Samsung honors 10 researchers for contributions to science, innovation
Awardees and participants pose during the Samsung Science & Technology Annual Forum 2026 in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics has recognized 10 researchers for their contributions to fundamental science and technological innovation, presenting awards for the first time since launching its technology research support program in 2013.
The researchers were honored at Samsung Science & Technology Annual Forum 2026, held Thursday in southern Seoul. The event drew about 450 researchers and leaders from the scientific community.
The 10 awardees were selected from 644 completed projects in basic science and materials and ICT, based on their research quality, potential for further development, professional growth and contributions to academia and industry.
Four researchers were recognized in basic science, including Oh Sung-jin, a mathematics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lee Hyun-woo, a physics professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology.
Six others were selected in materials science and ICT, including Kim Bong-soo, a chemistry professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Choi Jang-wook, a biological engineering professor at Seoul National University, and Hwang Sung-ju, an artificial intelligence (AI) and computing professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
During the forum, the awardees shared research findings spanning the mathematical stability of black holes to advances in aqueous batteries for safer energy storage and new computing architecture to ease bottlenecks for AI data centers.
The company said the awardees will receive technical advice, opportunities to collaborate with industry experts, mentoring on technology commercialization and intellectual property and support for follow-up research.
It will also help organize workshops, bringing together leading researchers to exchange ideas and discuss developments in their fields, giving them a platform to share their research findings and insights more widely across academia and industry.
"The accumulation of researchers' creative and challenging work over the past 14 years has produced meaningful achievements that are driving advances in Korea's science and technology," Kuk Young, chairman of Samsung Science & Technology Foundation, said during the event.
"We will continue to support researchers so they can freely explore new possibilities and expand the frontiers of future science and technology."
The future technology development program has provided a total of 1.2 trillion won ($894.5 million) in funding for 916 research projects over the past 13 years, involving more than 17,000 researchers, including professors, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students.
The company has also expanded its support beyond research funding to include expert mentoring and assistance with technology commercialization, helping some projects develop into businesses.
Its beneficiaries include Proteina, an AI-driven antibody drug development platform company that went public on the Kosdaq last year, and MangoBoost, an AI infrastructure startup that designs data processing units to coordinate networking, storage and AI accelerators in data centers.