< Director Steve Ahn (Right) >
Steve Ahn, the Director of Startup KAIST, donated one hundred million KRW of development fund to his alma mater KAIST to increase entrepreneurship opportunities and nourish start-up culture on campus. Professor Ahn founded Leadis Technology Inc. in 2000, a fabless semiconductor company based in Silicon Valley that develops mobile phone sub-display applications. Leadis Technology Inc. made its stock market debut on the NASDAQ in 2004.
“KAIST produces many start-ups, however, entrepreneurial culture has yet to become a growth engine of KAIST, compared to education and research. Through invigorating entrepreneurial spirit and revitalizing start-up activities, KAIST should reclaim its leadership role in creating decent jobs and fuelling economic growth and competitiveness at home and abroad,” he said during the donation ceremony last month.
He added, “I am forever grateful to my alma mater KAIST for having provided me with a quality education. It was a valuable asset that helped me gain an opportunity to nurture the up-and-coming, next-generation scholars as a professor at KAIST. I decided to make this donation hoping that KAIST students will be given more entrepreneurship opportunities, and a healthy start-up ecosystem will be accelerated beyond KAIST.”
Director Ahn earned his bachelor’s degree in metallurgy from Seoul National University, followed by a master’s degree in materials engineering from KAIST. He received another master's degree in electrical engineering, and was granted a doctorate in materials engineering from Stanford University.
He has been mentoring start-up activities at Startup KAIST since 2014, and serving as the principal professor at K-School since 2016. From these activities, he was recognized for his academic achievements and committed leadership, which led him to be appointed as the Director of Startup KAIST in March 2019.
(END)
KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced on the 10th of April that it successfully promoted the world’s first ‘Space Sound Source Transmission Project’ based on media art at the KAIST Space Research Institute on April 9th through collaboration between Professor Jinjoon Lee of the Graduate School of Culture Technology, a world-renowned media artist, and the global K-Pop artist, G-Dragon. This project was proposed as part of the ‘AI Entertech Research Center’ be
2025-04-10KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced on the 9th that it will hold a signboard ceremony for the establishment of the ‘AI Entertech Research Center’ with the artificial intelligence entertech company, Galaxy Corporation (CEO Yong-ho Choi) at the main campus of KAIST. < (Galaxy Corporation, from center to the left) CEO Yongho Choi, Director Hyunjung Kim and related persons / (KAIST, from center to the right) Professor SeungSeob Lee of the Department of Mechanical Engineer
2025-04-09Immune checkpoint inhibitors, a class of immunotherapies that help immune cells attack cancer more effectively, have revolutionized cancer treatment. However, fewer than 20% of patients respond to these treatments, highlighting the urgent need for new strategies tailored to both responders and non-responders. KAIST researchers have discovered that 'DEAD-box helicases 54 (DDX54)', a type of RNA-binding protein, is the master regulator that hinders the effectiveness of immunotherapy—opening
2025-04-08Vision is one of the most crucial human senses, yet over 300 million people worldwide are at risk of vision loss due to various retinal diseases. While recent advancements in retinal disease treatments have successfully slowed disease progression, no effective therapy has been developed to restore already lost vision—until now. KAIST researchers have successfully developed a novel drug to restore vision. < Photo 1. (From left) Ph.D. candidate Museong Kim, Professor Jin Woo Kim, a
2025-03-31In silico analysis of five industrial microorganisms identifies optimal strains and metabolic engineering strategies for producing 235 valuable chemicals Climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels have raised the global need for sustainable chemical production. In response to these environmental challenges, microbial cell factories are gaining attention as eco-friendly platforms for producing chemicals using renewable resources, while metabolic engineering technologies to enhance these
2025-03-27