Institute for Future Strategy – Future of Science and Technology Cluster
First-Year Research Report
This report provides a comprehensive summary of the first-year research outcomes conducted by the Future of Science and Technology Cluster of the Institute for Future Strategy at Seoul National University. It begins from the shared recognition that science and technology are not only the core engines of national development but also the central axis of the U.S.–China power rivalry. As major advanced economies are developing long-term strategies under the banner of “technological sovereignty,” Korea too must establish its own technological sovereignty.
In today’s world, technology has become so complex that no single country can possess every critical component domestically. Hence, the discussion on technological sovereignty must prioritise strategies for collaboratively securing national core technological capacities within the global innovation ecosystem. To implement this vision of collaborative technological sovereignty, two foundational steps are necessary.
First, Korea must build tech intelligence capabilities to identify its core technologies, monitor their current status, and track their evolving trends from the perspective of technological sovereignty.
Second, efforts must be made to determine the specific domains and optimal partners for international collaboration in each key technological field.
Becoming a technological leader nation means breaking away from conventional roadmaps and textbooks to create new technological trajectories that other nations will follow. To achieve this transformation, the foremost task is to ask challenging and forward-looking questions that express the determination to generate new roadmaps across all areas of science and technology.
As a pilot project, the Science and Technology Futures Cluster selected ten advanced fields and launched a Grand Quest initiative to identify the most pressing and transformative questions in each. The ten selected areas are:
quantum information science, hydrogen production and utilisation, trust-based artificial intelligence, evolutionary artificial intelligence, next-generation semiconductors, next-generation antibody technology, next-generation secondary batteries, soft robotics, and next-generation cryptography.
In addition, the Cluster hosted a future-generation dialogue forum exploring the essential questions that Korean society—and humanity at large—must confront as rapidly advancing digital technologies envelop everyday life like air itself. Through group discussions, five conceptual keywords emerged: “Attention Ownership,” “Non-Human Relationships,” “Digital Houyhnhnms,” “Homo Vanitas,” and “Dimmigration.”
Through these ongoing initiatives—Collaborative Technological Sovereignty, Grand Quest, and Future Generation Dialogue—the Future of Science and Technology Cluster seeks to generate ideas and questions that can serve as catalysts for Korea’s transition from a follower to a leader in science, technology, and beyond.
Keywords:
Science and technology, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, secondary batteries, robotics, collaborative technological sovereignty, Grand Quest, future-generation dialogue
