A new research and development center will open on Wednesday devoted to the convergence of information technology with biology, nano-science and other cutting edge fields.

The Center for Integrated Smart Sensors in Daejeon is supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

Under the ministry’s “Global Frontier” project aimed at securing world-leading original technologies by 2020, seven R&D centers have been set up since 2010.

The new lab will develop nano-scale devices, sensor systems, circuits and digital platforms that can be used in a number of applications, including biomedical diagnosis, vehicles, robots and sensor networks, the ministry said.

More than 300 experts from nine different institutes, including the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul National University and Pohang University of Science and Technology are working together at the Center for Integrated Smart Sensors. The ministry already pledged to provide $124.56 million by 2020 to the research center.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596strory@heraldcorp.com)