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KIST Transfers Humanoid Technology Worth KRW 8 Billion to LG Electronics
Double Crown: Recognized for Both Research Achievement and Technology Commercialization
Original Technology from Government-Funded Institute Becomes Future Business for Major Conglomerate
NST: “Rare Case of Technology Transfer to a Large Corporation”
Paek Jongmin, Vice Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Science and ICT, visited KIST last November and took a commemorative photo with the K-APEX humanoid robot. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist
Humanoid robot technology developed by a government-funded research institute with national budget support has achieved tangible results by becoming a future business area for a leading domestic conglomerate. The protagonist of this achievement is ‘K-APEX’, a Korean-style artificial intelligence (AI) humanoid developed by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). This case is drawing attention as a representative example of technology commercialization where public research results move into the industrial field, while also generating sizable technology royalty revenues for the research institute.
The National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) recognized and encouraged the achievements of ‘K-APEX’ at the ‘2026 Outstanding Achievements Awards Ceremony for Government-Funded Research Institutes’, held on the 26th at Lahan Select Hotel in Gyeongju, by presenting the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Award for research achievements and the NST Chairman’s Award for technology commercialization success.
Jongwon Lee, head of the KIST Humanoid Research Group (right), received the Minister of Science and ICT Award on the 26th for developing the humanoid robot technology ‘K-APEX.’ Photo by Paek Jongmin, tech specialist
Jongwon Lee, Head of the Humanoid Research Group at KIST, received the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Award for ‘Korean-Style AI Humanoid K-APEX Technology’. KIST developed the K-APEX platform and a fully integrated control system, and established a joint development and commercialization system linking government-funded research institutes with large corporations.
LG Electronics, which is actively fostering the humanoid industry, took particular notice of this technology. LG Electronics signed a K-APEX technology transfer agreement with KIST valued at KRW 8 billion. NST encouraged this outcome by granting the Chairman’s Award. It is highly unusual for both the researcher responsible for the R&D and the technology commercialization team transferring the technology to a company to receive awards together for a single technology, underscoring the significance of the achievement.
Min Byounggwon, Head of NST, who previously led a technology transfer to LG Chem, stated, “Transferring technology from government-funded research institutes to a conglomerate is a rare occurrence.”
Youngsik Kim, Chairman of the National Research Council of Science & Technology (center), is awarding Seonjun Kang, Head of Technology Commercialization at KIST (right), for successfully completing a major technology transfer to LG Electronics. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist
The partnership between LG Electronics and KIST does not end with technology transfer. KIST and LG Electronics are also collaborating on the national ‘K-Moonshot’ humanoid project, which will invest KRW 50.4 billion by 2030 to develop the next-generation mass-production humanoid model.
Meanwhile, the awards ceremony took place in conjunction with the ‘2026 Public Technology Commercialization Conference (PTC Korea),’ co-hosted by NST and the Korea Association of Research Institute Technology Transfer (KARIT) from the 26th to the 28th. During the ceremony, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Awards were presented to 10 representative research achievements from government-funded institutes. Seven outstanding research results from local organizations and two exemplary technology commercialization cases received the NST Chairman’s Award.
The 2026 PTC KOREA event included not only technology transfer and commercialization offices (TLOs) from the 23 institutes under the Ministry of Science and ICT and NST, but also participation from universities, technology holding companies, and private firms. Attendees discussed their opinions on securing achievements throughout the entire process of bringing public technologies to market, including not just technology transfer, but also startup creation, investment, intellectual property (IP), global expansion, and technology convergence.
Kim Youngsik, Chairman of NST, said, “We will actively support the dissemination of research results and technology commercialization so that outstanding research achievements from government-funded institutes create new value for industry and society, rather than remaining in the laboratory.”
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Yoon Kyung-sook, Director-General for Basic Science Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, also pledged, “The government will support more active technology commercialization by government-funded research institutes.”
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