The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI), a government-funded research institute under the National Research Council of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Science and ICT, pledged to overcome domestic and international difficulties and create “big technologies” by 2024.

The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute held a ceremony for all employees two days ago and began work for the new year of 'Gapjin Year'.

KERI President Kim Nam-gyun said in his New Year’s address that day, “2023 is a year in which science and technology will receive much attention, including the successful third launch of Nuri, the superconductor issue, and generative AI.” He added, “The domestic and international environments have not been good recently, so difficulties are expected this year, but with an unwavering spirit, we will work to create ‘big technologies’ that will greatly benefit the country and its people.”

He continued, “As the great world of electrification unfolds, I hope that KERI employees have a sense of mission to change the world for the better,” and emphasized the employees’ sense of mission by saying, “We must clearly recognize that the technology we are developing is a national technology of the Republic of Korea and contributes to the development of national industry.”

In addition, President Kim declared, “Realizing a workplace where people can work healthily and safely” and said, “o; Last year, we achieved good results such as receiving the Occupational Safety and Health Management System (ISO45001) certification and a commendation for being selected as an excellent organization for intensive safety inspections through our many efforts,” he said. “This year, we will receive more certifications for excellent safety management research labs and discover and expand a safety management standard model optimized for KERI to realize an advanced safety culture.”

Finally, President Kim concluded his New Year's address by highlighting the core management goals he has emphasized since taking office: "A research institute that leads the future, is sought after by companies, and works with the people."

Meanwhile, at the ceremony held that day, an awards ceremony was held for the team that achieved the best results in 2023.

The honorable KERI Award 'Team' category went to the 'High-Performance Secondary Battery Carbon Nanomaterial Research Team', which achieved a technology transfer performance of 2.64 billion won in total by dramatically improving the performance of secondary batteries using graphene and carbon nanotubes.

The research team's mainstays, Dr. Seung-Yeol Jeong and Dr. Seon-Hye Yang, were even more delighted to win jointly the 'Individual' category (KERI Person of the Year Award).

The Grand Prize winners were: △Voltage-type HVDC HVDC: High Voltage Direct Current, ultra-high voltage direct current transmission domestic technology development team △HVDC test infrastructure construction team △e-nano material chemical and wet process platform construction project promotion team, and the Excellence Awards went to △Domestic development team for semiconductor element-based large-capacity switch modules △Eco-friendly gas circuit breaker design team △V2G electric vehicle charging/discharging CI original technology development team △Multi-functional hybrid transformer development team △500kV HVDC overhead line hardware test response team △Researcher emergency system operation team.