The International Workshop on EEWS took place over two days from October 7 to 8 in the KI Building’s Fusion Hall at KAIST. The theme for this year’s conference was “Creating New Industries with EEWS” aimed at exploring new research areas and innovative technologies in alliance with leading research institutes and industry partners.

2010 marks the third year that this workshop has been held. This year’s workshop was attended by National Science Foundation STC Water CAMPWS director and University of Illinois professor Mark Shannon, as well as some 40 other academic and industry professionals, including Doyoung Seung, Senior Vice President of GS Caltex; Dong Sub Kim, head of SK Energy Institute of Technology; and Tokyo University professor Domen Kazunari..

The workshop was organized into four sets of three parallel track sessions. During the 12 sessions at this year’s workshop the topics discussed were artificial photosynthesis, next generation LEDs, wireless power transfer, safe nuclear technologies, green aviation, fuel cells, and flexible batteries and solar cells. Among the sessions held were “Solar Fuel Production based on Photocatalytic Water Splitting” by Professor Domen Kazunari; “Photoelectrochemical Water Treatment Coupled with Environmental Sustainability via Solar Fuels Production” by Professor Michael Hoffman of Caltech and “Solid State Lighting: Economics, Science, and Technology” by Professor Jung Han of Yale University.

Dean of the KAIST EEWS Initiative Jae Kyu Lee stated that, “During this workshop, we will review various countries’ policies and states of research regarding EEWS and green growth, and the future of relevant technologies,” and expressed his “wish to take this opportunity to form alliances with leading researchers.”

EEWS, which stands for Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability, is a research initiative headed by KAIST in order to tackle the challenges of the 21st century regarding energy depletion, environmental pollution, water shortage, and sustainable growth.