The foundation stone for a large-scale cooperation with South Korea was laid in Saarbrücken on Wednesday, 28 August. CISPA Founding Director Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael Backes, KAIST President Dr. Sung Shul Shin, KAIST Graduate School Speaker Prof. Insik Shin and KIST Europe Director Junkyung Kim signed a Memorandum of understanding which defined the core topics and the common goals for the upcoming cooperation. It is a declaration of intent to get involved in joint projects on system and web security as well as cryptography in the future. Measures include regular mutual visits, joint publications and research projects.
But this was not just lip service. The new partners took direct action. Following the signing, the first joint seminar took place at the CISPA premises in Saarbrücken. The programme included lectures on the IT security policy, research landscape and standards in the two countries, subject-specific scientific workshops and a public panel discussion.
Two professors from Korea University and the National Programme Manager of IITP Korea spoke from the Korean side about policy, legal aspects and cooperation potential in the field of cyber security in Korea. There was also an interesting panel discussion entitled “German Korean Cybersecurity Research, Innovation, and Transfer” in the CISPA auditorium. To conclude this successful kick-off event, Consul General Doo-young Lee of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Bonn invited to a reception at KIST Europe.