KAIST Holdings to open US offices with $8.4 bn value in mind

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) on Tuesday announced the blueprint to strengthen its foothold in the United States and spur entrepreneurship on campus.

KAIST Holdings is pursuing the launch of regional offices in the US – namely the New York campus on the East Coast and the Silicon Valley campus on the West Coast. 

In time for his one year anniversary at KAIST, the university president Lee Kwang-hyung spoke about his progress so far and plans for the future at an online press conference on Tuesday.

During the briefing, Lee said the goal is to make 10 of the startups financed by the university to get listed on Kosdaq and two on Nasdaq.

“By 2031, we hope to reach an accumulated corporate value of 10 trillion won ($8.4 billion) and a royalty fee of 100 billion won," the 67-year-old said. 

STARTUP FOCUS

Since taking office, Lee has put strong emphasis on entrepreneurship as evidenced by the slogan '1 Lab 1 Startup.'

"I revised a number of regulations in the past year," he explained. "For a start, you can launch a startup by a system of registration; not through a process of permission."

Startups on campus can now be set up within a month, as opposed to the previous six months. Sixty five new startups have been established on campus last year, more than double the previous years’ average.

Established last month, KAIST Holdings is a corporate body that assists such startups. The holding company aims to set a culture of beginning a research project with market adoption in mind, rather than thinking of its commercialization only after a research has been completed.

KAIST graduates are already leading South Korea's startup ecosystem. For example, well-known startup accelerator FuturePlay is founded by KAIST graduates while another accelerator Bluepoint Partners is headed by one.

MEDICAL RESEARCH 

Also on his to-do list during his term is establishing a medical school with emphasis on research. 

“South Korea is missing out on the biomedical healthcare market worth $1.7 trillion,” he said. “If we don't raise medical scientists whose focus is on research, the country will not change for the next decade.” 

The university is planning to launch a dual masters and PhD in science and technology program.

The first four years will be allocated for medical studies and the last four to engineering. At the end of eight years, the graduate would have completed schooling for both medicine and engineering. 

There is a condition, however, that the graduate cannot be a clinician for 10 years.

“Ninety nine percent of medical school graduates become clinicians,” said Lee. “So we will work with The Ministry of Science and ICT to make research a viable career option for medical doctors as is the case in the States.”

The KAIST Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering is expected to extend its current offerings to create the convergence program by 2026. 

Computer scientist by training, Lee also launched the Post AI research center that discovers innovative projects in the artificial intelligence sector.

“If there is a difference between KAIST and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT,) it is the size of students’ dreams,” the scientist said. 

Lee vowed to imbue confidence into his students by providing evidence of continued growth at one of South Korea's most distinguished universities. 

Write to See-Eun Lee at see@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.