- Researcher exchanges and joint research projects planned over five years

- Five government-funded research institutes to participate, including KIST

NST President Kim Young-sik (left) and NIMS President Kazuhiro Hono hold up the signed MOC. [NST]
NST President Kim Young-sik (left) and NIMS President Kazuhiro Hono hold up the signed MOC. [NST]

South Korea's government-funded research institutes and Japan's leading materials research organization have joined forces for joint research on advanced materials. The partnership is expected to kick off substantive collaboration and researcher exchanges between the two countries in areas including structural materials, permanent magnets, two-dimensional materials and thermoelectric materials.

The National Research Council of Science and Technology (NST) said it signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) with Japan's National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) on Friday in Tsukuba, Japan, to strengthen science and technology research cooperation between the two countries, and held the first NST-NIMS Joint Workshop on the same day.

NIMS is Japan's foremost materials research institution, focusing on energy and environmental materials, nanomaterials and advanced foundational technologies. It ranked third among national laboratories worldwide in materials science in the 2024 Nature Index.

NST and NIMS had been discussing avenues for cooperation since their respective heads met last year. The MOC formalizes a cooperative framework between South Korea's government-funded institutes and NIMS and expands it into joint research projects.

The MOC, signed by NST President Kim Young-sik and NIMS President Kazuhiro Hono, covers researcher exchanges, joint workshops and symposiums, and the development and execution of joint research projects over the next five years.

The joint workshop brought together 12 researchers from four South Korean government-funded institutes — the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), the Korea Institute of Materials Science, the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology and the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute — alongside NIMS researchers.

The researchers from the two countries shared their latest findings and technology trends across five fields: structural materials, permanent magnets, ceramic processing, two-dimensional materials and thermoelectric materials. They also toured key research facilities, including NIMS's Structural Materials Research Center and battery research platform, to explore specific possibilities for joint research.

NST plans to build on the agreement by identifying areas of demand for cooperation between its member institutes and NIMS and channeling them into concrete joint research projects. It also aims to expand its research collaboration network beyond NIMS to other major Japanese research institutions.

"Materials science is the foundation of industrial development and technological innovation," NST President Kim said. "We will actively support this partnership so that today's meeting leads to tangible research outcomes — joint projects, researcher exchanges and real cooperation — rather than remaining a one-time event."


nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com