Brain-Computer Connection
With advanced countries having accelerated the development of new technologies that remotely control various devices with thinking by connecting the brain with a computer system, the South Korean government will start conducting joint research to secure relevant technologies in October.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) announced that it held the 12th meeting of the Korea-Russia Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation at Seoul Palace Hotel in Banpo, Seoul, on August 23 and agreed that the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea (ETRI) and the Institute for Information Transmission Problems (IITP) of Russia will jointly carry out research on the brain–computer interface. Moreover, the ministry added that the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Russia’s Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) will work together to research artificial intelligence. This is the first time that the research institutes of the two countries cooperate with research on the brain.
An official from the MSIP said, “The two countries will start the joint research on the brain and computer system and artificial intelligence in October after signing the memorandum of understanding (MOU). Russia has been rarely opening itself in the basic science sector but it is now taking a positive line on international cooperation due to its recent difficult economic situations. So, we took it as an opportunity for joint research.”
In addition, the MSIP said that the two governments would decide on new cooperative research projects by the end of this year and begin the projects within next year. Previously, the two countries have been conducting two research projects in the nanomaterial sector and two other research projects in the life science sector for two years and they will complete the four projects by January next year.
Choi Won-ho, general manager of International Coordination in the MSIP, said, “With the joint committee, we expect that the two countries will expand cooperation in science and technology further.” The next joint committee will take place in Moscow in 2018.