Kickoff held Thursday at Korea Technodom with 11 industry-academia-research institutions

Representatives and working-level staff from participating institutions pose for a photo at the kickoff event for the sustainable-material tire manufacturing technology development project, held Thursday at Korea Technodom. [Hankook Tire & Technology]
Representatives and working-level staff from participating institutions pose for a photo at the kickoff event for the sustainable-material tire manufacturing technology development project, held Thursday at Korea Technodom. [Hankook Tire & Technology]

Hankook Tire & Technology announced Friday that it held a kickoff event Thursday at Korea Technodom, its high-tech research complex in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, to launch the "Sustainable-Material Tire Manufacturing Technology Development" project — part of the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy's 2026 Environmental Technology Development Program.

The national R&D project aims to advance South Korea's circular economy by securing high-quality raw materials from end-of-life tires and commercializing them. It comprises two sub-projects: developing technology to obtain high-quality feedstock from waste tires, and developing tire manufacturing technology using sustainable materials.

Hankook Tire has been active in this space since 2023, when it launched the "Tire to Tire" (T2T) private-sector consortium as a domestic waste-tire circular economy model. The company also released the Ion GT — a premium electric vehicle touring tire made with more than 70 percent sustainable materials — in the European market.

The company's participation in the national project aims to expand its existing private-sector research into a broader industry-wide collaboration framework to address global environmental regulations and strengthen raw-material supply chains. Drawing on its experience running the T2T consortium, Hankook Tire plans to widen the application of circular feedstock derived from waste tires while upgrading infrastructure with partner institutions to proactively manage global supply chain risks.

The project will be carried out jointly by 11 industry, academic and research institutions: lead agency M&B Greenearth, along with Kumho Petrochemical, HS Hyosung, HS Hyosung Advanced Materials, Solvay, N-Direction, the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, KAIST, Pusan National University, Kwangwoon University and Soongsil University.

Through the project, Hankook Tire aims to advance its research on manufacturing tires using waste-tire-derived materials, targeting sustainable material content of at least 85 percent and a carbon emissions reduction of more than 50 percent, with the goal of commercializing next-generation low-carbon, high-performance tires.

"This national project is a meaningful opportunity that brings together the outstanding expertise of industry, academic and research institutions," said Koo Bon-hee, president and head of Hankook Tire's R&D Innovation Division. "Let us all work together — through close communication and collaboration among participating institutions — to generate tangible results and contribute to securing competitiveness in the global market."


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