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KAIST Alumni Take a Strong Hold on Tech-Based Startups
Average sales for KAIST alumni startups in 2015 doubled from the previous year to 20.7 billion KRW. They reportedly recorded approximately 37-times higher sales than non-KAIST alumni startups, demonstrating that KAIST is emerging as strong tech-based venture startup incubator.
According to a white paper on the Profile and Performance of KAIST Startups released recently, the number of KAIST startups stood 1,112, of which 877 were founded by alumni (78.9%), 36 by faculty and staff (3.2%), and 199 by those funded by the KAIST Technology Business Incubation Center (17.9%) at the end of 2015.
The total sales of KAIST startups stood at 13.6 trillion KRW in 2015, a 25% increase compared to the previous year. KAIST alumni startups created about 32,400 jobs in that year.
Most KAIST founders majored in engineering (649 people, 71.1%), followed by business (121 people, 13.3%), natural sciences (86, 9.4%), life science and bio engineering (32 people, 3.5%), and liberal arts and convergence science (24 people, 2.6%), making a total of 913 founders, excluding the 199 startups funded by KAIST Technology Business Incubation Center.
By department, most founders come from electrical engineering (148 people, 16.2%), followed by mechanical engineering (135 people, 14.8%), and computer science (114 people, 12.5%).
KAIST startups produced 63 listed companies (1 KOSPI, 51 KOSDAQ, and 11 KONEX), which accounted for 5.7% of the total 1112 startups. This is significantly higher than the average for venture companies (1.1%). It should be noted that the rate is only around 10% for Korean conglomerate-affiliated companies.
At the point of startup establishment, KAIST alumni startup founders were mostly in their 40s (430 people, 40%), followed by their 30s (415 people, 38.6%), 20s (110 people, 10.2%) and 50s (110 people, 10.2%). Around half of the founders were in their 20s and 30s. In particular, the number of founders in their 20s and 30s was around 3.5 times higher in KAIST startups compared to general startups and 1.2 times higher than venture startups.
The average lifespan of KAIST startups is 10.3 years; 276 companies (25%) were established over 16 years ago, 282 companies (25.4%) between 6 and 10 years, 246 companies (22.1%) between 11 and 15 years, and 308 companies (27.7%) less than five years ago. By type of business, startups based on technology accounted for 88.1%; 510 manufacturing companies accounted for 46.2%, followed by 321 information service companies with 29.1%, and 147 science and technology service companies with 13.3%.
By region, 617 companies (55.5%) were located in Seoul and the nearby metropolitan area, followed by 350 companies (31.5%) located in Daejeon.
2017.05.30 View 5697 -
2017 ICISTS Conference 'Draw the Web: Interactions in Society'
The KAIST undergraduate organization, ICISTS (International Conference for Integration of Science, Technology and Society) will convene its annual conference from July 31 to Aug. 4 at the KAIST Daejeon Campus. This year’s theme is “Draw the Web: Interactions in Society.” More than 300 participants from 60 universities in 20 countries will participate in the international conference hosted and planned by the student organization.
Speakers at the 2017 conference include leaders in technology, business, investment, and entrepreneurship, and many others highlighted by Christoffer O. Hernæs, chief digital officer of Skandiabanken and vice president of strategy and innovation at Sparebank; Vincent C. Müller, professor of the philosophy division of humanities & social sciences at Anatolia College; Nigel Parker, director of developer and platform evangelism at Microsoft APAC; and Jon Gosier, founder and CEO of WoundedMetrics, who was voted as one of the 25 most influential African-Americans in technology by Business Insider in 2013 and 2014.
ICISTS has organized and hosted this event, the largest academic conference hosted and organized by students in Asia, since 2005 as a way to discuss an incredibly challenging issue: how science and technology is being integrated into society. This year’s conference will explore how prominent technological advancements are integrated, and how the interactions between humanity and technology will affect society. This year’s sub-theme is “Settlement, Movement, and Inequality.”
In addition to the main session, ICISTS is preparing discussion sessions in which guest speakers and participants will divide into small groups to discuss their responses to the themes. Various additional events including a culture night and an excursion program will serve as opportunities to network with other participants. For more information on the program and how to register, please visit http://www.icist.org.
