley through her talks with the CEOs at Silicon Valley.
The program was co-organized by the Center for Global Strategies and Planning at KAIST International Office and Startup of KAIST. Dr. Man-Sung Yim, the Associate Vice President for KAIST International Office, who guided students in Silicon Valley, said, “I believe the GESC program broadened the views and entrepreneurial mindset of students. After joining this program, students stepped forward to become a founder of startups.” In addition, Dr. Young-Tae Kim, the Associate Vice President of the Institute for Startup KAIST, addressed “Startup KAIST will support business items founded via the program through various other programs in order to enhance their competitiveness in the global market.”
The GSP and Startup KAIST will continuously revamp the program by selecting distinguished fellows to join the program and coming up with innovative startup items.
Profile:
Sooa Lee, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
slee900@kaist.ac.kr
Center for Global Strategies and Planning
Office of Global Initiatives
KAIST International Office
https://io.kaist.ac.kr
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)Daejeon, Republic of Korea
2022.07.05 View 19633 -
President-Elect Suk-Yeol Yoon Meets and Talks with KAIST Students
President-Elect Yoon stresses science and technology-powered economic growth during his visit to KAIST
Korean President-elect Suk-Yeol Yoon stressed that semiconductors are the key strategical industry that will take the lead during the fourth industrial revolution powered by AI and data during a meeting with KAIST graduate students on April 29. President-elect Yoon promised systemic policy support for making science and technology breakthroughs possible and better rewarding young researchers who are devoted to advances in R&D during his meeting at KAIST.
Before he met with the students, he toured the National Nanofab Center, which is affiliated with KAIST, and was briefed on the center’s role and responsibilities.
President-elect Yoon, who will take office on May 10, said that the best way to ensure prompt growth in Korea’s aging society hinges on advances in science and technology. “All-out investments in science and technology will help us move forward to improve people’s quality of life and lessen the social divide,” he explained.
Eight Master’s and PhD candidates majoring in nuclear engineering, AI robotics, semiconductors, electrical engineering, aerospace, and bioengineering attended the meeting with President-elect Yoon. The students asked for help dealing with the challenges they are experiencing while researching and called for deregulation in the process of forming startups.
PhD candidate Jae Wan Cho from the Department Nuclear and Quantum Engineering stressed the importance of energy security. He asked for the prompt development of new types of nuclear reactors such as small modular reactors, adding, “Korea has very excellent technologies in nuclear plant construction and parts manufacturing, but lags behind in the new types of nuclear reactors. This sector will develop new energy markets and create synergy along with the shipbuilding industry, which will emerge as new pillars of our export.”
Student entrepreneurs such as PhD candidate Kwang Min Kim from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering and PhD candidate Dong Yoon Shin from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering asked for more deregulation in the process of creating startups. PhD candidate Dong Hon Lee from the School of Electrical Engineering pointed out the insecure future caused by the ‘special research fellow system,’ where the number of fellows who have been designated alternative military service has drastically decreased.
2022.05.02 View 8963 -
President Lee Presents Plans to Nurture Next-Generation Talents
President Lee stressed that nurturing medical scientists, semiconductor R&D personnel, startup entrepreneurs, and global innovators are key missions he will continue to pursue during a news conference
KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee said that nurturing medical scientists, semiconductor R&D personnel, startup entrepreneurs, and global innovators are key missions he will continue to pursue during an online news conference marking the 1st anniversary of him becoming the president on February 15.
He said that nurturing physician-scientists is the most critical mission for KAIST to help the nation create a new growth engine. He said KAIST will help the nation drive the bio-industry and provide medical science resources for the nation’s health sector. To this end, he said that KAIST will open its Medical Science and Technology School by 2026.
“We plan to expand the current Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering into a new Medical Science and Technology School that will focus entirely on a condensed MD-PhD course converging the fields of AI, bio, and physics,” he said.
The school aims to foster medical scientists whose research results will eventually be commercialized. He said that the university is now discussing revisions to related laws and regulations with the government and other universities.
To supply human resources to the semiconductor industry, President Lee said the university will add a campus in Pyongtaek City that will serve as an advanced convergence research hub in the field of next generation semiconductors in collaboration with Samsung Electronics and the city of Pyongtaek. The three-stage opening plan projected the final opening of the campus by 2036. During the first stage, which will be completed by 2026, it will construct the campus infrastructure in Pyongtaek city where Samsung Semiconductors runs two massive semiconductor complexes. By 2031, it plans to launch the open research platform including a future cities research center and future vehicles research center. The campus will open the global industrial collaboration cluster hub by 2036.
In the global arena, President Lee said he is working to open the New York campus with stakeholders in the United States. He announced the plan last December that was endorsed by New York-based entrepreneur Hee-Nam Bae, the chairman of Big Continent Inc. President Lee and Chairman Lee signed an MOU for the funding to open the campus in New York.
“We are discussing how to facilitate the plan and best accommodate the interests and potential of our students. Many ideas and plans are on the table and we think it will take longer than expected to finalize the plan,” explained President Lee.
However, he added that the basic idea is to offer art tech and health technology programs as well as an AI-based finance MBA at the New York campus, in addition to it serving as the startup accelerator of KAIST.
