Leading domestic government-funded information and communication technology (ICT) research institutes and science and technology research-focused universities are joining forces in earnest to secure future technologies and globalize them.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 21st that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) containing details on joint research on 'New Frontier Technologies,' which are new growth engines for the future, mutual personnel exchange, and securing global capabilities.

The international economic order is undergoing rapid changes due to COVID-19. Digital technology is rapidly converging into daily life and industries, and the intensifying competition for technological hegemony between the U.S. and China underscores the importance of technological competitiveness. It is a critical time to secure international technological leadership and develop new growth engines and future technologies.

Through the signing of a business cooperation agreement, the two institutions plan to proceed with cooperation in the fields of science and technology education and research, including planning and promoting joint research to secure future technologies, utilizing professional personnel from both institutions and mutually exchanging knowledge and information, and making joint efforts to respond to global environmental changes and secure international technological leadership.

Both organizations plan to establish a continuous and effective cooperation system by operating a cooperation committee composed of representative members and forming three sub-divisions composed of expert steering committee members: future pioneering, personnel exchange, and globalization.

At the future technology exchange meeting held on the same day, experts from the collaborative research fields of both ETRI and KAIST attended to discover new future growth engine technologies, where presentations on future collaborative technologies and discussions on cooperation plans took place.

Specifically, the five research fields agreed upon for cooperation are: artificial brain 'brain simulation', human augmentation 'human capability enhancement', molecular computer 'regulation of cell signal processing', collective artificial intelligence 'implementation of artificial collective intelligence', and intelligent robotics 'development of autonomous robots'.

Joint research on the selected technologies is scheduled to begin in April of this year. ETRI is accelerating the progress of joint research by promoting joint exploration projects for future technologies and joint strategic projects through the support of joint research funding.

“As this is a collaboration between two organizations leading innovation in the domestic science and technology sector, it will serve as a pivotal point that leads the development of core technologies for the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and contributes to national intelligence.” "To this end, we will strive to establish an effective cooperation system with KAIST," he said.

KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung stated, “In the midst of a rapidly changing international economic order, it is urgent to secure technological leadership and new growth engines, such as new frontier technologies. Through this business cooperation, we expect to take a step closer to preempting future technologies through effective R&D collaboration between the two institutions.”

Moving forward, ETRI and KAIST plan to lay the foundation for institutional development by establishing an effective R&D cooperation system that includes the utilization of specialized personnel and knowledge exchange. Starting with this agreement, the ultimate goal is to gradually expand the scope of cooperation to establish a mutually beneficial cooperative system within the Daedeok Research Complex.