News & Media

Korean Consul General visit marks growing collaboration between UOW and Korea

A delegation from Korea visited the University of Wollongong today (23 November) with a view to exploring new collaborative opportunities linked to the development of the AIIM Processing and Devices Facility under construction at the Innovation Campus.

The delegation includes the Korean Consul General, Woong Nam Kim, who was officially welcomed to UOW by Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gerard Sutton. Other delegates included Korean university representatives and Koreans from various commercial outlets.

The federally-funded $50 million Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM) -- Processing and Devices Facility is now being developed alongside the existing Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM Building).

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Judy Raper said there were currently no facilities available in Australia to produce multifunctional materials at the scale and quantity required to bridge that “valley of death” to commercialisation.

“With the development of this new facility, Australia now has the opportunity to transform multifunctional materials research and be the world leader in this research and also in its commercialisation,” she said.

Multifunctional materials (such as electromaterials that generate and/or transfer electric charge) -- an area where UOW is a recognised international leader -- have the potential to solve many of the world’s health and technology problems.

UOW is an internationally recognised leader in electromaterials research. UOW hosts the ARC Centre of Excellence in Electromaterials Science (ACES) and is home to the Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM), comprising the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI) and the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM) based at UOW’s Innovation Campus.

Last reviewed: 23 November, 2009