LG

■ Innovative technology contest for universities and research institutes around the world
□ Submissions accepted on the contest website from Jan 25 to Mar 31
 
■ This year, awards offered in 4 areas in energy and future materials including sustainability and DX
 
■ Up to 150,000 USD for R&D expenses to be supported annually, as well as opportunities for human and technology exchange
 
■ CTO Jiyoung Yoo, “By combining the strengths of LG Chem with external technological capacities, we will achieve innovation that can impress and satisfy future customers”
 
 
LG Chem will search out global sustainable innovation technologies to procure future growth engines.
 
Regarding this, LG Chem announced on the 19th that it will host the ‘3rd GIC (Global Innovation Contest)’ for prominent universities and research institutes both in Korea and abroad.
 
GIC is a technology contest that LG Chem holds for the entire world, which is the first of its kind in the Korean chemical industry, with the aim of finding outstanding and innovative technologies.
 
LG Chem is scheduled to receive innovative technology ideas in four areas such as Energy, Sustainability, Advanced Materials, and DX (Digital Transformation) from January 25 to March 31.
 
LG Chem added sustainability and DX as a new area this year needed for its future growth according to its vision ‘We connect science to life for a better future.’
 
The contest themes for each field are as follows:
 
The Energy sector is made up the themes of ▲next-generation cathodes and ▲solid electrolytes that significantly improved the performance, life and safety of batteries for e-mobility including electric vehicles.
 
The Sustainability sector is made up of the themes of ▲white bio that develops eco-friendly plastics using bio-resources including plants as raw materials and ▲recycling, energy conservation and wastes, carbon emissions reduction, etc. including PCR (post-consumer recycled materials).
 
Advanced technologies in the life sciences sector such as ▲protein engineering that artificially engineers proteins for better functions, ▲new drug discovery, etc. are also invited.
 
The Advanced Material sector includes ▲super insulation materials such as aerogels that are gaining attention as a high-tech insulation material used for satellites, automobiles, etc., ▲disposable gloves with highly elastic biodegradable plastic materials, ▲thermosetting materials that are strong against heat, hard, and light, thus being used for making lighter automobiles, and ▲next-generation plastic process and engineering, etc.
 
Lastly, the DX (Digital Transformation) sector will invite ideas on the theme of ▲lab automation that automatically analyzes lab data using artificial intelligence (AI).
 
Applicants can also suggest ideas for areas that require innovative solutions in addition to the aforementioned areas.
 
Any scholar or researcher, both in Korea and abroad, who are interested in developing innovative next-generation technologies or in creating industry-academia collaboration research achievements can apply by submitting their technological proposal via the official contest website (www.rnd.lgchem.com/global/gic).
 
LG Chem plans to focus on selecting research projects that can provide practical synergy effects with the mid- to long-term strategies of each business division by organizing internal experts and selection committees.
 
In addition, the final project will be selected by evaluating proposals considering the innovation and commercialization of the corresponding technologies. The finally selected projects will be notified to individual applicants during July.
 
The selected universities or research institutes will receive funding of up to 150,000 USD annually for R&D expenses, which is the largest amount among Korean chemical companies, during the research period and also be offered opportunities for technological exchange and dispatch of researchers to LG Chem for the effective implementation of the project.
 
LG Chem has been hosting the Global Innovation Contest for academia and research institutes since 2018 and has selected over 30 innovation projects from prominent foreign universities including Harvard, Stanford, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to provide support such as research project funding and technological exchange.
 
LG Chem CTO Jiyoung Yoo stated, “This GIC has significant meaning in that LG Chem promotes innovation technology and develops future businesses in the R&D stages by cooperating with academic circles through open innovation.”
 
Yoo added, “By combining the strengths of LG Chem with external technological capacities, we will achieve innovation that can impress and satisfy our future customers.”
 
Meanwhile, LG Chem is also inviting research projects for new professors at domestic universities. Innovative technologies related to LG Chem’s business fields will be invited from February 1 to March 31 and selected professors will receive up to 80 million KRW in R&D expenses annually.