UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) has established a strategic partnership with the UAE's largest state-owned oil company and is moving forward to pioneer the global digital carbon-neutrality market. The strategy is to lead the global carbon-neutral era by jointly developing AI-based decarbonization optimization systems for large-scale refining and petrochemical processes.

UNIST announced that it has signed a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with the ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) Group at the Abu Dhabi Energy Center in the UAE to lead the global digital carbon-neutrality market.

At the signing ceremony, UNIST President Lee Yong-hoon, Sophie Hildebrand, CTO of the ADNOC Group, and Omar Al Marzooqi, CEO of AIQ, an AI-specialized subsidiary of ADNOC, jointly signed the agreement.

According to the agreement, UNIST and the ADNOC Group will launch two digital carbon-neutrality flagship projects from the second half of this year, and plan to establish a joint digital carbon-neutrality research center by the end of this year.

The flagship projects are "Development of Artificial Intelligence for Multi-stage Continuous Process Optimization of Liquid Chemical Products in Refining and Petrochemical Plants" and "Development of Environmental Monitoring System Using Artificial Intelligence and Satellite Imagery."

Upon the establishment of the joint research center, the plan is to pursue three joint projects including "Development of Optimized Refining Processes Using AI," "Development of Decarbonization and Sustainable Refining Processes," and "Construction of Eco-friendly Hydrogen Industry Models."

The two institutions also agreed to actively cooperate in establishing a national-level "Digital Carbon-Neutrality Strategic Partnership" involving central and local governments, research institutions, and private enterprises from both Korea and the UAE.

To this end, the ADNOC Group delegation has agreed to visit UNIST and Ulsan City in the second half of this year to discuss specific joint cooperation measures.

The plan is to discuss ways to host a "Global Digital Carbon-Neutrality" event co-hosted by ADNOC, UNIST, and Ulsan City at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-28) to be held in Dubai, UAE at the end of November.

Both parties also agreed to work together to expand government-level cooperation, including from the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Previously, UNIST visited the UAE in March alongside Ulsan Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom and other Ulsan delegations, discussing with ADNOC ways to establish strategic cooperation in digital carbon-neutrality. The concrete results include launching flagship projects through this SCA agreement, establishing joint research centers, and hosting joint events at COP-28.

UNIST President Lee Yong-hoon said, "Through this agreement, UNIST has established its position as a leading institution in the global digital carbon-neutrality field. With ADNOC's return visit in the second half of this year, we will make efforts to serve as a catalyst for expanding strategic cooperation between Korea and the UAE in the digital carbon-neutrality field."

UNIST opened the Carbon Neutrality Graduate School in 2022 and has been leading research in the digital carbon-neutrality field by cooperating with the Graduate School of Artificial Intelligence, which opened in 2020. Since the second half of 2022, UNIST has been promoting cooperation with the UAE in the global digital carbon-neutrality field.

The ADNOC Group, which signed the agreement with UNIST, is headed by Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology as its chief executive officer. Minister Al Jaber also serves as the President of COP-28. ADNOC is leading climate change response policies by allocating $15 billion (approximately 20 trillion won) as a low-carbon growth budget last year and establishing a related organization, the "Low-Carbon International Growth Division."