On June 1, POSCO TJ Park Foundation (Chairman Sun-Uk Kim) made an announcement for the ‘2021 POSCO TJ Park Prize’.

POSCO TJ Park Prize is awarded to individuals or organizations with outstanding contributions in science, education, philanthropy, and technology. POSCO TJ Park Foundation will receive candidate recommendation for four months — from June to September. Awardees will be announced in February next year, and the ceremony will be held in April. Each recipient will receive 200 million KRW.

POSCO TJ Park Prize was established to honor the achievements of the late Chairman Tae-Joon Park, who started POSCO and grew it into a world-class steelmaker. Another purpose of the prize is to contribute to the advancement of the nation by expanding public attention and participation in the company’s founding principles: creativity, nurturing talent, and philanthropy. The prize is categorized into four: Science Prize, Education Prize, Community Development & Philanthropy Prize, and Technology Prize and has been awarded since 2007. As of 2020, 48 Koreans and Asians have received the prize.

More information on the POSCO TJ Park Prize can be found at www.postf.org/en/main.do (Official English website of POSCO TJ Park Foundation)

Earlier this month, the POSCO TJ Park Foundation (Chairperson Sun-Wook Kim) announced the finalists for the prestigious POSCO TJ Park Prize at its board meeting. Professor Jung-Hee Cheon of Seoul National University received the Science Prize, and Yeomyung School accepted the Education Prize. The Community Development and Philanthropy Prize went to the Angkor Hospital Children in Cambodia and the Technology Prize went to Tae-Won Lim, the Head of the Technology Innovation Center at Hyundai Motor.

▲ Seoul National University Professor Jung-Hee Cheon (Department of Mathematical Sciences), the recipient of the Science Prize

Professor Jung-Hee Cheon decrypted cryptographic multilinear maps for the first time in the world and developed HeaAn, a homomorphic encryption software program. HeaAn can perform approximate number arithmetics without decryption process. Professor Cheon is a cryptology expert who presented a new security paradigm in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

HeaAn not only suggested a possible defense approach against various hackings from different computer terminals at the source. It also successfully implemented machine learning and deep learning. Furthermore, as it has been proved that homomorphic encryption for approximate number arithmetics can be applied to all the fields requiring data security, such as biometric information and financial transaction, HeaAn’s application range in the future seem endless – to Big Data, block chains, autonomous vehicles and IoT, just to name a few.

▲ Yeomyung School, the winner of 2019 TJ Park Education Prize

Yeomyung School is the first accredited alternative school of private initiative. The school opened in 2004 and started attending to the needs of North Korean youths during the rapid influx of North Korean refugees in early 2000. At Yeomyung, North Korean youths deal with post-trauma and seek rehabilitation, receiving customized education as per individual needs. The school offers original education modules with its vision set on unified Korea. Yeongmyung’s curriculum is designed to assist the students in assimilating to the life in South Korea: from democratic citizenship education, basic economic knowledge, community education, social etiquettes, art/music therapy, to counseling and physical education. The school also runs specific programs geared toward college preparatory exams or vocational training.

Since 2015, Yeomyung has been running regular exchange programs between its students and South Korean youths to help refugees better adapt to life in South Korea while building empathy towards each other. The school also organizes seminars on unification –the school collaborates with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Germany, the country that underwent unification before Korea.

▲ Community Development and Philanthropy Prize recipient: Angkor Hospital for Children, Cambodia

Angkor Hospital for Children was established in 1999 to improve Cambodian health services through pediatric medical care and hygiene prevention education for underprivileged children in Angkor, one of the most impoverished areas in Cambodia. Every day, the hospital provides free medical services to over 500 underprivileged children on average, annually adding up to 160,000 children. In 2013, it established intensive care units for the newborns and critical patients for the first time in Cambodia. As a result, the hospital contributed to bringing down the neonatal mortality rates, thereby improving the overall health care services in Cambodia.

The medical infrastructure of Angkor Children’s Hospital is utilized as a training site for 800 nursing students and over 100 medical personnel from various medical facilities every year, including government-affiliated public health institutions as well as private hospital healthcare providers.

▲ Tae-Won Lim, the Head of the Technology Innovation Center at Hyundai Motor: the winner of Technology Prize

Tae-Won Lim, the winner of the Technology Prize, is the Head of the Technology Innovation Center at Hyundai Motor. He is one of Korea’s leading experts on hydrogen cars and led the development of key technologies from the early days of hydrogen vehicles to 2013 when hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were successfully mass-produced for the first time in the world. With no production facilities properly established, Lim has undergone numerous trials and errors, but he was persistent. Lim concentrated on developing fuel cell stacks, which are the core parts of the hydrogen cars, and saw to the successful development of cost-competitive hydrogen fuel cells that can be loaded in vehicles.

