South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on Tuesday it will hold the International Research Industry Convention 2026 (IRIC) at Suwon Convention Center for two days through Oct. 29.

Marking its fifth year, the event will be held under the theme, "The research industry, a helper for three mega and seven seed projects." This year, it will be linked for the first time with the Korean Chemical Society's academic conference to expand cooperation between chemical research, which has strong demand for research equipment and reagents, and research industry companies.

During the event, an exhibition involving 134 companies and institutions in areas including research equipment, materials and R&D services will operate on the scale of 182 booths. It will also hold a "K-Research Equipment Live Lab" demonstrating actual research processes using locally made research equipment, along with poster presentations linked to the Korean Chemical Society.

On Tuesday, video messages from 4 companies in the semiconductor, physical AI and SMR fields will be released to convey voices from the field. At a research equipment global forum held the same day, industry and academic officials from companies in and outside South Korea, including U.S.-based Thermo Fisher Scientific and Switzerland's Tecan, will share trends and application cases for AI autonomous laboratory technology.

On Oct. 29, the event will host "Mega-Seed demand-supply business matching" to support on-site consultations between researchers and professional research service providers, an investment briefing session by 10 research industry companies, and a government R&D project briefing session. It will also run a briefing session on new research industry technologies to introduce the latest technologies and products.

First Vice Minister Ku Hyuk-chae (구혁채) said the research industry is a reliable helper supporting R&D and commercialisation for three mega and seven seed projects. Ku said he would support cooperation between researchers and companies so it leads to tangible results through the event.