KERC: Horizon Europe gets spotlight at the Europe-Korea S&T Conference 2024

Last week, the Korea-EU Research Centre (KERC) participated in ‘Europe-Korea Conference on Science and Technology (EKC) 2024’. The EKC 2024 was held in the United Kingdom at the University of Warwick from 29 July to 2 August with the theme of ‘Impact, Innovation, and Connectivity for transforming Tomorrow Together’.

Following the announcement of Korea’s association to Horizon Europe in March 2024, Horizon Europe became the central topic of the conference. At the opening ceremony, Ms. Signe Ratso, Deputy Director General of DG RTD gave a keynote speech introducing Horizon Europe to Korean scientists.

Special session on ‘International collaboration for Fostering Frontier Research’ discussed the way to enhance Korea-EU research cooperation through Horizon Europe, and a Korean researcher based in UK shared his experience as a Horizon project coordinator.

Also two sessions were organized and chaired by Dr. Hyong-ha KIM (Principal Research Scientist at KRISS, NCP for ERC) focusing on ‘Frontier Research & Career Opportunities through EU grants’. In one session, representatives from European Commission led by Ms. Ratso introduced research opportunities under EU Horizon Europe such as European Research Council (ERC) grants and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). In the other session, Korean ERC grantees and MSCA fellows shared their journey, experiences and know-how.

Dr. Woohyun CHO, the Director General of the KERC, participated as a speaker and a discussion panel in two sessions organized by ‘Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI)’ and ‘Korea Institute of Science and Technology Europe (KIST Europe)’. He provided practical advice on activities and support to promote Korean participation in Horizon Europe.

Through out the event, the KERC met with several researchers that are interested in participating in Horizon Europe project and provided them with relevant information. Additionally, it was a great opportunity to meet Europe-based Korean scientists who already participated in EU’s Research & Innovation projects and collect practical example cases.

*The EKC is an annual conference where around thousand Korean scientists gathers from all across Europe and Korea, especially from the nine Korean scientists and engineers association in Europe. The nine associations are in the UK (KOSEAUK), France (ASCoF), Austria (KOSEAA), Germany (VeKNI), Finland (KOSES), Scandinavia (KSSEA), the Netherlands (KOSEANL), Switzerland (KSEAS) and Belgium (KOSEAbe). 

In addition to attending EKC, the KERC has also been involved in other activities that promote scientific cooperation with European and UK counterparts, together with the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).
On 31 July, Signe Ratso, Deputy Director General (DG RTD, European Commission) and KwangJun Ryu, Vice Minister (MSIT) held a meeting to discuss progress of procedure of Korea’s association to Horizon Europe. At the meeting both sides promised to expedite internal process in order to bring forward the signing of Association Agreement.

In the afternoon, the delegation visited the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and had a opportunity to meet renowned researchers, including Prof. JongMin Kim (former senior vice president and  vice president in Samsung Electronics Corporate R&D Centre),  Prof. Andrew Flewitt, Prof. Andrea Ferrari and so on.

The next day, Korean delegation lead by Vice Minister Ryu visited ‘the Royal Society’ and ‘Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)’ to discuss ongoing partnerships, review the implementation and identify potential collaboration in the future. Both UK counterparts sent congratulatory messages on Korea’s association to Horizon Europe and expressed their hope to further expand cooperation with Korea through EU research programme.