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Collaboration matters in the battery market, says SK chairman

Collaboration matters in the battery market, says SK chairman

Posted February. 20, 2021 07:08,   

Updated February. 20, 2021 07:08

한국어

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won emphasized the significance of collaborative business in the battery industry, saying, “We should pay attention to battery technology as a driving force for future innovation.”

Chairman Chey delivered a welcoming speech on Friday at a webinar to discuss the future of battery technology organized by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies. It was Chey’s first comment on batteries since last Wednesday when SK Innovation lost a lawsuit on a trade secret theft against LG Energy Solution with the International Trade Centre (ITC). With all eyes on his message, the chairman did not directly mention the high-profile lawsuit.  

“It is thanks to long years’ collaborative efforts by industry-academic researchers that enabled the battery market to make it big. It is important to forge a cooperative relationship between the industry and the academy in the ever-growing battery ecosystem,” said Chairman Chey. “The great example is to do research on how to develop new materials for the next-generation battery model and recycle & reuse waste batteries.”

Chairman Chey added, “What matters is your technological ability to collaborate and communicate with experts of different fields,” stressing it as one of the most important qualities that global leaders are supposed to have in the future.

In the event attended by academic researchers and scholars, Mr. Chey shared a brief pre-recorded welcoming speech. Industrial observers analyzed that he seemingly intended to react to the public opinion regarding the two South Korean tech firms’ legal battle that the growth of the battery industry as a whole should take priority, by mentioning “collaboration” and “battery ecosystem” during his speech.

The webinar provided a platform for renowned scholars at home and abroad including Professor Stanley Whittingham of State University of New York, the awardee of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Professor Gerbrand Ceder of Materials Science and Engineering at University of California, Berkeley; Professor Kang Ki-seok of Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University; Professor Choi Jang-wook of Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; etc.


will@donga.com