2021 marks the 50^th anniversary of the founding of KAIST. Starting from February, KAIST celebrates its golden jubilee through a series of events to honor the institution’s achievements in education, research, and innovation throughout the years. The commemoration started with the KAIST Summit and “Pioneers 2071” international students conference, followed by the 50^th Innoversary Ceremony and the KAIST International Symposium.

Despite the online environment created by the ongoing pandemic, KAIST managed to bring together its members and guests from all over the world to reflect on the 50-year-long journey that led to KAIST becoming a world-class institution and to set the vision for the next 50 years. The KAIST Summit took place on February 3. The summit, titled “The Roles and Responsibilities of Universities in a Global Crisis”, revolved around the discussion of the shifting position and function of educational institutions in a post-COVID-19 world. The leaders of three world-renowned universities joined President Sung-Chul Shin as keynote speakers during the event: L. Rafael Reif, president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kazuya Masu, president of Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Morton Schapiro, president of Northwestern University. The speakers stressed that universities are in a unique position to contribute to the world in the long run and urged for innovations to keep pace with the changing times. After their presentations, the speakers participated in a panel discussion featuring topics including the digital divide, novel challenges in the development and adaptation of AI, and collaboration between universities and industries for social entrepreneurship. The discussion was followed by a Q&A session from the audience consisting of KAIST students, alumni, and prospective students watching the event online. 

Notwithstanding the current situation with restrictions on public events, KAIST has made a great effort to involve its student body in the celebration of the anniversary. From February 2 to 7, the university hosted an international student conference titled “Pioneers 2071: Questioning the Next 50 Years”. Fueled by the sudden situation that the world has had to face as a result of the global outbreak, the conference aimed to provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to explore potential global crises that might emerge in the next 50 years and propose innovative solutions to undertake them. Participating student teams were presented with three scenarios of potential calamities in the fields of climate change, pandemic, and AI in education and economics. At the conference, the teams introduced their ideas and solutions to these problems and debated the effectiveness of each proposal. The winners of each division received monetary awards. 

The events in February were wrapped up on February 16 with the 50^th Innoversary Ceremony and the KAIST International Symposium. During the Innoversary Ceremony, KAIST stated the shift in its mission from facilitating national growth to supporting global growth. As a part of fulfilling this mission, President Shin elaborated the institution’s aspirations for the next 50 years, among which is “The 10-10-10 Dream”. “The 10-10-10 Dream” alludes to the plan of enrolling 10 professors in the Singularity Professorship program, producing 10 startups valued at 10 trillion KRW each, and operating KAIST campuses in 10 countries. As an invited speaker, President of South Korea Moon Jae-in gave a congratulatory speech during the ceremony, in which he highlighted the fact that KAIST made a significant contribution to the advancement of South Korea by fostering innovations in science and technology. Dr. Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, and Dr. Kun-mo Chung, who proposed the idea of establishing the first science and technology institution in Korea, were also among the invited guests.

The International Symposium was divided into two sessions. In the first session, President Shin participated in the keynote speech and panel discussion along with Caltech president Thomas F. Rosenbaum and ETH Zurich president Joel Mesot. The panelists discussed what universities can do to stay relevant and foster innovation in the next 50 years. In the second session, themed as “KAIST for the Global Community”, diplomats from the US, UAE, Kenya, Denmark, Pakistan, Egypt, and the UK shared their insights on the importance of international collaboration among governments, universities, and organizations for symbiotic growth.