Organized by the Korean Intellectual Property Office and hosted by the Korea Invention Promotion Association, this event was established to reward those who contribute to the promotion of invention in Korea. Its purpose is to contribute to national industrial development by promoting the pursuit of invention nationwide and promoting the creation and utilization of excellent inventions.

At the ceremony, KT&G Senior Researcher Kim Ik-jung was acknowledged for his development of a fat-soluble liquid encapsulation technology previously held only by famous pharmaceutical manufacturers in Japan and Europe, and for securing patent rights in Korea and overseas. With the technology, KT&G localized the production of tobacco capsules, for which it had previously relied on imports from Japan until 2015, thereby achieving an import substitution effect of more than tens of millions of dollars annually. This has also opened up the possibility of the technology being used in various industries such as medicine and food in the future.

Centered on this technology, KT&G established a manufacturing plant in Daedeok-gu, Daejeon, in July 2015. The plant recorded sales of KRW 67 billion last year, and has been contributing to national economic development and new job creation, including accumulated sales of KRW 200 billion since its establishment.

President Baek Bok-in, who served as head of production R&D at the time of the establishment of the factory, started to expand R&D investment in earnest after taking office in October 2015. As a result, R&D investment at KT&G, which was around KRW 12.6 billion in 2015, was increased significantly from KRW 15.9 billion in 2017 to KRW 17.8 billion in 2018 and then KRW 23 billion in 2019, and policy support has also been strengthened by encouraging R&D by expanding the job invention compensation system.

This intensive investment in R&D is leading to an increase in patent applications. The number of patent applications was 43 in 2016, 95 in 2017, and 238 in 2018. Last year, the number of patent applications was 431, a 10-fold increase in three years.

Kim Ik-jong, Senior Researcher at the KT&G R&D Center said, "I was able to succeed in localizing core technologies after two years of research thanks to the company's active support. In the future, we will focus on technological innovation to increase customer satisfaction and increase corporate value.”