AmBex
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Dr. Bong-Joon Jung Elected as Interim President of KAIST U.S. Alumni Association
On April 29th, 2024, the Office of Global Initiative at KAIST, led by Vice President Man-Sung Yim, successfully conducted the election for the interim president of the KAIST U.S. Alumni Association. The authority to organize and operate the election was delegated by the KAIST U.S. Alumni Interim President Selection Committee Foundation, consisting of Je Woo Kim, Director of KAIST U.S. Foundation; Terri Kim, Director of KAIST U.S. Foundation; and Myungjin Yim, President of the KAIST Silicon Valley Alumni Association.
The election was announced during the KAIST Online U.S. Alumni Event held on December 8th, 2023, with the aim of establishing interim executive principles for six months and ultimately forming the official executive body of the KAIST U.S. Alumni Association.
The election was conducted according to the requirements set by the KAIST U.S. Alumni Interim President Selection Committee Foundation, which stated that "if there is a single candidate, they will be elected if they receive more than half of the votes from participating voters." The voting period lasted from April 13th (Monday) to April 24th (Friday) and was specifically directed towards KAIST alumni living in the Americas.
All 50 eligible voters participated in the election, unanimously supporting Dr. Bong-Joon Jung (Ph.D., admitted in 1993, Department of Electrical Engineering) with a 100% approval rate as the interim president of the KAIST U.S. Alumni Association. Dr. Bong-Joon Jung currently serves as the Senior Technology Analyst and Partner at Ambex Venture Group and previously served as the President of the KAIST Silicon Valley Alumni Association. Dr. Jung expressed his intention to strengthen connections with KAIST alumni in the United States and contribute to the establishment of the U.S. alumni association as the interim president.
< Photo. Newly elected president of interim KAIST U.S. Alumni Association, Dr. Bong-Joon Jung. >
Man-Sung Yim, Vice President of the International Office, congratulated Dr. Bong-Joon Jung on his election and pledged continuous support for the activities of the interim KAIST U.S. Alumni Association, led by alumni. He stated, "The election of the interim president of the KAIST U.S. Alumni Association marks the beginning of active engagement not only from alumni associations in various regions but also from alumni across the Americas, reflecting sustained interest in their alma mater."
2024.04.29 View 1753 -
The 1st Global Entrepreneurship Summer Camp bridges KAIST and Silicon Valley, US
Twenty KAIST students gave a go at selling their business ideas to investors at Silicon Valley on the “Pitch Day” at 2022 Global Entrepreneurship Summer Camp.
From Tuesday, June 21 to Monday, July 4, 2022, KAIST held the first Global Entrepreneurship Summer Camp (GESC).
The 2022 GESC, which was organized in collaboration with Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), KOTRA Silicon Valley IT Center, and KAIST Alumni at Silicon Valley, was a pilot program that offered opportunities of experiencing and learning about the cases of startup companies in Silicon Valley and a chance to expand businesses to Silicon Valley through networking.
Twenty KAIST students, including pre-startup entrepreneurs and students interested in global entrepreneurship with less than one year of business experience were selected. The first week of the program was organized by Startup KAIST while the second week program was organized by the Center for Global Strategies and Planning (GSP) at KAIST in collaboration with the Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP), KAIST Alumni at Silicon Valley, and KOTRA at Silicon Valley.
Dr. Mo-Yun Lei Fong, the Executive Director of STVP, said, “The program offered an opportunity for us to realize our vision of empowering aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovation. By collaborating with KAIST and offering entrepreneurial insights to Korean students, we are able to have a positive impact on a global scale.” Mo added, “The program also enabled STVP to build bridges, learn from the students, and refine our culturally relevant curriculum by understanding Korean culture and ideas.”
On the “Pitch Day” on July 1, following a special talk by Dr. Chong-Moon Lee, the Chairman of AmBex Venture Partners, the students presented their team business ideas such as an AI-assisted, noise-canceling pillow devised for better sleep, a metaverse dating application, an XR virtual conferencing system, and an AI language tutoring application to the entice global investors’ curiosity. The invited investors, majorly based in Silicon Valley, commented that all the presentation was very exciting, and the level of pitches was beyond the expectation considering that the students have given only two weeks.
Ms. Seunghee Lee of the team “Bored KAIST Yacht Club”, which was awarded the first prize, explained, “our item, called ‘Meta-Everland’, is a service that offers real-time dating experiences similar to off-line dates. The GESC taught me that anybody can launch a startup as long as they are willing. Developing a business model from ideation and taking it to the actual pitching was challenging, but it was a very thrilling experience at the same time.” Lee added, “Most importantly, over the course of the program and the final pitch, I found out that an interesting idea can attract investors interest even at a very early stage of the launching.”
Mr. Byunghoon Hwang, a student who attended the program said, “Having learned the thoughts and attitudes the people at the front line of Silicon Valley, my views on career and launching of a start-up have been expanded a lot.”
Ms. Marina Mondragon, another attendee at the program, also said that the program was very meaningful because she was able to learn the difference between the ecosystem for the new start-up businesses at Korea and at Silicon Valley through her talks with the CEOs at Silicon Valley.
