Overview

The KAIST Institutes (KI) was established in 2006 to foster interdisciplinary research at KAIST. The KI building, which became a landmark at KAIST, was completed in 2010 with generous donations from Dr. Byiung Jun Park and his wife Mrs. Chunghi Hong. Our primary mission is to solve critical problems for the future of the humankind as well as to develop new growth engines for the Korean economy. At present, KI consists of five institutes and three centers: KI for BioCentury, KI for Information Technology Convergence, KI for Robotics, KI for NanoCentury, KI for Health Science and Technology, Saudi Aramco-KAIST CO₂ Management Center, Fourth Industrial Revolution Intelligence Center, and Center for Epidemic Preparedness. In KI, ~270 faculty members and ~300 researchers and students are currently engaged in various interdisciplinary research programs.

Mission

Facilitate and promote interdisciplinary research excellence
Develop strategic research initiative programs to solve critical problems for the future of humankind and new growth engines for the Korean economy
Enhance KAIST's reputation by producing world-class R&D results

Strategy

Operate independently of academic units to focus on futuristic or practical themes with great impacts
Identify new themes through faculty-and administrative-led process
Incubate new themes by providing seed money and organization support until they become mature to establish regular research centers in KI
Enhance open innovation through network with both domestic and international partners in academia and industry
Implement and maintain large-scale testbeds for consilience-based interdisciplinary and convergent research