KAIST Achieves Annual Technology Royalties Income of 10 Billion KRW for the First Time Among Korean Universities

Provided by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on the 22nd that it has become the first university in Korea to achieve annual technology royalty income of 10 billion KRW.

According to the University Information Disclosure Center, KAIST earned a total of 10.183 billion KRW in technology transfer royalties last year through 56 technology transfer contracts.

To foster technology commercialization, KAIST expanded and reorganized its existing Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation into the Technology Value Creation Institute in April this year, establishing specialized organizations such as the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Center and the Industry-Academic Cooperation Center as subordinate units, and strengthened expertise by recruiting industry personnel as industry-academic cooperation focused professors.

Meanwhile, KAIST was also selected this year as an excellent institution for patent quality management and an outstanding public patent technology transfer research institution due to quantitative achievements in intellectual property management. The patent quality management excellence institution is a system newly established this year by the Korean Intellectual Property Office to encourage profit-centered patent management at universities and research institutes. KAIST was named as one of the inaugural awardees alongside Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), and Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Additionally, KAIST secured 1.2 billion KRW in technology transfer commercialization funds available for three years through the Korean Intellectual Property Office’s intellectual property revenue reinvestment support project (Korean-style Patent Gap Fund Creation Support Project).

Choi Kyung-chul, Director of KAIST’s Technology Value Creation Institute, said, "KAIST plans to take the lead in creating a knowledge property ecosystem where a virtuous cycle of innovation occurs and present a successful role model."