ETRI was selected as an outstanding institution for creating standard patents and received a commendation from the Head of the Intellectual Property Office. Leading international standards in strategic technology fields such as AI and telecommunications… Achieving 100 billion won in technology royalties

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) was selected as a '2025 Excellent Institution for Standard Patent Creation' in recognition of its achievements in creating international standard patents and received a commendation from the Minister of Intellectual Property. The award was announced at the 'Global ICT Standard Conference (GISC)' held at the L Tower in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, on November 3.

ETRI has secured more than 1,250 international standard patents to date and, based on these, has joined 16 patent pools to engage in active technology transfer and licensing activities. In particular, royalty revenue based on standard patents secured over the past three years amounts to approximately 100 billion won, most of which is generated from overseas companies, contributing to the improvement of Korea's intellectual property trade balance.

Of the 173 standard patents secured over the past three years, 95 are concentrated in national strategic technology fields such as next-generation communication, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced robotics and manufacturing, mobility, and quantum technology. This is evaluated as a strategic achievement aimed at leading international standards in key industries where competition for technological hegemony is fierce.

ETRI supports the creation of standard patents by establishing an IP-R&D system in which patent experts participate alongside researchers from the early stages of research and development. In cooperation with the Ministry of Intellectual Property and Trademark Office and the Korea Institute of Patent Strategy and Development (KISTA), it has carried out a total of 46 projects under the 'Standard Patent Strategy Establishment Support Project' over the past three years. Additionally, through the 'Standard Patent Utilization Support Project,' it has expanded its share within the patent pool by promoting the verification of essential patents for key standard technologies, such as video and audio codecs and mobile communications.

As a result of these efforts, ETRI ranked 3rd out of 47 organizations in the VVC patent pool for licensing next-generation video codecs, and achieved the world's 1st place in international standard patents in the AI field.

In addition, ETRI operates the 'ETRI IP Research Group' utilizing the Ministry of Intellectual Property's Public IP Commercialization Self-Reliance Support Project, and shared know-how on the creation and utilization of standard patents with 22 universities in 2024 and 24 universities and public research institutions in 2025. Through this, it is strengthening the intellectual property capabilities of domestic research institutions and expanding the foundation of national standardization competitiveness.

ETRI President Bang Seung-chan stated, “This award is the result of official recognition for our consistent efforts to secure competitiveness in international standard patents in the field of national strategic technologies,” adding, “We will continue to contribute to strengthening Korea’s intellectual property competitiveness by expanding the technology innovation ecosystem.”