R&I Cooperation

How Korea and the EU are collaborating in Research and Innovation?

The Cooperation between EU and Korea is important for both sides as there is strong potential to work for mutual benefit in a wide range of areas.

South Korea can be considered as one of the EU's closest international partners. South Korea is the only country in the world to have economic, political, security, and digital agreements with the EU in effect.

These consist of the Strategic Partnership and Framework Agreement(2010), the Free Trade Agreement(2011) and the Framework Participation Agreement for EU crisis management operations(2014), as well as a Digital Partnership Agreement(2022).

The R&I cooperation between EU and Korea has performed more than 140 joint research projects since 2007. Until now, Korea has involved in Horizon 2020 as 84 projects. And now the talk on participation of Korea to Horizon Europe as an associated country is developing.

The EC’s Joint Research Centre also cooperates with Korean Institutions mainly in the fields of health, measurement science, energy and transport, construction standards, nuclear safety and security.

On 14 February 2022 at the 7th EU-ROK Joint S&T Cooperation committee meeting, EU and Korea addressed ICT, Health/BIO, Climate Change and Emerging Future Technology, Research Hub, and Human capital development as five priority areas for cooperation.

On 28 November 2022, a new Digital Partnership between the European Union and the Republic of Korea was launched. This future-oriented partnership will strengthen the cooperation between trusted and technologically advanced partners in the digital area that is crucial for the sustainable advance of European and Korean economies, and for our trade and investment ties. It will foster joint work on semiconductors, next generation mobile networks, quantum and High-Performance Computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, platforms, data and skills.

On 22 May 2023 at the 10th Korea-EU Summit, the European Commission and the Republic of Korea have launched formal negotiations on Korea's association to Horizon Europe, the EU's Framework Programme for research and innovation. An association would mark another milestone for the EU-Korea Strategic Partnership and support the implementation of the EU-Korea Digital and Green Partnerships.

Korea-EU Joint Research Compilation (2020)

KERC collected the examples of Korea-EU joint research in Horizon 2020 supported by National Research Foundation of Korea through 'Korea-EU Joint Research Support Programme' and 'EU Cooperation Promotion Programme.' 

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