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KAIST and LOTTE Open ‘LOTTE x KAIST R&D CENTER’ to Advance a Sustainable Future
KAIST and LOTTE have opened a new research hub that brings academia and industry together to address pressing sustainability challenges, including climate change and carbon neutrality. The center will support collaboration between the university and the company throughout the innovation process, from research and development to commercialization.
KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on September 13 that it had held an opening ceremony for the LOTTE x KAIST R&D CENTER at its main campus in Daejeon on August 11. Attendees included LOTTE Group Chairman Dongbin Shin, executives and representatives from LOTTE Group, senior KAIST administrators, and faculty and staff from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
The center was established with KRW 10 billion, approximately USD 7.5 million, in construction funding donated by LOTTE Group, along with funds raised by the KAIST Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. It will serve as a hub for collaborations between academia and industry across the entire R&D cycle, from basic and foundational research in emerging technologies to experimentation, prototyping, and commercialization.
By bringing KAIST’s research capabilities and LOTTE’s industrial expertise and commercialization experience together under one roof, the center introduces a new model of collaboration that goes beyond conventional partnerships between academia and industry. Rather than simply exchanging research findings, the two organizations will jointly identify and investigate future challenges and translate the resulting discoveries into industrial applications and commercial opportunities.
The initiative is closely aligned with President Bae’s “Beyond Laboratory” strategy. KAIST is expanding joint research in which companies participate from the earliest stages of defining problems, helping ensure that discoveries move beyond laboratories and academic papers to create meaningful change in industry and society. The university is also strengthening an innovation ecosystem that connects basic and foundational research with demonstration and commercialization.
The partnership between KAIST and LOTTE spans more than a decade. Since 2012, KAIST has offered commissioned master’s and doctoral programs for LOTTE employees. The two organizations have also expanded their cooperation in research and education through technology transfer and personnel exchanges involving LOTTE Chemical. In 2022, they established the LOTTE Chemical - KAIST Carbon Neutral Research Center to secure core technologies and cultivate highly skilled professionals for the transition to carbon neutrality.
Building on more than a decade of partnership and mutual trust, the new LOTTE x KAIST R&D CENTER expands the relationship through shared research infrastructure supporting collaborative research, future technology development, and commercialization.
The building has six floors above ground and one basement level, with a total floor area of approximately 4,298 square meters. Its open laboratories and collaborative spaces are designed to encourage researchers to work together and exchange ideas freely across disciplines and organizational boundaries.
Research at the center will focus on three areas, all united by the shared goal of creating a sustainable future.
The first area, Bio Sustainability, will apply systems metabolic engineering to develop sustainable biotechnology solutions, including biofuels and bioplastics that can replace conventional fossil resources.
The second area, Carbon Neutral Energy, Materials, and Processes, will focus on core technologies needed for a carbon neutral society, including green hydrogen, renewable energy, batteries, advanced materials, and industrial processes.
The third area, Advanced Food and Healthcare, will explore emerging technologies in future foods and health care to develop new solutions for a healthier and more sustainable society.
Artificial intelligence will be integrated throughout the center’s research to accelerate the discovery of new materials and technologies, and improve the speed and efficiency of R&D. Through this approach, the center will extend KAIST’s “AI Native Campus” strategy into practical research settings.
In addition to shared research facilities for LOTTE and KAIST researchers, the center houses Shin Dongbin Hall, a venue dedicated to communication and exchange among researchers. KAIST plans to use the center as a home base for expanding an open innovation ecosystem in which academic researchers and industry partners work together at every stage, from identifying problems and conducting R&D to demonstration and commercialization.
Congratulating KAIST on the completion of the center, LOTTE Group Chairman Shin Dongbin said, “I hope the R&D center will become a hub for collaboration between industry and academia, transcending the boundaries between universities and businesses and unlocking even greater possibilities. LOTTE will remain a steadfast partner, empowering faculty and students to pursue bold ideas, take on new challenges, and conduct research without the fear of failure.”
KAIST President Choongsik Bae said, “I am deeply grateful to LOTTE for its longstanding support of KAIST’s education and research, and for its continued partnership. Today marks not only the completion of a building, but the beginning of a new chapter in our collaboration. By combining KAIST’s research excellence with LOTTE’s industrial and commercialization capabilities, we will turn ideas and technologies born in the laboratory into tangible value in the marketplace. Together, we will create new engines of growth for Korea and develop solutions for a sustainable future.”
2026.09.14 View 1614 -
Lotte Group Chairman Dong-Bin Shin Awarded Honorary Doctorate
< Chairman Dong-Bin Shin (left) receives the degree certificate from KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee (right). >
KAIST announced on the 26th that it awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration to Lotte Group Chairman Dong-Bin Shin at its main campus in Daejeon on the 25th.
Chairman Dong-Bin Shin, who received the Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration, is a leading South Korean business figure who has led sustainable corporate growth amidst a rapidly changing global business environment. As Chairman of Lotte Group, Chairman Shin has stably sophisticated the group's traditional business foundations centered on retail and consumer goods, while concentrating strategic capabilities on core areas that will determine future competitiveness, such as chemicals/materials, eco-friendly energy, and digital transformation.
KAIST stated, “Chairman Dong-Bin Shin has practiced responsible management by taking Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) as a core pillar of management under the recognition that corporate performance cannot be separated from society,” and added, “We awarded the honorary doctorate in high evaluation of his efforts in materializing industrial transformation and social value creation based on science and technology through systems and execution.” Furthermore, the importance of the process in which the results of technological innovation are practically diffused to society and users, which has been reflected in his management strategy, was also cited as a background for this conferment decision.
Chairman Dong-Bin Shin has contributed to the creation of science and technology research infrastructure and the establishment of a foundation for convergence research through industry-academia cooperation with KAIST. Lotte Group donated 14 billion KRW in development funds to KAIST to establish the ‘LOTTE–KAIST R&D Center’ and the ‘LOTTE–KAIST Design Center,’ thereby laying the groundwork for multidisciplinary convergence research in core areas required by future society, such as carbon neutrality technology, bio-sustainability, energy/materials, and healthcare.
In particular, this cooperation was evaluated as an execution-oriented industry-academia cooperation model that links research infrastructure construction, medium-to-long-term research agenda setting, and the diffusion of research results into industry and society. Along with technical research centered on the R&D Center, the Design Center has played a role in expanding the social usability of technological research by focusing on the process through which research results are delivered to society and users. This has contributed to strengthening KAIST’s research competitiveness and establishing a virtuous cycle in which research results spread as social values.
Chairman Dong-Bin Shin said, "The convergence of technology and management through industry-academia cooperation is no longer a choice but a survival strategy," and added, "I hope that the journey of Lotte and KAIST, as innovation partners designing the future together, will lead to innovations that change the world for the better."
< Chairman Dong-Bin Shin delivering a speech after receiving his Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration. >
President Kwang Hyung Lee stated, “Chairman Dong-Bin Shin is a person who has presented a new role for companies through responsible management that connects science and technology, industry, and social value,” and added, “We awarded the Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration in high recognition of his contribution to expanding research infrastructure and building a foundation for convergence research through industry-academia cooperation with KAIST.”
2026.02.26 View 5107