Hankook & Company extends MOU with KAIST to continue operation of HK-KAIST Digital Innovation Center

- Agrees to press forward with second phase of HK-KAIST Digital Innovation Center with KAIST to develop technology-based innovation capabilities
- Follows first phase of industry-academia partnership leading to successful applications using digital technologies incorporating AI and IoT
- Second phase designed to foster creative talent and technological innovation through seven new projects

Seoul, Korea, May 18, 2021 – Hankook & Company Co., Ltd., the holding company of Hankook Tire & Technology Co., Ltd., extended its agreement with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) to continue the operation of the HK-KAIST Digital Innovation Center today at HANKOOK TECHNODOME in Daejeon, Korea. The partnership seeks to strengthen the cooperation to secure future growth engines and technology-based innovation capabilities.

KAIST is the leading science and technology university in South Korea. Hankook signed the first agreement with KAIST in 2019 and established HK-KAIST Digital Innovation Center, a joint venture based on industry-academia cooperation to accelerate R&D and digital technology competence through digital transformation. Prominent professors from KAIST led by Professor Youngjae Jang of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department who also serves as Head of the Digital Innovation Center have been closely involved in the projects that address innovation in production and R&D through the application of new digital technologies.

In its first two years, the HK-KAIST Digital Innovation Center carried out 12 research projects which led to significant, immediately adoptable achievements that benefited Hankook’s R&D and production capabilities. A few examples includes Virtual Compound Design (VCD) System which predicts the characteristics of tire compound using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automatic Inspection Process applied with digital sensors, and Hankook Condition Monitoring System Plus (CMS+) which detects facility anomaly in advance using AI and IoT.

Through the extended cooperation that commences today, Hankook and KAIST will focus on expanding the joint study using various data from seven new projects. These experiments include the likes of ‘AI Reverse Engineering of Recipes and Automated Big Data Model Building’, ‘Development of Machine Learning Model for Predicting Compound Property Based on Molecular Structure’ and ‘Technology Development for Advancing Virtual Prediction Based on AI’.

Hankook & Company and KAIST will also cooperate to develop innovative technologies and foster creative talent that meet the needs of industrial sites. Moreover, Hankook & Company is running its own executive training program for digital innovation to improve internal digital capabilities as well as training programs to foster internal experts on AI and big data.

In addition to the achievements made in cooperation with KAIST, Hankook has demonstrated its relentless drive for innovation based on best-in-class technology. Examples include a joint development with SK Planet, a leading Data & Test company, to build a real-time road risk detection and notification solution based on AI which was recognized by the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to be implemented on the roads in Korea, and a partnership with UB1st, a leading fleet management service provider in Korea, to develop tire technologies and fleet management solutions using real-time data.