The program was co-organized by the Center for Global Strategies and Planning at KAIST International Office and Startup of KAIST. Dr. Man-Sung Yim, the Associate Vice President for KAIST International Office, who guided students in Silicon Valley, said, “I believe the GESC program broadened the views and entrepreneurial mindset of students. After joining this program, students stepped forward to become a founder of startups.” In addition, Dr. Young-Tae Kim, the Associate Vice President of the Institute for Startup KAIST, addressed “Startup KAIST will support business items founded via the program through various other programs in order to enhance their competitiveness in the global market.”
The GSP and Startup KAIST will continuously revamp the program by selecting distinguished fellows to join the program and coming up with innovative startup items.
Profile:
Sooa Lee, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
slee900@kaist.ac.kr
Center for Global Strategies and Planning
Office of Global Initiatives
KAIST International Office
https://io.kaist.ac.kr
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)Daejeon, Republic of Korea
2022.07.05 View 8801 -
KAIST to Open Liaison Office in Silicon Valley
KAIST will open a liaison office in Silicon Valley, California, within the first half of this year to serve as a beachhead of its operations in the United States, university authorities announced Monday.
The opening of "KAIST America" office will be financially supported by the Silicon Valley-based Ambex Venture Group. The liaison office will be located at the first floor of the AmBex building in Sunnyvale.
The liaison office will be responsible for overseeing joint research between KAIST and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and KAIST"s other cooperative projects in research and development with enterprises and universities in Silicon Valley. It will also be engaged in forming a network among KAIST alumni members in the United States, raising funds within the U.S. and managing the money. The office will arrange KAIST students" internship in the companies in Silicon Valley.
"KAIST America is part of the globalization strategies that KAIST has pursued consistently. It is aimed at helping set up venture firms based on the technologies that KAIST has developed so far and generating funds needed for further development of the university," said Sun-Heung Jang, KAIST vice president.
AmBex, a venture capital company that invests in information technology, health science and financial service firms, was founded by Jong-Moon Lee, a member of Presidents" Advisory Council at KAIST. The AmBex building is situated near Stanford University, University of California in Berkeley, Google and Yahoo.
KAIST President Nam Pyo Suh will invite Stanford and UC Berkeley professors, executives of Silicon Valley enterprises and KAIST alumni in the area to the opening ceremony of the liaison office to be held some time in the first half of this year.
2008.03.25 View 12477 -
KAIST Chong-Moon Lee Library Opens
KAIST Chong-Moon Lee Library Opens
Jong-Moon Lee Library, management education library for scientists possessing the biggest amount of entrepreneurship data in Asia, opens in KAIST (President Nam-Pyo Suh) on Thursday, November 9, 2006.
Jong-Moon Lee Library was planned when Jong-Moon Lee, Chairman of AmBex, donated 2 million dollar to KAIST and founded Entrepreneurship Research Center at KAIST in 2004. Chairman Lee emphasized on the necessity of management education for scientists of advanced technology-based venture companies and set the management plan for Jong-Moon Lee Library securing the biggest amount of Entrepreneurship data in Asia.
Jong-Moon Lee Library possesses books for inspiring entrepreneurship, including ▲ books regarding how to prepare and evaluate business plans that support the realization of business ideas such as venture company founding, etc. ▲ administrative books necessary for company management such as leadership and finance, accounting, etc. ▲ economic books that foster reader’s insight over economy and society. The number of books is about 4,900 and various journals including Harvard Business Review are also provided.
KAIST Entrepreneurship Research Center (President Tae-Yong Yang) is now carrying out ▲ the management of entrepreneurship library for Engineering students and businessmen ▲ programs for entrepreneurship education and venture-company founding ▲aid for business plan forums and academic conferences. It benchmarks Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP) of Stanford University, which is evaluated the most excellent program in researches and realization of entrepreneurship, and manages education programs for scientific manpower with international managing minds on the basis of world’s best capabilities in scientific researches and education of KAIST.
President Yang explained about the management plan by saying, “Following Chairman Jong-Moon Lee’s intention, the center will educate entrepreneurship to engineering students and properly diagnose initial values of excellent technologies, thereby making venture companies flourish.”
2006.11.16 View 14617 -
Professor Kim Donates W5 Bil. to KAIST
Korea Times 2004.5.21
By Kim Tae-gyu / Staff Reporter
A professor from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has donated his inherited wealth of 5 billion won to the state-owned institute.
The KAIST announced professor Kim Dong-won contributed 5 billion won in properties and cash, which he inherited from his father, who passed away late last year.
``Professor Kim has asked us to spend the contribution in the development of Korea’s science in accordance with the late Kim’s will,’’ said Park Jae-wook, a KAIST spokesman.
Park added Kim had tried to remain anonymous, but his identity was revealed by some local newspapers. Kim is currently in the United States as he is out of his post on an interim basis and will come back to Korea in August.
Four billion won of the donation will be used to set up scholarships, which will endow 20 million won each to 10 KAIST students every year. The remaining 1 billion won will help invite illustrious scholars to the institute.
Adding to the good news for KAIST, Lee Chong-moon, chairman of the U.S.-based venture company Ambex, has also donated 2 billion won.
The 76-year-old Lee called for the KAIST to inspire a sprit among students by establishing a management center named after him.
2004.05.21 View 15883