The final safety inspection of the KAIST/POSTECH campus of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) was completed on January 3 (Tue).

The plan to establish a common facility for basic science research in these universities started in October 2020, and the POSTECH campus was completed at the end of October 22, and the KAIST campus was completed at the end of December 2022. The total construction costs were KRW 67.1 and 55.9 billion KRW, respectively.

The land area for each campus is the same at 17,000㎡, and the total floor space is 25,529㎡ for the KAIST campus and 20,023㎡ for the POSTECH campus, according to the needs of the Research Centers.

▲ KAIST Campus (left), POSTECH Campus (right)

As for the KAIST campus, 5 research centers in the fields of physics/chemistry/life sciences are to be located in a single building with 6 above-ground floors and 1 below-ground floor. In the case of the POSTECH campus, 3 research centers in the fields of physics/mathematics are to be located in a single building with 4 above-ground floors and 1 below-ground floor.

The IBS KAIST/POSTECH campus construction project is the first project to be promoted as part of a plan to establish a system of cultivating scientific talents via collaboration between IBS and universities specializing in basic science.

With this completion, formerly scattered Research Centers* within KAIST/POSTECH will be able to gather and conduct research in one location. It is expected that the new history of basic science in Korea will be written in these new locations.

•* KAIST: Chemistry (Center for Catalytic Hydrocarbon Functionalizations/Advanced Reaction Dynamics), Life (Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions/Vascular Research), Physics (Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research)

•* POSTECH: Mathematics (Center for Geometry and Physics), Physics (Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electromagnetic Systems/ Van der Waals Quantum Solids)

In the future, further specialized construction to meet the tenants’ requirements, such as a laboratory suitable for the characteristics of the Research Centers, will be carried out. The buildings will start being occupated from the beginning of this year and all Centers will complete the move during the first half of the year.