The IBS receives a grant worth KRW38 million

Global accelerator experts will gather in Daejeon in November

The International Conference on Accelerator & Beam Utilization to be hosted by the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) is to receive a national grant worth KRW38 million as part of the 2013 Regional Specialization Convention Project being organized by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

The IBS announced on April 7, 2013 that it had applied for the national grant in February, and that it will host the International Conference on Accelerator & Beam Utilization this November.

The International Conference on Accelerator & Beam Utilization will be hosted this year by the team responsible for the IBS's Rare Isotope Science Project (RISP). The prestigious international event is expected to attract hundreds of international scholars expert in rare isotope accelerators and rare isotope beams.

The event will be co-hosted by the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory and the Proton Accelerator Research Center in Gyeongju City. The conference will offer attendees a glimpse into the current state of Korean accelerator science and the recent advances made.

The IBS said it considers the upcoming conference the most prominent international science event not only in Daejeon City (home to Korea's International Science & Business Belt), but also in the entire country.

The IBS plans to use the accelerator for various purposes and fields (e.g., in life sciences, medicine, and astronomy), so that it serves as the key convergence technology necessary to drive the "creative economy" advocated by the new Korean administration. In the process, the IBS will strive to promote greater public awareness of and gain more support for accelerators, accelerator-related science, and subsequent commercialization.

The IBS has devised ways to link the convention with various culture, art, and tourism programs.

The IBS will collaborate closely with the Daejeon International Marketing Enterprise (which sponsored last year's international workshop on heavy ion accelerators) to place Daejeon at the heart of Korea's MICE industry.  

The culture, art, and tourism programs feature the Ungno Lee Museum of Art (in Daejeon) and Baekje Cultural Festival (in Chungnam Province).

"World-class accelerator research labs attract lots of tourists both for their huge accelerators, and for their attractive locations," said a member of the IBS's RISP team. "We hope that our heavy ion accelerator fosters a new and creative set of values across the region. And we hope it becomes a popular attraction where science, culture, and the arts can converge."

The RISP team is currently working on concept designs for RAON (derived from the Korean word for "joyful"), the name of IBS's world-class heavy ion accelerator.