Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Daesung Group holds forum to highlight bio innovation in AI era
Daesung Group Chairman Kim Young-hoon delivers his opening speech for the 2025 Daesung Haegang Science Forum in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Daesung Group
By Nam Hyun-woo
Daesung Group, an energy and environment conglomerate, held the 2025 Daesung Haegang Science Forum in Seoul on Tuesday, highlighting the latest biotechnology innovations in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).
Marking its eighth edition this year, the annual forum explored the theme “Bio-Innovation in the AI Era,” bringing together experts and industry leaders to share their insights on the convergence of AI and biotechnology and their future development trajectory.
At the forum, Lee Sang-yup, vice president for research at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, delivered a keynote speech under the title “AI for Biological Engineering.” He presented practical strategies and case studies on how AI is being utilized in biological engineering research and development.
University of Toronto professor Philip Kim followed with a presentation on protein engineering with AI, while Kakao Healthcare CEO Hwang Hee discussed how AI and big data are driving innovation in digital health care.
Daesung Group Chairman Kim Young-hoon delivers his opening speech for the 2025 Daesung Haegang Science Forum in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Daesung Group
“The convergence of AI and biotechnology is expected to bring innovative and disruptive technologies to the field of life sciences,” Daesung Group Chairman Kim Young-hoon said.
“Through such advances, I hope we can move closer to realizing humanity’s dream of life extension while strengthening Korea’s national competitiveness through its proprietary biotechnology.”
Daesung Group has been making aggressive strategic investments into AI and biotechnology through its subsidiary, Daesung Private Equity.
Among its portfolio companies, 1STBIO is enhancing the accuracy of novel drug development by utilizing AI, and has recently established cooperation with Nvidia for an AI-driven drug discovery model. Another portfolio firm, Qureator, has introduced a technology that combines organ-on-a-chip and AI to precisely replicate human disease environments, significantly reducing failure rates in clinical trials.