Since 2024, Fraunhofer IKTS has been a direct cooperation partner for the two Korean project management agencies KIAT and KEIT, which are based in the South Korean Ministry of Economic Affairs, and has been designing bilateral FuE programs with them. For this purpose, the “K-FAST - Korea Fraunhofer Office of Science and Technology” was established at IKTS as a bridge between South Korean partners and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. K-FAST was initially initiated jointly by eight Fraunhofer Institutes and is now effective for the entire Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft as part of a membership model.

With TIPA (Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs), Fraunhofer IKTS is now planning to set up a cooperation system specifically for small and medium-sized Korean companies as part of its K-FAST activities in order to increase their competitiveness through technological innovation. First of all, the partners want to identify the technological needs of Korean SMEs and start-ups as well as the Fraunhofer member institutes of K-FAST in order to then form high-quality consortia on this basis through targeted matchmaking and initiate joint R&D projects (research and development). The focus of the R&D program is on future technologies such as semiconductors, biotechnology, AI and hydrogen.

"K-FAST has become an integrated inter-ministerial platform for global R&D cooperation in South Korea," said Dr. Tae-Young (Rick) Han, Manager for New Business Development Asia/Korea at Fraunhofer IKTS and Managing Director of K-FAST. "In the future, we plan to develop more programs through cooperation with other ministries, and we look forward to many Fraunhofer institutes conducting R&D projects under the cooperation platform of IKTS and K-FAST."