News
KIST Seeks Solutions to Human Challenges with Science and Technology (October 23, 2023)
- Date : 2023-11-30
- Views : 446
-
Writer
International Cooperation Team
-
Att.
KIST Seeks Solutions to Human Challenges with Science and Technology
On October 23, 2023, KIST (President: Seok-Jin Yoon) held the 2023 Global Research Summit: GRaND Challenge at its headquarters in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. The event, held for the first time this year, was organized to both share the current status and achievements of KIST’s highly challenging research projects that go beyond existing paradigms, and to explore new research directions for solving challenging issues with global scholars and related experts.
Since 2021, KIST has been running the GRaND Challenge* Program** for highly challenging research which has a low chance of success but could change the world if successful, and has created a challenging research environment by actively carrying out bold and adventurous R&D.
* GRaND: Globally Recognized and Nationally Dedicating
**GRaND Challenge (GC) Program: Its mission is to encourage the world's best and world’s first researchers to set bold goals without fear of failure for the discovery of innovative topics and promotion of process-oriented evaluation
At this event, lectures and project presentations on 3 research topics selected in 2021 were simultaneously presented in a hybrid online/offline format. The 3 selected topics were: “Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism” (PI: Dr. Hyunah Choo); “Development of Visual Restoration Technology based on Artificial Photoreceptors” (PI: Dr. Jaehun Kim); and “Development of Local Immunity-Induced Aging Control Technology” (PI: Dr. Sehoon Kim).
To kick off the event, Professor Guoping Feng of MIT University, an authority in the field of autism, and Professor Daniel Palanker of Stanford University, a visual restoration expert, gave lectures by video feed on the latest research trends in their respective fields, and KIST researchers presented on the relevant GC research they have been conducting.
In the afternoon, National University of Singapore Professor Brian Kennedy, former director of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in the US and a global expert on aging research, gave a keynote lecture on the theme of "The Longevity Revolution," and after additional presentations by KIST researchers, discussions took place on the future direction of aging research.
Following the conclusion of the open session, a seminar was also held where local and international experts took part in an in-depth discussion on potential solutions to the 3 research topics, and there was also an opportunity for current progress to be shared on the 3 GC research projects selected for 2022, which were the treatment of pancreatic cancer, cellulose nanomaterials, and ultra-high-output solution-processed solar cells.
In his congratulatory speech, Bok-chul Kim, Chair of the NST, stated, “KIST's new challenge, which moves away from stable, failure-free research and creates a high-risk, challenging research culture, will be an exemplary case.” In addition, Seok-Jin Yoon, President of KIST, commented, “Rather than settle on taking the easy path to success, we shall continue to pursue world-class, ultra-challenging research with a high rate of failure into unknown areas that must be pioneered."