The Korea Electronics Technology Institute (President Shin Hee-dong, hereinafter referred to as KETI) is taking the lead in industrial supply chain cooperation with the Czech Republic by establishing partnerships in the fields of batteries and advanced robots.

On the 20th, local time, KETI signed a business agreement in the battery field with the Czech Battery Cluster (CBC) and Brno University of Technology (BUT) in Prague, Czech Republic, and signed a total of two MoUs, including an agreement on joint cooperation in the field of advanced robotics with Prague Technical University (CTU), Czech Republic.

First, KETI will strengthen its battery technology alliance with the Czech Republic, the hub of the battery industry in Europe, by promoting technological cooperation in the battery field with the Korea Institute of Technology Evaluation and Planning (KEIT), the Czech Battery Cluster, and Brno University of Technology.

The Czech Battery Cluster is an association established in 2022 to promote cooperation between the public and private sectors in the Czech Republic in the field of secondary batteries, with 36 academia, industry, and research institutes participating, including Brno University of Technology and Skoda Electric.

Brno University of Technology is a public comprehensive university focusing on engineering. Since its establishment in 1899, it has been developing industrial technologies in the fields of AI, aerospace, materials engineering, micro and nanotechnology.

Going forward, the four organizations will focus on joint research and development that can enable mutual cooperation between the two countries in areas such as battery materials, manufacturing, and reuse, and plan to establish a battery center in the Czech Republic to realize cooperation in battery technology.

In the field of robotics, KETI is a member of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Planning and Evaluation and the Korea Robot Industry Advancement Institute (KI).RIA) and signed an MOU with Prague Technical University in the Czech Republic to establish an advanced robotics collaboration center.

Founded in 1707, Prague Technical University is one of the oldest universities in Central Europe, and possesses many core technologies in the field of robotics through independent research institutes under the university, such as CIIRC (Czech Institute for Informatics, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence) and CRAS (Research Center for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence).

The agreement institutions will open a local Korea-Czech Advanced Robotics Cooperation Center in the future and, based on this, conduct joint R&D in areas such as autonomous intelligent safety robots and autonomous manufacturing robots, where research institutes of both countries, including KETI and Prague Technical University of the Czech Republic, possess technological capabilities.

KETI and Prague University of Technology in the Czech Republic plan to discover new demands for cooperation not only in robotics but also in the semiconductor field, contributing to the strategic partnership between the two countries.

KETI President Shin Hee-dong said, “The Czech Republic has emerged as a production hub representing Europe in advanced manufacturing fields such as automobiles, semiconductors, and batteries.” He added, “KETI will continue to promote R&D cooperation with academia, industry, and research institutes leading Czech strategic industries and actively support promising domestic companies to enter the European battery and robotics markets.”