European Union Ambassador to Korea Ugo Astuto speaks during a one-on-one interview with The Korea Times at the the EU Delegation to the Republic of Korea in Seoul, May 4. Courtesy of EU Delegation to the Republic of Korea
Korea and the European Union are deepening cooperation in innovation, research and advanced technologies, with expanding academic and industrial exchanges emerging as a central pillar of bilateral relations, according to EU Ambassador to Korea Ugo Astuto.
In an interview with The Korea Times ahead of Europe Day — which falls on May 9 and marks the anniversary of the 1950 Schuman Declaration, the founding proposal that set the EU's integration in motion — Astuto said research and innovation partnerships are becoming increasingly important to Korea-EU ties as both sides navigate mounting geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain vulnerabilities and intensifying competition over critical and emerging technologies.
“We want to advance cooperation on emerging digital technologies to unlock mutual benefits for their economies, strengthening cooperation to boost competitiveness, innovation and resilience,” Astuto said.
“The EU and the ROK (Republic of Korea) will continue joint work on research and innovation on emerging technologies, such as semiconductors, 6G, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technologies.”
The ambassador placed particular emphasis on Korea’s participation in Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research and innovation program, describing it as one of the most significant recent developments in bilateral cooperation. Korea became associated with Pillar II — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness — of Horizon Europe in July 2025.
“Korea joined as the first Asian country with the status of full associate member the EU flagship program on Research and Innovation Horizon program,” the ambassador said. “I think it's extremely important as we can work together on issues such as artificial intelligence and all aspects of artificial intelligence and quantum computing.”
This graphic shows Horizon Europe, EU's key funding program for research and innovation. Courtesy of European Platform of Women Scientists
Astuto noted that Korea-EU cooperation is increasingly expanding beyond traditional academic exchanges into broader industrial and startup ecosystems.
“We are already on track in the sense that the research cooperation is pretty advanced between university labs and academia on the two sides,” he said. “That's why we are going to have a visit next month of a group of mostly European startup companies dealing with artificial intelligence.”
Source: Korea Times News
