President Chung Jae-hoon has been named to serve another year as head of the Korea Institute of Advancement of Technology (KIAT) from Nov. 2. His first three-year term as head of the institute expired on Nov. 1.
Chairman Chung said he feels a heavier sense of responsibility after he was named to serve another year as head of KIAT, and he will continue to work as he did in the past three years, which was to make KIAT work closely with jobsites, including getting their feedback, so that KIAT can contribute more to national development.
“I can only do my best,” he said.
The chairman served in the industrial technology sector of the now-defunct Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources for over 26 years, holding various positions, the highest being Assistant Minister in charge of the Industrial Economy Office. He was known as the “officer for jobsite communication” due to his frequent visits to jobsites around the country.
While running KIAT for the past three years, Chung won fame for his contributions to boosting KIAT as a representative platform for industrial technology in Korea. He also set up a corporate support service, “KIAT Friend Company,” kicked off the Industry and Academy Research Network Forum and established the Technology Commercialization Council for an effective connection strategy among policy suppliers and policy consumers.
He also had a hand in the establishment of a base for KIAT to provide its full jobsite-based support to business firms.
Korea, France Cooperate on R&D Projects
Korea and France completed a bilateral call for joint R&D project outlines, focusing on developing innovative products and applications in market-oriented technological and application areas. Applicants are expected to develop ready to market solutions or projects, which have significant market potential for the two nations.
The call for joint R&D project outlines was announced on Feb. 18, 2016 by KIAT and Bpifrance, and was open until March 31, 2016 for the first half of the year; and Aug 31, 2016, for the second half. The initiative was in line with the EUREKA and Eurostars programs. Eligible partners were invited to present joint project outlines for industrial R&D projects according to certain criteria.
The initiative was within the framework of the “Declaration of Intent” on a call for proposals among the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology and France’s public investment bank Bpifrance.
Korea and France are members of the EUREKA initiative and support innovation projects through the different EUREKA instruments, namely the EUREKA Network projects, Eurostars and Eureka Clusters.
KIAT and Bpifrance will provide access to public funding for joint projects. They will also provide all necessary and coordinated assistance to project partners during project proposal, evaluation and monitoring phase.
The criteria was as follows:
KIAT funding: The Korean dedicated budget provided by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and managed by KIAT is open to all applications from companies with registered R&D laboratories, research institutes and universities. The partners should consist of least one Korean R&D performing commercial company. Participation of research institutes or universities is welcome as additional participants or subcontractors according to each country’s funding regulations.
Project funding is comprised of government contributions and civilian dues (cash and in-kind). The amount of government contributions will vary depending on the type of executing organizations and project in accordance with Article 24 (Funding criteria) and Article 25 (Civilian dues) of the Common Operational Regulations for the Industrial Technology Innovation Programs. A party that participates in a project shall carry out its project using the government contributions allocated to it, and for-profit organizations shall individual bear the cash portion of civilian dues.
_KIAT 정재훈.jpg)
