T he Global Materials Technology Forum & World Premier Materials Marketing Session brought together about 500 Koreans, foreign materials experts and industry people at KINTEX in Ilsan, north of Seoul, from Oct. 31-Nov. 1 to share technology development trends along with the latest research outcomes and to discuss joint future studies and commercialization.

Alan Hurd, a Franklin Fellow at the U.S. Department of State in the  Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary, delivered a keynote speech at the Global Materials Technology Forum on Oct. 31 in which he explained the United States’ diplomatic policies on S&T and stressed the importance of R&D collaboration among nations. 

Prof. Swee Hin Teoh of the Division of BioEngineering at the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering of Nanyang Technological University unveiled his studies on dental biomaterials, while Michael Guiver, a senior research officer at the National Research Council of Canada, introduced specialty polymer materials for membrane separation for fuel cells. 

Prof. Ton Broekhuis of the University of Groningen spoke about polymer premium ketone material, while Prof. Atsuo Yamada of Tokyo University touched on developments in lithium secondary battery materials.

The participants of the World Premium Materials Marketing Session discussed the technology development and trends of commercialization in the next-generation energy materials. They also talked about semiconductor materials, parts of the top 10 world premier materials Korea now develops through mutual collaboration among large and small companies. 

In the next-generation energy materials sector, Lee Jong-hyuk of Aekyung Petrochemical spoke about battery carbon for electric vehicles and silicon carbon composites, while Song Jun-ho of POSCO Chemtech touched on composite anode materials for high-capacity, high-efficiency lithium secondary batteries. Lee Moo-seok, a senior researcher at Kolon Research Institute, gave a lecture on the commercialization of fuel cells and membrane materials. 

In the semiconductor field, Oh Kwang-ung of KC spoke about a single crystal growth sapphire for producing aluminum, while Hwang Sung-jae of Iljin Diamond gave a lecture on the development of sapphire wafer PCB polishing slurry. 

Lee Ki-sub, President of the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT), said in an opening speech at the Global Materials Technology Forum, “If our materials industry evolves, it will lead to a boost in the competitive edge of both the conventional key industries, including automobiles, shipbuilding, machinery, and IT, and new growth engine industries, including bio, aerospace, and energy fields.

“Currently, KEIT is introducing Korea’s technology brand, dubbed as ‘K-tech,’ and the WPM project, which costs 1 trillion won for R&D, will produce Korea’s representative K-tech brand technologies.” 

Lee noted that large and small companies, universities, and research institutes need to promote closer collaboration for coexistence and co-prosperity by sharing advanced technology information and ramping up competitiveness in the global markets and to induce a shift of the synergetic effects in the advanced materials field into a virtuous cycle of the whole of all industries. 

President Lee said KEIT will redouble its efforts to promote international joint research for boosting the capacity of the Korean materials industry and to play as a bridge for collaboration between large and small companies. 

He added that these events coincided with the International Materials & Components Industry Show 2012 (IMAC 2012), serving as an opportunity to take a look at the technology developments of the Korean and foreign materials sectors with keen interest. 

IMAC 2012, held at KINTEX from Oct. 31-Nov. 2, attracted 400 exhibitors from Korea and abroad.

The exhibition, jointly sponsored and organized by the MKE, KEIT, and other organizations, also coincided with such side events as a materials and components prize ceremony, and consultation sessions among Korean and foreign com-panies.