President Lee stressed the importance of technology commercialization when successfully launching KAIST Holdings last month to help spinoffs of KAIST labs accelerate their end results. He said that KAIST Holdings will build a virtuous supporting system to commercialize the technology startups coming from KAIST.
“We plan to list at least 10 KAIST startups on the KOSDAQ and two on the NASDAQ by 2031. KAIST Holdings also aims to nurture companies valued at a total of one billion KRW and earn 100 billion KRW in technology fees by 2031.
2022.02.17 View 18389 -
Perigee-KAIST Rocket Research Center Launches Scientific Rocket
Undergraduate startup Perigree Aerospace develops suborbital rocket called Blue Whale 0.1
On December 29, Perigee Aerospace, an undergraduate startup, launched a test rocket with a length of 3.2 m, a diameter of 19 cm, and a weight of 51 kg, using ethanol and liquid oxygen as fuel. The launch took place off Jeju Island. It was aimed at building experience and checking the combustion of a liquid propulsion engine and the performance of pre-set flight and trajectory, communication, and navigation devices. It was also one of the projects marking the 50th anniversary of KAIST in 2021.
However, after flying for several seconds, the rocket lost its track due to a gust of wind that activated the rocket’s automatic flight suspension system. "At the moment the rocket took off, there was a much stronger gust than expected," Dong-Yoon Shin, CEO of Perigee said. "The wind sent it flying off course and the automatic flight suspension system stopped its engine." However, Shin was not disappointed, saying the launch, which was conducted in collaboration with Perigee-KAIST Rocket Research Center provided a good experience.
"Some people say that Blue Whale 0.1 is like a toy because of its small size. Of course, it's much smaller than the rockets I’ve dreamed of, but like other rockets, it has all the technology needed for launch," said Shin, who established his company in 2018 as a KAIST aerospace engineering student to develop small liquid-propellant orbital rockets. Perigee Aerospace aims to develop the world’s lightest launch vehicle using high-powered engines, with a goal of leading the global market for small launch vehicles in the new space generation.
Perigee-KAIST Rocket Research Center was founded in 2019 for the research and development of rocket propellants and has been testing the combustion of rocket engines of various sizes in their liquid propellant rocket combustion lab located on the KAIST Munji Campus.
The research center initiated the 50th anniversary rocket launch project in late April of last year, finished the examination of their preliminary design in late May, and secured a tentative launching site through the KAIST-Jejudo agreement in early July.
The ethanol engine combustion was tested in late July, and an examination meeting regarding the detailed design that took place in late August was followed by two months of static firing tests of the assembled rocket in October and November.
This was a very meaningful trial in which a domestic private enterprise founded by a college student collaborated with a university to successfully develop and launch a technically challenging liquid propellant rocket.
Shin's near-term goal is to launch a two-stage orbital rocket that uses liquid methane as fuel and weighs 1.8 tons. To secure competitiveness in the small projectile market, KAIST and Perigee Aerospace have set up a joint research center to test various rocket engine sizes and develop the world's lightest projectile using a high-performance engine.
Professor Jae-Hung Han, head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, said, “The scientific rocket system secured through the launch of the celebratory rocket will be utilized for design and system-oriented education, and for carrying out various scientific missions.” He added, “It is very rare both domestically and globally that a scientific rocket designed by the initiatives of a department should be incorporated as part of a regular aerospace system design curriculum. This will be an exemplary case we can boast about to the rest of the world.”
Perigee Aerospace will improve the technology they have developed through the course of this project to develop subminiature vehicles they may use to launch small satellites into the low Earth orbit.
Shin said, “I am happy just with the fact that we have participated in a rocket project to celebrate the 50th anniversary of KAIST, and I would like to thank the engineers at my company and members of the KAIST Department of Aerospace Engineering.” He added, “I’m looking forward to the day that we develop a space launch vehicle that can deliver satellites even higher.”
2022.01.14 View 14614 -
Startup Elice Donates 300 Million KRW to School of Computing
Elice hopes to create a virtuous circle that bridges the educational gap
Elice, a student startup from the School of Computing has committed to donate 300 million KRW to KAIST. Jae-Won Kim, CEO of the coding education company, established the startup with his colleagues in 2015. Since then, more than 100 companies, including 17 of Korea’s top 20 companies such as SK and LG have used Elice' digital coding platform to educate employees. More than 200,000 employees have completed the online training with completion rates over 80%.
Kim said during the donation ceremony that he hopes to fund the renovation of the School of Computing building and that he will continue to work on expanding platforms that will help make communication between educators and students more interactive. He explained, “We are making this contribution to create a virtuous circle that bridges the educational gap and improves the quality of education."
President Kwang Hyung Lee was pleased to welcome the student startup’s donation, saying, "Software talent is one of the most precious resources we should foster for the nation’s future. I am thrilled to see that a startup that was founded here on the KAIST campus has grown into a great company that provides excellent coding education for our society.”
Professor Alice Oh, who was the advisor for Kim and his colleagues when they launched the startup, joined the ceremony along with the founding members from KAIST including CPO Su-In Kim, CTO Chong-Kuk Park, and team leader Chang-Hyun Lee.
2021.12.13 View 8756