On August 5, the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) announced that it is operating the KICT Europe Office, a local research and overseas cooperation hub, to respond to evolving global R&D conditions, including Korea’s promotion as an associate member of the EU Horizon Europe program.

The KICT Europe Office was established on July 23, 2017, at KIST-Europe in Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany. Its mission is to promote KICT technologies in Europe, establish a Korea-Europe technological partnership program, and identify multinational cooperative R&D opportunities.

As of late July 2025, the KICT Department of Structural Engineering Research (led by Team Leader Kim Hyeong-Yeol) is preparing a proposal with five countries, including the U.K., for a large-scale international joint research project under the EU’s Horizon Europe program to advance Korea-EU collaboration on carbon neutral construction development. The Department is also preparing a joint Korea-Germany research project with the Institute of Textile Technology (ITA) at RWTH Aachen University, supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT’s R&D reserve fund under the program “Construction Technology Joint Development Using Carbon Neutral Mortar and Reinforced Textile.”

The KICT plans to expand its international partnership hubs beyond Germany, with a new hub at Kyoto University in Japan in October 2025 and another in the U.S. in the future, thereby laying a stronger foundation for global joint research and international cooperation in the field of construction technology.

Senior Research Fellow Kim Hyeong-Yeol at the KICT Europe Office

Exterior view of KIST-Europe