Sungkyunkwan University selected to participate in National Research Lab project

Sungkyunkwan University’s Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Sungkyunkwan University

Sungkyunkwan University will participate in the National Research Lab (NRL) 2.0 project, a government initiative aimed at fostering world-class university-affiliated research institutes in Korea.

The university said Tuesday that its affiliated Sungkyun Intelligent Energy Solution National Research Laboratory has been selected for the NRL 2.0 initiative funded by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The government will provide the laboratory with 10 billion won ($6.46 million) in annual funding, with the total investment expected to reach 95 billion won over the next 10 years.

Led by chemical engineering professor Park Nam-gyu, the research institute plans to establish an intelligent energy platform that will integrate energy production, storage and utilization technologies with artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twin technologies.

The laboratory will also develop industry-tailored intelligent energy solutions to ensure a stable supply of energy and respond to highly variable loads such as AI data centers by integrating high-efficiency solar cells, next-generation energy storage systems (ESS), industrial electrification and AI-based digital twin technologies.

The university noted that the institute aims to develop fundamental technologies for “sovereign energy” to enhance national energy security and the country’s future industrial competitiveness, moving beyond energy independence and carbon neutrality.

It expects the technology development to establish a new paradigm for future energy systems and further improve the global competitiveness of Korea’s energy technologies.

A conceptual design of Sungkyunkwan University’s Sungkyun Intelligent Energy Solution National Research Laboratory, which will be constructed on the university’s Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Sungkyunkwan University

The laboratory will consist of 122 researchers representing the university’s key fields of energy, semiconductors, AI, power systems and systems engineering, including 40 faculty-level co-researchers and 82 researchers.

Through interdisciplinary convergence research, the institute is expected to make significant contributions to nurturing core professionals in the future energy sector, expanding global research and industry-academia collaboration and accelerating technology commercialization.

“Based on the innovation of fundamental research and the strengths of interdisciplinary collaboration, we will develop the institute into a national flagship research center that elevates Korea’s energy technologies to the highest global level,” Park said.

“By developing core sovereign energy technologies that integrate AI and energy technologies, we will contribute to securing both national energy security and industrial competitiveness.”

The university plans to leverage the National Research Lab project to strengthen its position as a global research hub in energy-AI convergence, accelerate efforts to secure future national strategic technologies and build a sustainable ecosystem for innovative research.