Nobel Laureate President of KAIST sees Opportunities
Nobel Laureate President of KAIST sees Opportunities
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  • 승인 2005.09.01 12:01
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Building relationships and synergies will be key factors As part of the magazine's special survey on the Daedeok R&D Special Zone, the Korea IT Times conducted a personal interview with the president of the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST), Prof. Robert Laughlin in his office on the sprawling KAIST campus, which is ideally situated at the gateway to the Daedeok valley. The recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1998 elaborated on the prospects for the new Special Zone, as well as his vision to raise KAIST's global status as a center for advanced scientific studies, similar to Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT).
KAIST, located on the outskirts of the city of Daejeon, about 150km south of Seoul is taking advantage of its geographical position, providing abundant opportunities for research and learning through collaboration and exchanges with institutions and organizations in Daejeon and Daedeok Valley. Q: After just over a year in your position as president of KAIST, how would you evaluate the development prospects of the Daedok Special R&D zone A: Obviously, there are good opportunities for KAIST's links with the Valley to be expanded if the Special Zone grows as planned. I believe some positive things will happen, but my guess is that it might ultimately be somewhat less than what Korea expects. I am not being pessimistic, but I know for a fact that people in high levels of government here understand some of the problems. The problems are not purely economic. The Special Zone is a good idea but I'm concerned about whether the synergy yet exists to make it work and whether Building relationships and synergies will be key factors the business incentives are sufficient. The key is relationships _ spending alone won't be enough. One thing that does work is attractive real estate tax breaks, which could have a positive effect in Daedeok. Q: How do you evaluate KAIST's prospects of becoming a world-class science technology university, and during your remaining tenure what still needs to be done to achieve your goals A: Well, to begin with, proper incentives are needed to encourage KAIST and other universities to make products, although naturally making discoveries is also important. What I mean by making products is things such as international reputation, good software systems and quality students. What is holding back KAIST and other universities here is the "legal" issue. Let me explain what I mean by this. University rules and practices need to be properly codified and clarified to ensure that people know what they can and cannot do. We're in the process of changing the property laws. I have fought for this to be done. For example, I discovered that even though KAIST owns certain properties and stocks, nobody is quite certain who actually owns these assets. Also, consultancy rules are rather muddled and not written down, so faculty members are not quite sure where the boundaries are exactly and they are thus averse to taking risks, as it is only usually decided only after they have done something new whether it is legal or illegal. The reality is that nobody takes a risk unless they feel that they will be rewarded for their efforts and profit from it. We have the brainpower but what is responsible for the relative underperformance is this issue of legal vagueness. This is why many of Korea's conglomerates like Samsung are doing well and the universities are not. In the first case there is a proper control structure and control channels while in the other there is not. People are reluctant to put things in writing in societies like Korea and Japan as they consider it too binding and they would prefer to make a telephone call instead. For this reason I took steps just last week to appoint KAIST's first legal counsel to assist in codifying and clarifying the universities rules and practices. In the United States, every university has a legal counsel, but this will be a first for Korea. It is clear what the key to fixing the problem is. A more market-oriented approach is needed, following the examples of MIT and Stanford, which also happen to be the university models favored by government circles here because of their success in creating spin-off venture companies. Q: Could you please tell our readers something about KAIST Vision 2010 A: Well, it is basically a growth plan, identifying some target technical and faculty areas for expansion. However, after my appointment as KAIST president, I pushed through some changes to the model and although it still on our Web site it has essentially become obsolete. My reason for saying this is that the rapid rise of China has changed all our previous economic formulas. With the hollowing out of industry here you will see more and more companies adopting survival strategies like those in the United States and Japan during the period of deindustrialization. What is more, over the next five years, the Korean government will probably put the squeeze on financial resources for the physical sciences, like we saw in the United States. However, I'm pleased to say that I succeeded in getting a large increase in our core budget this year for more research. For their investment the governments want to see more return in value, so, yes, I would agree with your remark that we can expect more commercialization of research efforts in the future. Q: In what ways do you see KAIST assisting in the development of Daedeok Valley in the years ahead A: What I'd like is greater international visibility for KAIST. The value of a university lies in the people, students and faculty, rather than in the technology it produces. Attracting sufficient bright students from here and overseas and feeding their minds will produce better results, with their potential to contribute to the nation's overall GNP when they leave and set up venture companies of their own. Q: What are your views a year down the track on the need to privatize KAIST and move away from over-dependence on government funding A: Well, as I mentioned earlier, the institutional rules need to be clarified in a more legalistic way. As far as the privatization issue is concerned, I walked the plank on this and in the end the people who count in government gave me their full support, because they agreed with me. They know what the problems are and what has been holding KAIST back.

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