In recent years, Korea has entered what is being called the era of bridge aging, as the share of bridges whose service life (the period from when a facility is first used after completion until major repairs are needed) exceeds 30 years has increased each year. Accidents have continued as well, including the 2023 collapse of Jeongja Bridge in Bundang, which caused casualties, and the 2016 corrosion of prestressing strands on the Jeongneungcheon overpass on the Naebu Expressway in Seoul. For this reason, it is time at the national level to adopt tools to predict the level of aging expected in the future and to carry out preventive maintenance measures in response.
There is an institution that has dedicated more than 40 years to developing technologies and policies related to construction technology and industry. It is the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT), the nation's only government grants research institute in the construction and land sector. KICT was established in 1983 to develop new construction methods and introduce advanced technologies after the construction industry grew rapidly in the 1970s but struggled to win overseas contracts due to a lack of technological prowess.
Each year, KICT holds an exhibition to share the research achievements conducted that year and to promote exchanges among researchers. This year, going beyond internal staff, it held the "2025 KICT major project achievements sharing event" online for the first time for employees of related external organizations and the general public. The exhibition runs from the 17th to Dec. 12, and feedback is being collected to identify needs for technology transfer and collaboration.
Entering the online exhibition hall lobby, research in various fields is distributed by hall. In addition to a separate hall for excellent achievements, Hall 1 showcases structures (bridges and concrete), Hall 2 architecture and building energy, and Hall 3 road and traffic research. Halls are also arranged for Hall 4 nuclear power and space, Hall 5 digital construction, Hall 6 water resources and environment, and Hall 7 fire and certification. Clicking the desired hall allows visitors to explore research exhibits set up among actual KICT buildings, accompanied by the actual researchers' voice support feature.
Among them, entering the hall of excellent achievements, the first case features a team led by Senior Research Fellow Park Gi-tae of KICT. To solve the earlier problem of bridge aging, they built the nation's largest aging dataset and developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based smart maintenance platform that provides bridge maintenance information services. Specifically, using deterioration environments related to bridge damage and current conditions, and bridge behavior data using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, they built a cloud-based platform (BMAPS) and presented data-driven bridge aging assessment and prediction technologies. These studies were selected for the Top 100 National R&D Achievements.
The team said the development can support a preemptive maintenance system for small and medium old bridges with poor maintenance levels and for management entities that find it difficult to build separate maintenance systems. With the government recently pushing various policies and digital platform projects related to the safety of key infrastructure, including bridges, such as the Facility Safety Act and the Framework Act on the Management of Infrastructure, the technology is needed. Through BMAPS, data analysis information by search conditions can also be provided to bridge maintenance entities, academia, and private companies.
Moving the cursor to the left, there is also a demonstration study of the first hydrogen dwelling in the country operated with hydrogen fuel cells and equipped with a specialized safety system. Researcher Jeong Yeong-seon of KICT built the first hydrogen dwelling in the national hydrogen townhouse complex in Samcheok, Gangwon, and successfully operated it. By using hydrogen produced directly within the complex for the dwelling, the team confirmed an energy self-sufficiency rate of 157% and secured safety in hydrogen use. The building is currently operated as a guesthouse and was selected as an excellent achievement in 2025 for Land, Infrastructure and Transport R&D.
Other outstanding cases involved smart construction and eco-friendly energy. Researcher Kang Jae-sik's commercialization technology development of high-performance and appropriately priced core building materials to promote zero-energy buildings; Researcher Jo Jin-u's establishment of a full-cycle model for intelligent compaction-based earthwork automation technology; and Researcher Kim Deok-u's establishment of a foundation for integrating and improving the quality of nationwide building energy and influencing-factor information to support carbon neutrality in the building sector were exhibited.
No Hee-seong, head of the Research Evaluation and Management Office at KICT, said, "Starting this year, we planned an online virtual exhibition to enable sharing of the institute's key research content and achievements without time and space constraints, and to secure research transparency, in order to focus on the essential purposes of the achievements sharing event, 'diffusion' and 'exchange.' In particular, by introducing 'interactive posters' with researchers' voice explanations, we prepared to make it easy to understand a total of 44 excellent KICT research achievements and to seek opportunities for technology transfer and cooperation."