KAIST to share core tech with companies

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) will transfer four cutting-edge technologies related to materials, parts and equipment to domestic companies to help them better cope with Japan’s export curbs, the university said Wednesday.

The university will hold a briefing session, dubbed the KAIST Core Tech Transfer Day, on those technologies at COEX in Seoul, Sept. 17. It will bring together nine professors of the university and 200 businesspeople and investors.

KAIST, which has held such an event annually since 2017, said this year’s session will focus on items that rely heavily on Japanese imports, such as colorless polyimides, photoresists and electrode materials for secondary batteries.

The move comes as Japan’s Aug. 2 decision to remove Korea from its “whitelist” of trusted trading partners went into effect Aug. 28.

“KAIST is working to support companies’ efforts to localize materials and parts and to overcome the crisis,” said Choi Kyung-cheol, who heads the KAIST Office of University-Industry Cooperation.

On Aug. 5, the university launched KAIST Advisors on Materials and Parts (KAMP), an advisory group to provide consulting services to domestic firms affected by Japan’s export regulations.

The group is comprised of former and current professors of the school. It aims to provide technical advice related to the 159 industrial materials that companies are heavily reliant on from Japanese makers.