Selection of 5 research teams total: 2 this year, 3 next year
Support of 9 billion won over 5 years per research team
Scientific challenges to be disclosed from March 16, solutions to be received


The Ministry of Science and Technology and Information and Communications announced on the 1st that it will promote the Scientific Challenge Convergence Research and Development Project.

The scientific challenge project continuously opens to the researcher community the process of identifying challenges to be tackled and developing specific approaches for resolving these challenges, and the composition of research teams combining basic scientists and engineers is conducted through public seminars and other means.

The Korean Academy of Science and Technology's Scientific Challenge Support Coordination Unit identified 9 candidate scientific challenge topics through planning research, surveys targeting the science and technology community, expert interviews, and public forums. Moving forward, a promotion committee will be organized with leading experts in each field, and beginning in the latter half of this year, the unit will proceed with the selection of scientific challenges and detailed project planning for selecting 2 convergence research teams to commence support.

The 9 candidate topics include ▲research on cancer treatment methods such as cancer recurrence prevention ▲research on augmenting and maintaining human sensory abilities through sensory and motor nerve simulation ▲convergence of basic research and engineering that has not been previously attempted, such as AI and big data combined with basic research and engineering replication of self-assembly ▲basic science and engineering research for technologies two generations ahead of the current generation, such as brain internet ▲research on the principles of life through immune regulation ▲elucidation of cosmic creation principles, centering on the discovery of new knowledge and opening new academic horizons rather than immediate applications.

The support unit plans to disclose concept summaries for each scientific challenge topic that describe the definition and necessity of challenges in the challenge field and example approaches through the Academy homepage beginning March 16. Interested researchers can submit statements of interest containing challenge ideas on the relevant topics to the support unit by March 31.

Based on the received statements of interest, the support unit will hold public seminars in April to develop customized implementation plans for each project that reflect the ideas and opinions of submitted researchers and the results of expert discussions. The 2 final selected research teams through project recruitment and convergence research team composition are scheduled to begin research from July. Three research teams are planned to be selected in the first half of 2021.