The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM, President Ryu Seok-hyun, hereinafter referred to as KIMM), under the National Research Council of Science and Technology, selected Lee Taek-min, a senior researcher at the Secondary Battery Equipment Laboratory of the Nano Convergence Research Center, as the recipient of this year's Best Researcher Award at its 49th anniversary ceremony.

The award-winning technology is the 'Multi-AI Agent Digital Twin-Based Autonomous Manufacturing Technology', an innovative autonomous manufacturing system that integrates AI and digital twins into the secondary battery electrode manufacturing process, enabling equipment to predict and diagnose its status and optimize operating conditions.

This technology involves data acquisition, preprocessing, modeling, service, and orchestration AI agents that work together to analyze process and equipment status in real time and automatically adjust controls.

This significantly improves manufacturing efficiency, yield, and quality consistency, and establishes an AI autonomous manufacturing platform that can be expanded to the entire factory in the future.

“A system in which AI agents replace expert judgment and control is rapidly becoming a reality,” said Senior Researcher Lee Taek-min. “This will serve as the foundation for accelerating the transition to autonomous manufacturing not only in secondary batteries but also across the nation’s strategic manufacturing industries.”

The ceremony was held as an opportunity for all members of the research institute to reflect on the achievements of 2025 and pledge to make a leap forward in 2026.

In addition to the Best Research Award, which recognizes the highest achievements in research, the event also presented the Best Administration Award (to Senior Administrative Officer Jeong Ga-seop) for his contributions to administrative operations, the KIMM Public Relations Award (to Senior Researcher Lee Dae-hoon) for his contributions to promoting research results, the Grand Prize in the Startup Competition for discovering startup ideas (to Senior Researcher Park Seung-cheol), and the Basic Project Excellence Research Award, which encourages the achievements of basic projects (to Senior Researcher Jeong Yeong-do). Furthermore, in the pioneering research field, Senior Researchers Kim Su-cheol, Yoon Hong-sik, and Jeon Su-wan were honored for their outstanding achievements.

After the event, various programs were held to promote unity among members, including the 'KIMM Mask Song Festival'.

In his commemorative speech, President Ryu Seok-hyun emphasized, “Based on the technological capabilities and traditions accumulated over the past 49 years, we must use the upcoming 50th anniversary as a turning point for our leap forward as a global research institute,” and “We must actively create new opportunities through AI/DX innovation, technology commercialization, and dissemination of research results.”