Equinor and KAIST sign MoU on innovation and energy transition cooperation for a sustainable future

The agreement ceremony held at KAIST's Daejeon campus was attended by Equinor’s Head of EPCD (Engineering Procurement Construction & Digital) PM APAC, Rajnish Sharma and KAIST’s Head of School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Jung Kim, and others.

Under this business agreement, the two organizations will first cooperate to foster talents in offshore wind, share professional knowledge and experience, improve technology, and explore local supply chain opportunities. In addition, the plan is to continue cooperation by potentially expanding the areas of cooperation to low-carbon solutions and other renewable energy, including hydrogen.

Equinor will work with KAIST to support lectures related to offshore wind by having Equinor's offshore wind experts participate in the lectures, support joint research projects, joint participation in research projects supported by the government, and also support practical work related to KAIST's promising startups.

“Collaborations with world-class partners like KAIST will play a key role in creating a sustainable energy future,” said Bjørn Inge Braathen, Country Managing Director of Equinor Korea. “Equinor has a long history of creating value through scientific and technological innovation. Together with KAIST, we want to help drive innovation and break new ground in the energy transition."

Collaboration with local academic institutions is highly valued at Equinor. As such, we aim not only to bolster our existing academic partnerships in Korea but also to broaden our areas of collaboration. We will develop programmes that capitalise on the unique strengths of each university, striving to create and maintain a sustainable industry-academic partnership.

Rajnish Sharma, Head of EPCD PM APAC, who leads Equinor’s technical resources within renewable energy in APAC, said “The global renewable energy industry is dependent oninnovation. This collaboration between Equinor and KAIST, which have a legacy of leading innovation withing industry, science and technology, will help us realise the potential of renewable energy research, and turn this into practical value for the industry.”