Vice Prime Minister Bae Kyeong-hoon (배경훈), who also serves as minister of science and ICT, met a European Union executive commissioner in Brussels, Belgium, and discussed ways to expand cooperation in artificial intelligence and science and technology.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said on Wednesday that Bae accompanied President Lee Jae-myung (이재명) on a state visit to Belgium and the EU. As his first schedule in Brussels, he held a dinner meeting with Korean researchers working at IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre), a semiconductor, AI and quantum computing research institute in Leuven, Belgium, and encouraged researchers on the front lines of global technological innovation.

Bae then held a separate meeting with Ekaterina Zaharieva (예카테리나 자하리에바), the EU commissioner for startups, research and innovation. He reviewed first-year results from participation as an associate member of Horizon Europe. They discussed research cooperation and expanded exchanges of science and engineering researchers in AI-driven science and technology innovation, advanced biotech and quantum technology. Horizon Europe is the EU's largest research and innovation programme led by the European Commission.

South Korea joined as an associate member last year, the first Asian country to do so. It achieved results in selecting multiple research projects and securing research funding in a short period. Participation has been confirmed in multiple key research projects with top-level institutions including Imperial College London, the International Agency for Research on Cancer and Wageningen University in advanced digital strategic technologies such as AI and quantum, advanced biotech and precision medicine, and clean hydrogen and carbon neutrality technologies.

The European Commission has shown strong interest in the need for South Korea to continue participating as an associate member in the next research and innovation programme, the ministry said.

Bae proposed cooperation on AI-enabled research and scientific data sharing based on the National Science AI Research Center (NAIS), a key hub of the K-Moonshot Strategy. He also stressed the need to expand participation-based internships for global joint research in advanced biotech and for joint research in quantum. The two sides also agreed to strengthen exchanges among top researchers through South Korea-EU European Research Council (ERC) personnel exchanges and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme.

The two sides agreed to continue discussing specific cooperation measures through the South Korea-EU Joint Committee on Science and Technology and other channels based on the talks.