South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT is strengthening cooperation among industry, academia, research institutes and government to secure next-generation secondary battery technology competitiveness.

The Ministry of Science and ICT held the 2026 Next-Generation Secondary Battery International Forum on Feb. 5 at the Seoul Science and Technology Convention Center. About 300 participants from industry, academia and research attended the event, which was set up to discuss next-generation secondary battery technology trends, research and development strategy and measures for global cooperation.

Ahead of the forum opening, the ministry held a roundtable to strengthen links between a draft direction for next-generation secondary battery technology development based on industrial demand and the Market-Leading Next-Generation Secondary Battery Strategy Research Group project, selected in 2024 as a global TOP strategy research group.

Participants in the roundtable included officials from secondary battery-related companies, the chair of the National Research Council of Science and Technology, the head of the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, and the head of the next-generation secondary battery strategy research group. They shared the ministry's direction for technology development and industry demand and discussed cooperation measures to preempt future markets.

The international forum that followed featured presentations on lithium metal batteries and lithium-sulfur batteries, sodium-ion batteries and all-solid-state batteries, and innovative processes and simulation for secondary batteries.

A panel discussion joined by experts from the research community and leading scholars from major countries such as the United States, Germany and Japan discussed prospects for commercialization of next-generation secondary battery technology, changes in the global supply chain and measures to promote international joint research. Participants agreed that next-generation secondary batteries are a core technology for achieving carbon neutrality and securing future industrial competitiveness.

On the second day of the forum, a tech partnering event will be held for technology exchanges between the Market-Leading Next-Generation Secondary Battery Strategy Research Group and battery companies. The event is set to share key achievements and strategies of the global TOP strategy research group and discuss possibilities for cooperation among industry, academia, research institutes and government.

First Vice Minister Hyuk-chae Koo (구혁채) said, "In the next-generation secondary battery field, whether technological superiority is secured determines leadership in the global market." He added, "We will continue to support the full mobilization of industry-academia-research capabilities to secure high-value-added, industry demand-based foundational technologies for next-generation secondary batteries and to strengthen industrial competitiveness."