The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is partnering with Daejeon City to create the "Robot Valley." The plan aims to foster innovative robotics corporations, developing Daejeon into a global hub for the robot industry.
KAIST noted on the 3rd that it held a kickoff meeting for the "2025 Deep Tech Scale-Up Valley Development Project." This initiative is being promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Innovation Foundation, with the selected KAIST securing a project budget of 13.65 billion won over the next three years and six months. KAIST plans to link Daejeon's excellent research personnel and startup-investment ecosystem to grow the robot industry as a next generation strategic industry and establish a model for regional revitalization.
The "Human-Friendly Robot (HFR)" that KAIST is pursuing aims not to be a simple automated machine but to be a collaborative partner that shares space, roles, and emotions with humans. To achieve this, it will create a virtuous cycle structure that leads to technology development, startup investment, and reinvestment, and implement a step-by-step strategy for business promotion, startup support, securing global technology competitiveness, and developing commercialization platforms. While existing startup support initiatives have focused on individual corporations, this time the goal is to achieve co-growth across the entire robot industry.
KAIST and leading robotics corporations such as Angel Robotics and Eurobotics will share core technological elements like actuators, circuits, artificial intelligence, and standard data through open innovation. Startups will be supported based on this to focus on developing products that meet customer demands.
The project includes Professor Kim Jeong from the Department of Mechanical Engineering (President of the Korean Society of Robotics) along with Professor Lee Geon-jae from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Myung Hyun from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Professor Gong Kyung-cheol from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Professor Bae Seok-hyeong from the Department of Industrial Design, among many KAIST robotics researchers.
The Valley creation and technology commercialization will be managed by KAIST's Technology Value Creation Institute, KAIST Holdings, Global Techno Valley Lab, and Daejeon Creative Economy Innovation Center. Daejeon Technopark will also participate in the commercialization support.
Lee Geon-jae, head of KAIST's Technology Value Creation Institute, said, "The strategic cooperation between Daejeon City and the robot industry has been a driving force behind the project selection, and we will nurture robot corporations that can compete with global companies like ABB and KUKA in Daejeon."
Professor Kim Jeong, the chief responsible person, stated, "We will lead the commercialization of the deep tech robot technology developed by KAIST and work to discover and nurture more than 15 future unicorn corporations. The KAIST robotics research team will make every effort to ensure that the research and development outcomes can translate into actual industries and startups."