On November 20, 2009, Kim Heung-Nam was inaugurated as the new President of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) at the National Assembly's Lecture Hall.
ETRI is a non-profit government-funded research institute that was established in 1976. The research institute specializes in information and communication technology and has been a large contributor in making Korea one of the world's top leaders in advanced information and communications. Some of ETRI's developments include the Electronic Telephone Switch (TDX), 4M/16M/64M DRAM memory semiconductors, commercialization of "the Digital Mobile Telecommunications System (CDMA), Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), WiBro technology, and NoLA technology.
Kim Heung-Nam has been a member of ETRI since 1998. He started off as a member of the S/W & Content Research Laboratory and became chief of the team by 2003. Recently, he studied Business Strategy & Innovation at MIT.
During the inauguration speech, the newly appointed President Kim stated, "At the moment, the technological environment is changing due to new technology, the economy, and society. However, we must learn to recognize these situations at ETRI and become the leaders in recognizing IT convergence and R&D innovation. Also, to achieve ETRI's vision, we must create new strategies, draw up new ideas for open R&BD platforms, create new technology businesses and systems, expand real estate businesses and innovation capital, and continuously analyze the constantly changing circumstances, innovations, and ideas of technology."