On September 17, the University of San Diego (UCSD)-KAIST Symposium was held at the Matrix Hall in the KAIST Institutes Building (E4). The topic of the symposium was micro and nanotechnologies and electronics for the next-generation mobile, wearable, and Internet of Things (IoT) systems. The symposium was organized by KAIST Professor Inkyu Park and the speakers consisted of notable individuals from KAIST, UCSD, and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).

There were three speakers from UCSD, which included Professor Albert P. Pisano from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Professor Darren Lipomi from the Department of NanoEngineering, and Professor Patrick Mercier from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Professor Pisano, who is also the dean of Jacobs School of Engineering at UCSD, gave a presentation on trillion sensors and their applications. He covered a wide range of sensor technologies which are under development by various labs at UCSD. In addition, he outlined some of the programs available for the students at the Jacobs School of Engineering which assist in the initiation of startups which usually go on to become successful companies. Professor Lipomi talked about molecularly stretchable electronics for next-generation robust and wearable devices in energy and health care. He briefly explained how stretchable electronics applicable to wearable devices can be designed and manufactured. Professor Mercier, who is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of developing electronic devices with the minimum amount of power consumption, outlined how energy-autonomous wearable and implantable sensors can be enabled through energy harvesting and near-zero-power electronics. Also, he gave a detailed example on how energy harvesters planted in the ears of individuals can produce enough energy to power small electronics.

From KAIST, there were Professor Inkyu Park from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Professor Seunghyup Yoo from the School of Electrical Engineering, Professor Seokwoo Jeon from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Professor Young-Ho Cho from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering.

Professor Yoo talked about highly flexible electronics and Professor Park outlined his researches on low-power, flexible and ultra-compact physical and chemical sensors based on functional nanomaterials and nanocomposites. Professor Jeon gave a presentation about nanomaterials and nanostructures for flexible electronics, and Professor Cho introduced some research findings on flexible skin patches for human emotions monitoring.

Finally Dr. Ki-Uk Kyung, from the Creative Research Center for transparent transducer and UX at ETRI, presented some of the research being undertaken at ETRI concerning flexible and transparent devices for interactive user interfaces. Furthermore, several videos on ETRI’s recently developed flexible keyboards were shared with the symposium audience as well.