Despite Korea’s tenuous circumstances in the fuel cells industry, Lim pioneered establishing infrastructures for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by seeking participation from over 20 universities and 300 component manufacturers. He played a crucial role in localizing over 90 percent of core components. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles use clean energy source with zero emission of toxic materials. Its fast refueling times make hydrogen cars all the more eligible to become the sustainable mainstream vehicles in the future, and they are regarded as the key technology that will bring Korea’s automobile industry to the next level.

The POSCO TJ Park Foundation has been abiding by the principles of corporate citizenship through the establishment of the POSCO TJ Park Award since 2006, with a view to spreading public interest and participation in POSCO’s founding philosophy: creativity, talent cultivation, and community service. The POSCO TJ Park Prize has four categories: Science, Education, Community Development & Philanthropy, and Technology prize. The Science Prize is given to Korean scientists who have made creative and original achievements in the fields of natural science or engineering based on domestic research activities, contributing to raising the national status and developing science and technology.

The Educational Prize recognizes individuals or organizations who have systematically carried out creative education programs that help improve the overall education system. The Community Development and Philanthropy Prize Award is given to an individual or an organization who devoted themselves to community service. The award eligibility had been expanded to entire Asia in conjunction with the Foundation’s principal program, Asia Fellowship.

The Technology Prize, in its third year, acknowledges the efforts in various industry sectors and academic institutions. The award specifically recognizes those who saw to the development and commercialization of world-class technologies in a way that contributes to various industries across Korea.

The award selection committee is entrusted with exclusive authority in choosing the candidates. To guarantee a fair and transparent procedure, candidates undergo meticulous selection process – the committee conducts on-site visitation for each candidate as well as expert panel evaluation boosting the prestige of the TJ Park Prize even more. The award criteria were announced nationwide, and about 50 candidates were nominated for each category. The selection committee evaluated candidates’ achievements, conducted on-site visitations and considered expert evaluations. On February 13th, the Board approved the final winners for each category.

The 2019 POSCO TJ Park Award ceremony will be held at the POSCO Center in Seoul on April 3. Each winner will be awarded with 200 million KRW (approx. 179,000 USD).

More than 290 people attended the presentation ceremony, including Ohjoon Kwon, chairman of the POSCO TJ Park Foundation; Chang-hee Kang, former chairman of the National Assembly; Hong-goo Lee and Deok-soo Han, former prime ministers of Korea; Gong-il Sa, chairman of the Institute for Global Economics; Nak-in Sung, president of Seoul National University; and prize winners from previous years.

Ohjoon Kwon, POSCO CEO and chairman of the POSCO TJ Park Foundation, said, “For the past 10 years, the POSCO TJ Park Prize has been a way to recognize those who tackle the never-ending challenges of today’s world. In the next 10 years, we aim to make the POSCO TJ Park Prize an even more noteworthy honor.”

This year, the POSCO TJ Park Prize was awarded to the following honorees:

• Excellence in Science: Prof. Jong-heun Lee, Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Korea University
• Excellence in Education: Attached Middle School at Kyungpook National University
• Excellence in Community Development & Philanthropy: Jimmy Pham of Vietnam, CEO of KOTO
• Excellence in Technology: Myeong-hwan Kim, head of the Battery Research Institute at LG Chem.

POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon (far right) stands with recipients of the POSCO TJ Park Prize. The award recognized their noteworthy achievements in science, education, community development, and technology.

The Excellence in Technology award was added this year to highlight how technology has contributed to the renewal of the Korean economy. Eligible candidates for this category include persons or organizations that contributed to national and global market development.

Prof. Jong-heun Lee of Korea University, winner of the TJ Park Science prize, was honored for his work on the oxide nano hierarchical structure in which nano building blocks are regularly self-assembled, and the p-type oxide semiconductor, which has a high level of catalytic activity that allows for gases to be detected quickly and selectively. His achievements are expected to be widely utilized in various areas such as safety, environment, medical science, and IoT.

Kyungpook National University Attached Middle School, winner of the Excellence in Education prize, was awarded for its model of creative public education. Unlike a typical learning environment, the middle school introduced project-based learning in 2012, which allowed students to switch roles with teachers and also collaborate with one another on a deeper level.

Jimmy Pham, winner of the Excellence in Community Development and Philanthropy prize, established KOTO (Know One, Teach One), the first social enterprise in Vietnam. For 17 years, the organization has been giving at-risk youth a chance to stand on their own by teaching various life-skill classes.

Myung-hwan Kim, head of the Battery Research Institute at LG Chem, received the foundation’s very first Excellence in Technology prize. Kim began to oversee battery R&D in 1996 when the secondary battery business was first starting to become active. Through much trial and error and over 20 years of experience in the field, Kim successfully developed the first lithium-ion battery for electric vehicles. He is considered to have greatly contributed to making Korea a leader in the secondary battery industry.

Chang-hee Kang, former chairman of the National Assembly, delivered a congratulatory address, saying, “I would like to thank POSCO for contributing not only to the development of science and technology, but also for actively recognizing scholars and citizens who made a great impact in their respective fields.”

