KAIST

Good evening.
Distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to extend my sincere welcome to all the attendees of the KAIST-THE Innovation & Impact Summit. Thank you all for joining us tonight.

Joining us for this summit are about 300 participants from 115 institutions and 35 countries. Thank you to those who made the long trip to Daejeon from around the world.

This is the first time that Hankook Tire has approved any external event at this beautiful Technodome. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Hankook Tire CTO Bon Hee Ku, and hope everyone here will enjoy this privilege.

KAIST decided to host this summit partnering with THE last year. Since then, the organizing team has worked so hard to make this summit possible. Thank you to both the KAIST and THE teams including CEO Trevor Barratt.

The significance of this summit lies in reflecting on the importance of university innovation and its impact in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It will give us the opportunity to re-define a shared vision for the future and solutions for global growth.

KAIST is a shining example of how the innovation and excellence of a university can have a tremendous impact on national development and beyond.

During the campus tour this afternoon, you saw our facilities. Truth to be told, the present conditions of KAIST and Korea were not thought possible just half a century ago.

In the 1950s, the country was left totally ravaged by the Korean War as seen in this slide. General MacArthur, the commander of the UN Forces, said, “It will take at least 100 years to rebuild this country.”

In the 1960s, Korea was still one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita GDP less than 100 US dollars. Our future seemed hopeless.

But a half-century later, Korea witnessed the Miracle on the Han River, and joined the ranks of the world’s top 10 economies.

Korea is the only country in the world that achieved industrialization, democratization, informatization, and globalization in half a century. It is also the only nation to transform from an aid recipient to a donor, and the seventh country to join the 30-50 club of independent nations.

During that half century, Korea’s GDP increased 739 times, exports 10,700 times, and per capita GDP 377 times. It is ranked 12th in the world for SCI papers, and 4th in terms of US patents.

Now, the question is “What enabled Korea to achieve this phenomenal growth in such a short period?”

I would like to mention three driving factors.

First, we had leaders with a vision. With a keen eye for the future, they proposed clear directions Korea should move forward in socioeconomic sectors.

Second, Korea pursued national growth through innovative strategies based on science and technology. Since 1962, Korea implemented seven different 5-year economic development plans driven by advancement in science and technology.

Last but not least, there was the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, KAIST. With its establishment in 1971, KAIST accelerated the industrialization of Korea by fostering talents in science and technology and alleviating brain drain, a severe problem at that time.

The Terman Report, which served as the basis for founding KAIST, declared an ambitious vision stating that “KAIST will, by 2000, be a great institute of technology with an international reputation. Even more important, KAIST will have enhanced the self-confidence of Koreans.”

Most of the goals we set have been fulfilled, and KAIST has grown into a world-class university in just half a century.

It is very hard to find a university founded on an international loan that has had as much success as KAIST.

USAID which offered a six-million US dollar loan to KAIST 50 years ago, stated that “KAIST provides an example of how Korea, once a recipient of international aid, has become a leader of science and technology innovation.”

Many people say that if not for KAIST, Korea would not exist as it is today.

Many developing countries are benchmarking KAIST as their role model. The Kenyan government recognized KAIST as the driving force behind Korea’s astonishing growth, and has authorized to establish Kenya-KAIST under Kenya Vision 2030, its roadmap for national economic development.

KAIST is the first Korean university that will provide a turnkey-based consultancy including educational and architectural design and construction in a foreign country.

We had a kickoff ceremony in Nairobi in February. It demonstrates a shining example of university innovation and impact at the national level moving forward to a global one.

The era of globalization 4.0 calls for international collaboration to make sure that developing countries benefit from globalization and achieve inclusive and sustainable growth in the region. I hope this virtuous circle will carry on with the success of Kenya-KAIST.

Once again, I welcome everyone attending the KAIST-THE Innovation & Impact Summit. I’ll play two roles during the summit. One is CEO, Chief Entertaining Officer and the other is CSO, Chief Solving Officer.

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening!

Thank you very much.

April 2, 2019

Sung-Chul Shin
President of KAIST