President¡¯s Message

Global KITECH leading manufacturing innovation -
¡°KITECH will support SMEs to grow into hidden champions¡±

The flow of manufacturing innovation is accelerating.

¡°There is a new global divide between countries who understand innovative transformations and those that do not,¡± said Klaus Schwab, the founder and the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. It signifies that it is no longer meaningful to divide between small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) and large companies. A new divide between innovative companies and less innovative companies is becoming more important.

SMEs are fast in decision-making which helps them to adapt quickly in environmental changes. Their creativity and mobility help them to sustain technology innovation and fulfill market needs in the period of small quantity batch production. This is why we need to strengthen technology innovation of SMEs especially in the shift of paradigm.

KITECH was founded in 1989 to support industry sector especially SMEs as an application-oriented research institute and has been trying to take the lead in this flow. KITECH focuses on 3 key research areas: advanced manufacturing technology, industrial technology convergence, and sustainable manufacturing system technology. With an aim to strengthen field-oriented support for SMEs, we are running 3 research centers and 7 regional divisions.

We will together shape a future that gives vision to companies and faith to the people by pursuing constant innovation and trying to strengthen technology competitiveness of the SMEs.

Thank you.