2017.05.22 View 7121 -
KAIST Ph.D. Candidate Wins the Next Generation of Engineers Award
Joo-Sung Kim, a doctoral student at the EEWS (Environment, Energy, Water and Sustainability) Graduate School won the inaugural Next Generation of Engineers Award in Leadership on December 14, 2016.
The National Academy of Engineering of Korea hosts this award to support creative and ambitious students who have the potential to become leaders in engineering and who will serve as role models for future Korean engineers. Based on the recommendations of university professors in engineering and members of the academy, seven students are selected for the award in the categories of leadership and entrepreneurship.
With his research focus on the development of high-performance, next-generation secondary cells for wearable devices such as smart watches, health bands, and smart eyewear, Joo-Sung created a startup, Lithium-ion Battery Energy Science and Technology (LiBEST), Inc. He plans to base his company at the Office of University and Industry Cooperation, KAIST, where he can receive assistance for launching the mass-production system for his technology.
His adviser, Professor Jang-Wook Choi of the EEWS Graduate School, noted, “Joo-Sung has been a great student who has a strong sense of curiosity and perseverance. The award is the by-product of his hard work.”
“I have always enjoyed my work and study as a researcher, but eventually would like to expand my career into business based on the results of my research. It would be wonderful if I could become a businessman like Elon Musk, Masayoshi Son, or Ma Yun and create a role model for aspiring engineers in Korea by combining science and technology with business demand to create social values that benefit many people,” Joo-Young said.
2016.12.26 View 8852 -
EEWS Graduate School Team Receives the S-Oil Best Paper Award
Professor Hyungjun Kim and Dr. He-Young Shin from the EEWS (Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability) Graduate School at KAIST received the Best Paper Award in Chemistry from S-Oil, a Korean petroleum and refinery company, on November 29, 2016.
Established in 2011, the S-Oil Best Paper Awards are bestowed annually upon ten young scientists in the fields of five basic sciences: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science. The scientists are selected at the recommendation of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology and the Association of Korean Universities. The awards grant a total of USD 230,000 for research funding.
Dr. Shin, the lead author of the awarded research paper, said, “My research interest has been catalyst studies based on theoretical chemistry. I am pleased to accept this award that will support my studies, and will continue to research catalyst design that can predict parameters and integrate them into catalytic systems.”
Professor Hyungjun Kim (left) and Dr. He-Young Shin (right)
2016.12.23 View 8322 -
KAIST's Board of Trustees Reappoints Dr. Jang-Moo Lee as Chairman
Dr. Jang-Moo Lee, the incumbent Chairman of the KAIST Board of Trustees, has been re-elected to head the office. His term will begin from the date of approval by the Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning of Korea and will last for three years.
Dr. Lee received his undergraduate and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Seoul National University. He later earned his doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University in the United States.
Joined the faculty of his alma mater in 1976, Dr. Lee held various posts within the university including the dean of the engineering college. He served as the president of the Association of Korean Engineering Colleges, the founding chairman of the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology, the president of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers, the 24th president of Seoul National University, and the 13th president of the Korean Council for University Education. He now serves as the president of the National Science and Technology Council of Korea and the chairman of Climate Change Center’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Lee has received numerous honors and awards, among others, the Academic Award of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (1985), the Order of Science and Technology Merit from the Korean government (2005), the National Academy of Sciences Award (2005), and the Order of Service Merit in Blue Stripes (2010) from the Korean government. He was also selected as the Alma Mater Proud from Kyunggi High School in 2011.
2016.12.15 View 3699 -
KAIST's Doctoral Student Receives a Hoffman Scholarship Award
Hyo-Sun Lee, a doctoral student at the Graduate School of EEWS (Environment, Energy, Water and Sustainability), KAIST, is a recipient of the 2016 Dorothy M. and Earl S. Hoffman Scholarships presented by the American Vacuum Society (AVS). The award ceremony took place during the Society’s 63rd International Symposium and Exhibition on November 6-11, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Lee is the first Korean and foreign student to receive this scholarship.
