Joint Industrial Cooperation Forum by the Seattle Consulate / WA Department of Commerce
This week marks a milestone in the future collaboration of Korea and the state of Washington in the carbon fiber composites industry.
The “Korea – U.S. Pacific NW Composites Industrial Cooperation”, co-hosted by the Consulate General of Korea in Seattle and the Washington State Department of Commerce, took place on October 26th from 9am to 3pm.
The event was closed to the general public, as government organizations and related companies are extremely careful about releasing information regarding composites technology. One of those technologies is carbon fiber used for aircraft production, a frontier industry pursued by many countries where new findings are kept top secret.
Consul General Duk-Ho Moon, WA Department of Commerce Senior Managing Director Mark Calhoon, and Jeonju Deputy Mayor Bong-up Cho gave congratulatory addresses that stressed the importance of Korea collaborating with the state of Washington, where companies such as Boeing lead the composites industry.
Following the congratulatory remarks, CEO Steve Kidd from Cimtech Inc., Dr. Paolo Feraboli from the Automobili Lamborghini Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory (ACSL), Larry Cluphf and Merlin Theodore from the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center gave lectures on composite materials business as representatives of the US.
Representatives from Korea including Dr. Young-soo Ahn from the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) and Hyung-kyu Shin from the Korea Institute of Carbon Convergence Technology (KCTECH) also delivered speeches on the current stage of the composite materials business in Korea.
In addition to KIET and KCTECH, experts from South Gyeongsang Province, Sacheon City, Korean Air, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), as well as Jeonju City, a leading municipal government in the field of composites technology in Korea, joined the forum to network and seek measures for future collaboration.
