KIAT - beyond leading technology

The Korea Institute of Industrial Technology has developed a world-first technology for efficiently recycling titanium metal using hydrogen plasmas and electromagnetic induction. 

The Korean government has announced plans to visit Mars by 2040.

Korea is already embarking on building its own complete launch vehicle by 2020, having previously relied in part on Russian technology.

Now, it plans to add middle-orbit and geostationary orbit capabilities, and then to undertake missions to Mars and asteroids.

Korea is already a major chip manufacturer, and two of the leading companies continue to develop new products to keep ahead of the pack. 

SK Hynix, the world's second largest chip manufacturer, has developed a low power DDR3 6 gigabyte chip. It announced that the chip's speed is 1866 Mbps, and in a single channel it can handle 7.4 gig per second. In a dual channel, it can handle close to 15 gigabyte. 

Korean scientists from the universities of Gyeongsang National \ and Chung Ang have developed a new polymer material that can stretch as well as bend. 

Not only that, but the new material has the highest rate of charge carrier mobility (how fast it can be switched on and off) that can be used in AMOLED displays.

Hyosung, a major textile manufacturer in Korea, has announced its 10 year research into advanced plastics has culminated in production facilities capable of producing 1000 tons of Polyketone annually.

It could soon be reality to drive 800km on one electric charge due to some research conducted at the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology. 

For the first time, a possible gasoline substitute has been made from bacteria. Using EColi bacteria, a team of researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has developed a new technology that uses the bacteria’s ability to turn sugars and fatty acid into oil to produce a gasoline type fuel.

Korea’s government has recently announced a range of high-tech measures to help street markets and mom and pop stores compete in and thrive in the 21st century.

It will provide big data solutions to these vendors to ensure that agricultural and fish product distribution is streamlined and efficient, and it will open up various databases to allow market holders and small stores to get the same price and product information as larger enterprises.

According to the International Telecommunication Union 2013 ICT Development Index, Korea leads the pack when it comes to ICT for the fourth straight year.

The Nordic countries took the next few places, and Europe dominates the ICT top 10. But Korea improved its overall score from last year, coming first in categories such as houses connected to the Internet and application to ensure it remains the world leader in ICT. 

Korean firm Posco Energy has developed a technology to capture boil-off gas generated during the Liquefied Natural Gas purification process and turn it into 300KW fuel cells, which can then be used to save a significant amount of electricity during the re-liquefaction process. It believes the technology is the first of its kind in the world.

The world’s first low temperature Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system for ships has been developed by Doosan Engine of Korea.

Existing SCR systems, which reduce harmful engine emissions, operate at very high temperatures and need to be located in close proximity to the engine. The new system however can be located anywhere, and operates at much lower temperatures.

Low quality coal has always been considered pretty much useless. Despite being relatively cheap, it produces too much pollution and not enough energy.

But that might be about to change. South Korean conglomerate SK Innovation has created new technology that removes the dangerous pollutants and other impurities from low quality coal, allowing the resultant product to be manufactured into chemical and oil products.