POSCO boosts ties with KEPCO, KT in IT, energy

POSCO Research Institute President Kwag Chang-ho, right, poses with Kim Rak-hyun, left, KEPCO Economy & Management Research Institute president, and KT Economics & Management Research Institute Senior Vice President Park Dae-su, center, after signing a memorandum of understanding to study the convergence between energy and ICT at POSCO’s headquarter in southern Seoul, Friday. / Courtesy of POSCO

By Park Jin-hai

Steelmaker POSCO, which recently announced a full-scale restructuring plan, has teamed up with KEPCO and KT to study the convergence of energy and information and communications technology (ICT).

The trio signed an agreement Friday whereby their respective research institutes will cooperate in energy, telecommunications, manufacturing and ICT, seeking new business strategies for overseas markets.

“Based on the achievements each research institute has independently accumulated so far, this will give us new opportunities to cooperate in various fields of study,” said Kwag Chang-ho, POSCO Research Institute (POSRI) president, during a signing ceremony at POSCO headquarters in Seoul, Friday.

POSRI, KT Economics & Management Research Institute(KTEMRI) and the KEPCO Economy & Management Research Institute will organize forums every two months where they will exchange views on global energy development trends, the overseas power business, convergence between energy and IT, long-term prospects for the renewable energy market and corporate governance.

In the first joint forum, which followed the signing ceremony, they talked about a “joint global energy business platform.”

“As we started the study on the need to create synergy in an era of convergence, we will do our utmost to make this the top think tank of Korea,” said Park Dae-su, senior vice president of KTEMRI.