Imperial and GIST commit to closer collaboration in plastic electronics

Professor James Stirling with Professor Seung Hyeon Moon

Imperial College London signed an agreement today with Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) to support plastic electronics research.

At a ceremony in South Kensington, Professor James Stirling, Provost of Imperial College London, and Professor Seung Hyeon Moon, President of GIST, signed the agreement which opens doors to further joint research projects, academic visits and student exchanges.   

Speaking at the event, Professor Stirling said:  “It is a great honour to celebrate this major milestone in the relationship between our two great institutions.”  Professor Stirling went on to emphasise the College’s interdisciplinary collaborations with Korea in the fields of plastic electronics and synthetic biology. 

Commenting on the collaboration, Professor Seung Hyeon Moon said: “Plastic electronics will be key to the next generation of semi-conductors.”

The event showcased two key aspects of the collaboration between Imperial and GIST.  Professor James Durrant, Director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics at Imperial, spoke about the research taking place at the centre and Professor Kwanghee Lee, from the School of Materials Science & Engineering at GIST, looked ahead to establishing a strong base for the GIST-Imperial College London International Research & Development Centre in Plastic Electronics.

Research into plastic electronics seeks to address the global challenges Imperial identified in its Strategy 2015-2020, particularly our commitment to engineer novel solutions to the world’s problems.  The potential avenues for research include developing solar cells and addressing environmental challenges.

Professor Alice Gast with Professor Seung Hyeon Moon

The GIST delegation was led by Professor Seung Hyeon Moon, President and Professor Do-Kyeong Ko, Chancellor and Dean of GIST College.  During the visit, they met with Professor Alice Gast, President of Imperial College London, took a tour of the Imperial Incubator facility for spin out companies and attended a public lecture given by GIST’s Professor Kwang-hee Lee at Imperial’s South Kensington Campus.

Building on strong foundations

The agreement furthers the College’s commitment in our Strategy 2015-2020 to strengthen collaboration with partner academic institutions across the globe.  Korea is one of Imperial’s closest international partners; Imperial academics published over 1,000 research papers with Korean colleagues in the last decade alone and about 150 Korean students are studying at Imperial.

When Park Geun-hye, President of the Republic of Korea, visited the College in 2013 she saw examples of the world-class research in plastic electronics developed at Imperial in collaboration with colleagues in Korea.  This research has attracted significant funding from the Korean Government through the World Class University Initiative and have involved partnerships with Seoul National University as well as GIST.