The Hoffman Scholarships were established in 2002 to recognize and encourage excellence in graduate studies in the sciences and technologies of interest to AVS. The scholarships are funded by a bequest from Dorothy M. Hoffman, who was a pioneering member of the Society of Women Engineers and served as the president of AVS in 1974.
Lee received the scholarship for her research that detects hot electrons from chemical reactions on catalytic surface using nanodevices. Nano Letters, an academic journal published by the American Chemical Society, described her work in its February 2016 issue as a technology that allows quantitative analysis of hot electrons by employing a new nanodevice and therefore helps researchers understand better the mechanism of chemical reactions on nanocatalytic surface. She also published her work to detect the flow of hot electrons that occur on metal nanocatalytic surface during hydrogen oxidation reactions in Angewandte Chemie.
Lee said, “I am pleased to receive this honor from such a world-renowned academic society. Certainly, this will be a great support for my future study and research.”
Founded in 1953, AVS is an interdisciplinary, professional society composed of approximately 4,500 members worldwide. It supports networking among academic, industrial, government, and consulting professionals involved in a range of established and emerging science and technology areas such as chemistry, physics, engineering, business, and technology development.
2016.11.17 View 8105 -
Efficient Methane C-H Bond Activated by KAIST and UPenn Teams
Professor Mu-Hyun Baik of the Chemistry Department at KAIST and his team collaborated with an international team to discover a novel chemical reaction, carbon-hydrogen borylation using methane, and their research results were published in the March 25th issue of Science.
For details, please refer to the following press release from the Institute for Basic Sciences (IBS) in Korea and the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.
Efficient Methane C-H Bond Activation Achieved for the First Time
The Institute for Basic Science, March 24, 2016
Penn Chemists Lay Groundwork for Countless New, Cleaner Uses of Methane
University of Pennsylvania, March 24, 2016
2016.03.25 View 8784 -
GSIS Graduates Its First Doctor
The Graduate School of Information Security at KAIST (GSIS) granted its first doctoral degree to Il-Goo Lee at the university’s 2016 commencement on February 19, 2016.
Lee received the degree for his dissertation entitled “Interference-Aware Secure Communications for Wireless LANs.”
He explained the background of his research:
“As we use wireless technology more and more in areas of the Internet of Things (IoT), unmanned vehicles, and drones, information security will become an issue of major concern. I would like to contribute to the advancement of communications technology to help minimize wireless interference between devices while ensuring their optimal performance.”
Based on his research, he developed a communications technique to increase wireless devices’ energy efficiency and the level of their security, and created a prototype to showcase that technique.
He plans to continue his research in the development of the next generation WiFi chip sets to protect the information security of IoT and wireless devices.
Since its establishment in March 2011, KAIST’s GSIS has conferred 50 master’s and one doctoral degrees.
2016.02.18 View 7652 -
KAIST Wins the Korea Donation for Education Awards 2015
KAIST received the grand prize for the university section at the Korea Donation for Education Awards 2015. The award ceremony took place at Seoul Plaza Hotel on December 15, 2015.
The Ministry of Education created the award in 2012 to raise awareness about the need for charitable donations for education and to encourage the public’s participation in such endeavors. Recipients have included private companies, public institutions, non-profit organizations, universities, and individuals who have made notable contributions to education, for example, by offering educational programs or fundraising for such programs throughout a year.
Many organizations within KAIST, including the KAIST Center of Donation for Education, the Midam Scholarship Committee, the Donation for Software Education Group, the Chalk Academy, KAIST Student Volunteers, and K-LET, have been collectively recognized for their efforts to develop educational materials and managing academic camps and programs.
In addition to the grand prize which KAIST won, the Ministry of Education gave Neung-In Jang, a student pursuing a social entrepreneurship MBA at KAIST, an award for his efforts to provide quality education to teenagers by establishing the Midam Scholarship Committee in 2009. The Scholarship aims to revitalize the culture of donation for education by offering free math and science classes to high school students who are less privileged and by inspiring other universities in Korea to follow suit the committee’s volunteering activities.
