Bang Seung-chan, the newly appointed president of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), stated in his inaugural address that he would play the role of a technological pioneer in creating a happy future world.

ETRI announced that it held the inauguration ceremony for its 10th president, Bang Seung-chan, at the main auditorium of Building 7 on the 14th.

In his inaugural address, ETRI President Bang Seung-chan stated, “I will strive to secure core source technologies and component technologies for new growth engine ICT and convergence strategic technologies, enhance the likelihood of successful industrialization, revitalize startups, and expand international standard patents.” He added, “Along with playing the role of a technology pioneer in creating a happy future world, I will also focus on technological innovation for the nation’s core growth engines and ESG management innovation, a recent hot topic, to help ETRI be reborn as a global research institute.”

Director Bang cited the expansion of strategic/source technologies and creative challenge projects, as well as the discovery of international standard technologies and the achievement of industrialization to pursue the highest quality of research results, as measures to secure technological innovation as a growth engine.

In addition, it was explained that to achieve ESG management innovation, key initiatives would be pursued, including organizational innovation to foster a passionate and creative research environment, expansion of technologies for solving social problems through convergence with other industries, management of a win-win structure among industry, academia, and research institutes, activation of startups, and expansion of convergence research with local universities and companies.

ETRI President Bang Seung-chan was born in 1962, graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Seoul National University in 1984, and received a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the same university in 1986.He completed his doctorate in electronic engineering at the same university in 1994.

Director Bang began his career as a principal researcher at Goldstar’s Central Research Institute, then served as a senior researcher at Digicom’s Information and Communication Research Institute. Since joining ETRI in 1994, he has held positions such as Head of the Wireless Transmission Technology Research Group, Head of the Wireless Communication Research Department, Head of the Future Technology Research Division, and Director of the Communication and Media Research Institute.

In terms of external activities, he serves as Co-Chair of the Satellite Communications Forum and Co-Chair of the 5G Forum, Vice President of the Korea Institute of Communication Sciences, and Vice President of the Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science.

In addition, he served as the Chairman of the SDN/NFV Forum Steering Committee, an adjunct professor at Chungnam National University, and the Korean Chairman of the TTA-TIA JSG.

In addition, Director Bang received the Minister of Information and Communication Award in 1998 for his contributions to IMT 2000 technology development and the Prime Minister's Commendation in 2006 for his contributions to mobile communication technology development.

In addition, last year, he received the Haedong Technology Award from the Korean Institute of Communication Sciences for his pivotal role in mobile communication technology development and his contribution to leading 6G communication technology.

In 2014, he also received the Presidential Award of the 'Korea Engineering Award' in recognition of his contributions to the development of standards and system technologies for digital mobile communication systems (CDMA), broadband code division multiple access (WCDMA), 4G LTE mobile communication, and 5G millimeter wave mobile communication.