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POSCO TJ Park Foundation

Named after POSCO founder Tae-Joon Park, the POSCO TJ Park Foundation (Website Link) was established in 2005 as a non-profit organization to make extensive and systematic social contributions. The Foundation runs four core programs: POSCO TJ Park Prize to award outstanding persons in the fields of science, education, and community development & philanthropy; regional contribution programs to participate in the local community and to nurture talents who will contribute to society; POSCO Asia Fellowship for mutual understanding and communication between Asian countries; and TJ Park Science Fellowship to support young and talented basic scientists in Korea. Through these core programs, the Foundation strives to carry out the social responsibilities of POSCO and contribute to its sustainable management.

Let’s have a closer look into the core programs managed by POSCO TJ Park Foundation:

The Core Programs of the POSCO TJ Park Foundation

#1. TJ Park Science Fellowship: Awarding Outstanding Achievements in Science

The TJ Park Science Fellowship selects and supports talented scientists who study and research in a university or institution in Korea, not abroad, to allow them to grow into scientists of global standard. This Fellowship is designed to help young scientists, including graduates of doctoral studies, post-doctoral researchers, and young assistant professors in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and Biological sciences so that they can focus on their research in Korea with stability and a sense of pride.

#2. Regional Contribution Programs: Nurturing Future Talents

POSCO Rising Star Scholarship

This Scholarship is awarded to high school students in Pohang and Gwangyang where POSCO is located. The purpose of the Scholarship is to practice the corporate philosophy of POSCO to participate in the local community and to nurture talents who will contribute to society.

POSCO Vision Scholarship

This Scholarship is awarded to young students in poor circumstances in Pohang and Gwangyang, where POSCO is located, with the aim to help them focus on their studies with the right attitude and thereby grow into outstanding members of society.

#3. POSCO TJ Park Prize: Honoring Philanthropic Social Contributions

The POSCO TJ Park Prize was established to honor the achievements of POSCO’s Honorary Chairman, Tae-Joon Park, and to promote the company’s efforts to respect creativity, nurture talent, and practice philanthropy – the driving forces behind the company’s success – with the hope that this will encourage the public to make even greater contributions to social progress in the future. The Prize is given in three fields: science, education, and community development & philanthropy to individuals and/or organizations that are selected through a fair, transparent, and strict selection process. The prize presentation ceremony is held every year, where a medal and prize money of KRW 200 million (approximately USD 170,000) is awarded to each laureate. Through the POSCO TJ Park Prize, the Foundation hopes to arouse the drive for research and the pride of the nation’s science & technology sector, contribute to grounding an exemplary image of an educator, and awaken a sense of value in fulfilling the spirit of community development & philanthropy.

#4. POSCO Asia Fellowship: Encouraging Collaboration and Exchange in Asia

One of the key enterprises of the Foundation, the POSCO Asia Fellowship provides scholarships, facilitates academic research, and publishes literary works with the aim to enhance mutual understanding and collaborative exchanges between Asian countries. The objectives are nurturing prospective young talents and encouraging exchanges and collaboration between intellectuals in Asia. Through such efforts, the Foundation aims to contribute to the mutual prosperity of Asian countries as well as the building of a network of talents.

[box] Programs and Scholarships Available within POSCO Asia Fellowship

Scholarship for Asian Students Studying in Korea

This Scholarship supports the prospective leaders of Asia by providing full tuition and living expenses to young talents from Asian countries as they enroll in master’s or doctoral programs at some of the most prestigious Korean universities or institutions and experience the Korean society and culture.

Asia Regional Expert Nurturing Program

This Program is designed to nurture Korean experts of the Asian region by supporting their education abroad so that they can acquire a sound understanding of the language, history, and culture of various Asian countries and establish a solid foundation for further studies and research endeavors. The Program will enable Korean experts to lead the regional studies on Asia and ultimately contribute to the development of the Asian region.

Scholarship for Prestigious Asian Universities

The Foundation is building cooperative relations with prestigious universities in Asia and awarding scholarships to the excellent Asian students at those universities in order to boost their academic achievements.

Asia Research Grant Program & POSCO Asia Conference

This Program aims to support the intellectuals of Asian countries, including scholars, professors, and researchers, as they conduct in-depth research on the cultural and social fields regarding Asia. The POSCO Asia Conference is an international convention where Asian scholars share the results of their research conducted for 1~2 years with the support of the Foundation and establish academic networks.

Publication of the Literary Journal ASIA

The quarterly literary journal ASIA is published to help Asian writers and artists pursue their creative activities and to improve exchanges and networks between countries in Asia through the literary endeavors of intellectuals and literary persons.

◈ To learn more about the eligibility and scope of support for each scholarship/program, click here[/box]

The POSCO TJ Park Foundation is dedicated to further expanding Asia’s academic and cultural networks, nurturing young leaders who will open up a brighter future for the region, and sharing with its neighbors in need. By standing tall as a foundation that establishes POSCO as a respected and loved company by the people and that serves the nation, we will be at the forefront of the efforts to make the world a more abundant and warmer place.