KAIST Celebrates 50th Anniversary, Aiming to Catch 'Three Rabbits'

President Shin Sung-chul Announces 10-10-10 Dream Project at 50th Anniversary Ceremony

KAIST President Shin Sung-chul is being interviewed on the 14th at the President's Office in the KAIST Main Building, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. Photo by Jin-hyung Kang, Daejeon aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] KAIST, the cradle of scientific and technological talent that has produced one in four domestic semiconductor PhDs and one in five engineering professors, announced the so-called ‘10-10-10 Dream’ project on the occasion of its 50th anniversary on the 16th. It is a declaration to leap forward as a ‘global value-creating leading university.’

Shin Sung-chul, KAIST President, revealed this plan during a commemorative meal held at the Daejeon main campus that morning. The main pillars include producing 10 ‘Singularity Professors’ with world-class research achievements, fostering 10 decacorn startups creating a corporate value of 10 trillion won, and establishing KAIST campuses in 10 countries worldwide.

First, KAIST plans to support unique research on emergent ideas long-term to nurture 10 Singularity Professors. It will also establish ultra-generation collaborative laboratories to strengthen intergenerational cooperation. To cultivate talents with the ‘C3’ spirit of Challenge, Creativity, and Caring, KAIST will promote ▲ the establishment of a ‘Convergence Talent Division’ for interdisciplinary education ▲ mandatory AI education ▲ and strengthening global leadership education.

KAIST, which has been a ‘mecca’ of university startups, will further inherit and develop its entrepreneurial spirit to foster 10 decacorn startups. To this end, it will implement ▲ mandatory ‘entrepreneurship and startup’ education ▲ strengthen the KAIST Startup Institute ▲ and establish a KAIST foothold in Silicon Valley.

Building on the success and experience of establishing KAIST Kenya, KAIST will actively pursue ‘K-University exports’ by establishing KAIST campuses in 10 countries over the next 50 years. It will create the ‘Global Strategy Institute (GSI),’ aiming to be a global think tank. The goal is to propose national leading strategies based on science and technology and solutions to global issues humanity faces in the 21st century.

President Shin said, “By realizing the vision of a ‘global value-creating leading university,’ we will offer hope and pride to the nation and its people and contribute to the prosperity and development of humanity. Through future strategy innovation, we will open the future of Korea based on science and technology.”

At the event, congratulatory messages were delivered via video from President Moon Jae-in and Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF). Video congratulatory messages from National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, Rafael Reif, President of MIT, and Klaus von Klitzing, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (1985), were also shown.

Since its launch as the Korea Advanced Institute of Science (KAIS) in 1971, KAIST has produced a total of 69,388 scientific and technological personnel as of this month. It has played a pivotal role in Korea’s scientific and technological and industrial development, leading the venture boom through student and professor startups, and the industrialization and ICT revolution.

Meanwhile, KAIST will hold a temporary board meeting on the 18th to elect its 17th president. Currently, three final candidates are in the running: Kyung Jong-min, Honorary Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Kim Jung-ho, Director of the Global Strategy Institute; and Lee Kwang-hyung, Professor of Bio Brain Engineering.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.