2015.12.22 View 8308 -
POSTECH-KAIST Science War
The 14th POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) and KAIST Science War took place at the KAIST campus in Daejeon on September 18-19, 2015.
Students from both universities participated in the two-day sports and science event.
The Science War has been held every September since 2002 to encourage interaction among students of the two schools. Following the rule that puts the hosting school second in the title, this year it is called the “POSTECH-KAIST War.”
The competition consists of seven events: hacking, a science quiz bowl and AI (artificial intelligence) for the science section, LOL (League of Legends) for the e-Sports section, and lastly, baseball, basketball and football for the sports section.
Of the seven events, the school that wins four or more events is declared the winner. Thus far, KAIST has had seven wins and five losses.
In addition, the cheering squads and clubs of both schools participated. They were KAIST’s ELKA, Twilight, Infinite, and MindFreak, as well as POSTECH’s Cheero, Bremen, Stiller, and P-Funk perform.
2015.09.30 View 4551 -
KAIST to Hold a Colloquium on the Internet of Things and Open Stack
With the support of the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning of Korea, KAIST hosted a colloquium on the Internet of Things (IoT) and Open Stack at the KAIST Research Center for Global Cooperation located in Pangyo. The upcoming event was organized to provide an overview of the technological trends to IT companies and foster their success in the global market.
The colloquium invited numerous field-experts as speakers and discussed the influence of IoT and OpenStack on the small- and medium-sized companies in Korea.
Professor Gwan-Hoo Lee from the American University joined as a speaker and shared his insights of how IoT would change the global business environment. He introduced various business models developed by Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Google, and Cisco and discussed how Korean companies could utilize the existing tools and strategy to succeed in the global market. His talk focused specifically on the importance of overseas partnerships and technology stack analysis.
President Hyun-Jung Jang from the Korean OpenStack Community also gave a speech on global partnership through OpenStack. He discussed the future trends of OpenStack and why companies should invest in the field.
KAIST used the event as an opportunity to provide information to domestic companies that are interested in building partnerships with overseas companies and in developing new IoT and OpenStack technology.
More information about the event can be provided online at www.ictc.or.kr.
2015.09.11 View 4714 -
Klaus Schwab to Receive Doctorate from KAIST University
Courtesy of Press Release from the World Economic Forum:
Klaus Schwab to Receive Doctorate from KAIST University
KAIST University to confer Doctorate to World Economic Forum Executive Chairman and Founder Klaus Schwab
The ceremony will take place on 7 September at KAIST University, Daejeon, South Korea
For more information: http://wef.ch/KlausSchwab
Geneva, Switzerland, 26 August 2015 – Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, will be honoured on Monday 7 September by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), with his 14th honorary doctorate.
This honour will be bestowed on him in recognition of his work in the field of science, in particular his efforts to promote corporate social responsibility and for the concept of multistakeholder cooperation, which he originated in 1971.
Before creating the World Economic Forum, Professor Schwab had a distinctive academic career, earning two doctorates – one in engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and the other in economics (summa cum laude) from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He also studied at Harvard University, where he earned a Master in Public Administration. In 1972 he became one of the youngest professors at the University of Geneva, where he taught business policy for over 30 years.
The ceremony will be attended by over 200 students, KAIST faculty members, Jang-Moo Lee, Chairman of the KAIST Board of Trustees, and Mayor Seon-Taek Kwon of Daejeon. “Klaus Schwab, through his forward-looking vision and outstanding leadership, has cultivated the World Economic Forum into a global organization, contributing significantly to improving the global economy as well as to resolving international conflicts,” said Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang, President of KAIST.
“It is a great honour to receive this honorary doctoral degree from KAIST, an institution which is known for academic excellence and the role it has played in helping South Korea achieve the level of modernization in a matter of decades that the western world took over a century to achieve,” Professor Schwab said.
At the ceremony, Professor Schwab will give a speech on the “Impact of Disruptive Forces on Our World” and will elaborate on how technological and geopolitical development is shaping global, regional, national and industry agendas.
2015.09.09 View 7479