2019 ASTi Leaders Forum & 10th Anniversary of ASTi

KISTI has hosted 2019 ASTi Leaders Forum in Daejeon, Korea, on October 29. ASTi, the Association of Science and Technology Information, is a nationwide consultative group of SMEs, and the association has marked its 10th anniversary this year. It is the biggest network linking industries, universities, and research institutes in Korea. It is hosted by KISTI annually in order to not only share activities and results of ASTi but also discuss strategies of development of SMEs from the network.

ASTi was established in October 2009 to provide and share information for SMEs' successful engineering development and technology commercialization. For the last 10 years, KISTI has been supporting 1,710 enterprises and contributed to 2,781 new employment, 402 new technology developments, and 489 new product developments. KISTI has striven to strengthen the foundation such as R&D for regional pending issues and data-based service innovation for regional specialized industries.

This forum includes presentations and panel discussion. Professor Chang-Kyung Kim of the division of materials science and engineering of Hanyang University has given a special lecture of SME's strategies to survive from the hegemony conflict between USA and China and the economic warfare between Korea and Japan. After that, Ho-shin Lee, the manager of the division of fusion and innovation of regions of KISTI has announced the policies and results of KISTI's support to SMEs and the future of ASTi. Finally, panel discussion has been held in the title of ASTi's development and KISTI's supporting policies.