A Research Security Center has been launched to support efforts to protect the research ecosystem.

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Tuesday held a kick-off meeting for the Research Security Center at KAIST in Daejeon. The centre is a hub supporting the embedding of research security with a focus on the front line.

It will support information sharing and the spread of best practices so universities and researchers can check the reliability of collaborations. It will provide education and consulting and conduct specialised research in the field of research security. It will also run a cooperation framework with industry, academia, research institutes and overseas organisations.

KAIST and Chung-Ang University were selected as the lead organisations. KAIST will work to establish a data-based management system, including artificial intelligence-based risk assessments. Chung-Ang University will push to build a cooperative service that systematically shares research security information among universities.

The kick-off meeting was attended by the ministry's director-general for international cooperation, officials from the Education Ministry and heads of the Research Security Center at KAIST and Chung-Ang University. They discussed the centre's operating plans and the direction for driving research security centred on the front line.

Hwang Seong-hoon (황성훈), the director-general for international cooperation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said he hoped the Research Security Center would become a practical support base. He said he also hoped it would help establish awareness and a culture of research security on the front line and promote trust-based international scientific and technological cooperation.