Ministry of Science and Technology Signs MOU with IBM to Establish bilateral R&D Center

Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyounghun (left) and IBM Vice President Jay Gambeta signed a business agreement and are taking commemorative photos. [Photo = Ministry of Science and ICT] 사진 확대

Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyounghun (left) and IBM Vice President Jay Gambeta signed a business agreement and are taking commemorative photos. [Photo = Ministry of Science and ICT]

South Korea will join hands with IBM to foster the quantum science and technology industry.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 24th that Bae Kyounghun visited New York, USA, on the 22nd and 23rd to discuss ways to cooperate in bilateral technology between Korea and the U.S.

Minister Bae visited IBM Watson Institute in New York and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with IBM. The MOU, which was jointly participated by the Korea Research Foundation, the National Science and Technology Research Council, and the four major science and technology institutes, included cooperation in building quantum infrastructure and providing services, using research and development and industry, and fostering professional manpower and strengthening capabilities.

It plans to establish a quantum computer infrastructure and R&D center to discover application possibilities for each industry and promote the cultivation of quantum professionals.

Minister Bae also visited the Brookhaven National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. We inspected facilities related to basic large infrastructure (EIC) cooperation currently under discussion and discussed ways to expand cooperation to high-tech fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum based on this.

Starting with the EIC project, the two sides seek to expand cooperation by applying emerging AI and quantum technologies to various basic research fields. The Ministry of Science and ICT said it is discussing signing an implementation agreement (IA) on science and technology cooperation with the Ministry of Energy and an intergovernmental letter of intent (SOI) to solidify the foundation for cooperation between governments.

“Quantum science and technology will lead to new paradigm innovation in all industries, including AI, new drug development, finance, and security,” Minister Bae said. “Cooperation with the U.S., which is currently at the forefront of quantum science and technology, has been important.