The Korea-Russia MT-IT Convergent Technology Research Center Holds an International Joint Workshop.

 

- Presented the status and future prospects of the localization and commercialization of marine equipment: an annual economic effect of 500B KRW expected.

- Jointly held by GIST, Jeollanam-do Province and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries in the National Assemblymen’s Hall on August 29.

 

 

 

□ On August 29, the Korea-Russia Marine Technology-Information Technology (MT-IT) Convergent Technology Research Center (Director: Prof. Kim, Ki Seon), which was jointly established by the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST, President   Young Joon Kim) and Jeollanam-do, held a joint international workshop in cooperation with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology in the National Assemblymen’s Hall.

❍ The Korea-Russia MI-IT Convergent Technology Research Center was founded by GIST and the provincial government that jointly won the “outstanding foreign research institute attraction project” sponsored by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning in 2009. The Russian Academy of Science’s Pacific Institute of Geography also plays a role in this research center.

❍ The center aims to develop and localize marine equipment by investing 10 billion Korean won by 2015, for example: a smart buoy system for special purposes; a surface-underwater cooperative communication system using submergence vehicles and robots; and electronic equipment for underwater communication.

 

□ During the workshop, Dr. Yong-gon Lim from the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology gave a speech titled “the status and prospects of the localization of marine equipment,” followed by a presentation by Prof. Arata Kaneko at Hiroshima University in Japan, “the applications of marine equipment in advanced countries.” The workshop served as a forum for experts devoted to the commercialization of marine equipment to share information on the latest developments and research trends.

 

□ (Background) Many countries in the world are competing for the preoccupancy of oceans, and there are increasingly more conflicts among countries regarding marine borders and resources.

❍ Hence it has become an urgent issue for the nation to actively respond to these changes and protect marine life and resources by localizing marine equipment. 

❍ Marine equipment technology is a convergent technology of information, marine and environmental technologies and potentially applicable to responding to global warming, national defense and new marine industries such as renewable energies, high sea fish farms and marine resource development, therefore the technology is crucial to the development of marine industries. 

 

□ However, Korea’s marine equipment technology is lagged behind that of advanced countries, and the nation’s import dependence rate is over 95%. Localizing marine equipment would generate more than 10 billion Korean won of economic effects by substituting equipment imports and 30B KRW by substituting relevant equipment imports. And ultimately, its economic effects would be more than 500B KRW by developing overseas markets and securing original technologies.

  ❍ Jeollanam-do has been supporting projects to localize marine equipment to identify new growth power industries, vitalize the local economy by supporting and attracting enterprises, develop inshore farming technologies, help fishery households increase their incomes by identifying high sea fishing grounds and promote local industries such as alga power generation, tidal current generation, and wave power generation.

 

□ “Marine equipment is the quintessence of cutting edge convergent technologies such as nano, optical and electronic engineering, as they use up-to-the-second information technologies for lower power consumption, smaller size and longer service life,” said the center’s director, Prof. Kiseon Kim in the School of Information and Communications. “This international joint workshop was significant in that GIST and Jeollanam-do have positioned themselves as a key location of international joint studies for the development of marine equipment.”

 

□ Jointly hosted by GIST, Jeollanam-do, the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology, the workshop’s guests included Junyeong Park, governor of Jeollanam-do, Assemblyman Juhong Hwang and 100 CEOs of companies in the capital region and the Yeongnam and Honam areas.