The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM, President Park Sang-jin), under the Ministry of Science and ICT, has selected six foreign researchers with research backgrounds as KIMM Ambassadors, injecting vitality into global research collaboration that has been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 21st, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) will hold an online appointment ceremony and kick-off meeting for its KIMM Ambassadors. Reflecting the government's New Northern and New Southern policies, the institute will identify local joint research needs and develop customized collaborative research networks.

KIMM Ambassadors are six individuals, including three from Vietnam, one from India, one from China, and one from Bangladesh, who have gained research experience at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials and returned to their home countries to serve as bridges between research institutions and networks.

KIMM Ambassadors will not only promote the research achievements of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials to local communities in each country, but will also cooperate in finding suitable local locations for domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To this end, we plan to identify the technology needs of local research institutes and hold online mechanical technology seminars by field.

In addition, based on the cooperative network established through KIMM Ambassadors, we will pursue multifaceted cooperation, from discovering international cooperation projects that reflect local needs to promoting ODA (Official Development Assistance) support projects.

Dr. Bui Ba Chinh, who was recently appointed as a KIMM Ambassador, said, “While conducting research at KIMM, I was able to learn and gain a lot of experience in a wide range of processes in which research results go beyond the laboratory to new tasks and even apply to industrial sites.” He added, “I will work hard to become a link between KIMM researchers and Vietnamese SMEs and help industrialize KIMM research results and develop Vietnamese SMEs.”

Dr. Bui Ba Chinh received his Ph.D. and completed his postdoctoral research at the Ultra-Precision Equipment Laboratory of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials as a student at UST from 2008 to 2015. He returned to Vietnam and is currently the Director of the National Numbering and Barcodes Center in Vietnam.

Park Sang-jin, President of KIMM, said, “The KIMM Ambassador program will provide a new opportunity for foreign researchers from KIMM to pursue much-needed customized collaboration based on a high level of mutual understanding,” adding, “I expect that global research collaboration, which has slowed down for a while due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be able to proceed smoothly again with the appointment of KIMM Ambassadors.”