Indo-Korea Science and Technology center

What Indo-Korea Science and Technology center does

The Indo-Korea Science and Technology Center (IKST) is a non-profit bilateral R&D collaboration center established on 27 January 2010 and operated under the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, with funding from the Government of Korea. Headquartered in a single facility in Bengaluru, India (3rd Floor, NCC Windsor, New Airport Road), the center employs approximately 18 staff split between R&D (Director, Head-R&D, research scientists, postdoctoral fellows, IT specialist) and administration. Its mandate is to facilitate collaborative research between Indian and Korean research institutions, primarily in computational materials science, while also operating visiting, academic, and internship exchange programs for researchers and students.

IKST's core technical offering is a suite of proprietary computational materials science software: CINEMAS, a graphical workflow platform for Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations integrated with VASP, Phonopy, Pymatgen, and the Materials Project; PASTA, a Python-based tool for transition state searching using nudged elastic band methods; AMMCR, a C++ implementation of the Rode algorithm for mobility and conductivity calculations; and WOOP/WOHP, a Wannier-function-based post-processing code for chemical bonding analysis. The center has produced 126+ peer-reviewed publications, runs an R&D network database of 25+ Indian institutes and 10+ international partners (KIST, KAIST, UST, UBC, IIT Bombay, IIT Bhubaneswar, IIT Kharagpur, IISc, JNCASR, PPISR, Christ University), and applies machine learning (CGCNN, transfer learning, Matminer features) to materials property prediction.

The center's business model is state-sponsored rather than commercial. IKST does not charge for its software (distributed via website download with registration), does not publicly disclose pricing, and derives its operating budget from Korean government appropriations routed through KIST. Customer "relationships" are institutional MoU partnerships rather than paying customers. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven — academic exchanges, conference participation (e.g., Bengaluru Tech Summit Korean Session), and bilateral government programs. As a non-trading non-profit with no equity rounds, M&A activity, or commercial revenue, IKST is not a conventional investment vehicle; its strategic significance lies in its charter as a durable Indo-Korean scientific cooperation platform.

Name

Indo-Korea Science and Technology center

Legal name

Indo-Korea Science and Technology Center

Website

https://ikst.res.in

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Indo-Korea Science and Technology Center (IKST) is a non-profit, Government-of-Korea-funded bilateral R&D center in Bengaluru, India, operating under KIST. It develops computational materials science software (CINEMAS, PASTA, AMMCR, WOOP WOHP) and facilitates collaborative research between Indian and Korean institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Computational Materials Science Software

NAICS

Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

EDA Software Platforms (Digital Implementation, Verification & Signoff) (HDAHAFAA)

Keywords

• Computational materials science
• DFT simulation software
• Bilateral research collaboration
• Materials property prediction
• Scientific software development

Headquarters

HQ city

Bengaluru

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: IKST is funded by the Government of Korea through KIST (Korea Institute of Science and Technology). It is established to promote R&D collaboration between India and Korea.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

IKST is a bilateral R&D center that develops and distributes computational materials science software tools—most notably the CINEMAS graphical DFT simulation platform, plus PASTA (transition state searching), AMMCR (mobility/conductivity), WOOP WOHP (bonding analysis), and LACOS source codes. The center also facilitates joint research collaboration between Indian and Korean scientific institutions through MoUs, co-development projects, and visiting/internship exchange programs.

Product overview

IKST operates as a computational materials science research center developing a suite of software tools for materials simulation. The core product is CINEMAS, a graphical workflow-based platform for DFT calculations, complemented by specialized source codes: PASTA for transition state searching, AMMCR for mobility/conductivity calculations via Rode algorithm, and WOOP WOHP for chemical bonding analysis via Wannier functions. All tools focus on computational materials science applications including catalysis, semiconductors, and structural materials research.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CINEMAS: Comprehensively Integrated Environment for Advanced Materials Simulations - a multitasking simulation platform facilitating Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations with graphical workflows, atomic structure visualizer, and 2D graph plotter.
• PASTA
• AMMCR
• WOOP WOHP

Products and services

• CINEMAS (Comprehensively Integrated Environment for Advanced Materials Simulation) A multitasking graphical simulation platform for Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, featuring workflow representation, atomic structure visualization (CINEMAS-view), 2D numeric plotting (CINEMAS-plot), publication-quality figure drawing (CINEMAS-draw), automatic calculation modules (band-structure, density of states), a built-in Python editor supporting modules like Pymatgen, and remote server management capabilities. It interfaces with VASP as the primary DFT code, integrates Phonopy for phonon calculations, and can import data from the Materials Project. Built for computational materials science researchers.
• PASTA (Python Algorithms for Searching Transition stAtes) A Python-based code for calculating energy barriers and locating transition states of chemical reactions efficiently. Supports Nudged Elastic Band, Climbing Image Nudged Elastic Band, and Automated Nudged Elastic Band calculations, interfaced with multiple DFT codes including VASP. Designed for computational chemistry and materials science researchers.
• AMMCR (Ab-initio Model for Mobility and Conductivity calculation by using Rode Algorithm) A code written in C++ for calculating the mobility and conductivity of materials through Rode's algorithm, using electronic structure inputs calculated by DFT. Interfaces with VASP for electronic structure inputs. Built for materials science researchers studying charge transport properties.
• WOOP WOHP (Wannier Orbital Overlap/Hamilton Population) A post-processing code that computes Wannier orbital overlap population (WOOP) and Wannier orbital Hamilton population (WOHP) to explain the contribution of various orbitals to electron distribution and their interactions, similar to crystal orbital overlap population (COOP) and crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP) techniques. Developed for studying chemical bonding in covalently bonded materials.
• LACOS Source code listed under IKST software offerings without detailed description available in the source data. Distributed via the IKST software download center.
• Bilateral Collaborative Research Services Joint R&D collaboration services connecting Indian institutions (IITs, IISc, JNCASR, Christ University, PPISR) with Korean partners (KIST, KAIST, UST, Hanyang University) through MoU-based research projects. Includes co-development of simulation software, sponsored research, and bilateral scientific workshops. Available to research institutions seeking international collaboration.
• Academic Exchange Programs (Academic, Visiting, Internship) Structured exchange programs including Academic Program, Visiting Program, and Internship programs with durations up to 6 months. Offered to researchers and students from partner institutions, providing international exposure, access to computational resources, and collaboration opportunities with Korean institutions. Includes dual degree options via UST.

Quantifiable outcome

• 126+ research publications produced since establishment
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi (BHU)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Collaboration through School of Materials Science and Technology (SMST) in 2020 for material science project on functional heusler compounds using data analytics and experimental methods.
• Poornaprajna Institute of Scientific Research (PPISR)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2019MoU signed in December 2019 to establish collaborative relationship between both institutes and identify new venues of scientific development in materials sciences.
• Indian Institute of Technology, KharagpurminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Two productive science projects since 2019 through Sponsored Research & Industrial Consultancy (SRIC). Collaboration on machine learning algorithms for cluster expansion and graph-based tools for material property prediction.
• Indian Institute of Technology, BombaycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017MoU signed with KIST mediated through IKST in July 2018. Active collaboration since 2017 in various R&D projects including AMMCR code development with IIT Bombay.
• Christ University, BangaloreminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2016MoU signed with Center for Digital Innovation (CDI), Christ University in October 2016 (renewed 2019) for collaborative purpose and PRISM contest to discover creative innovative ideas.
• Indian Institute of Technology, BhubaneswarcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Collaboration since 2016, most notably on the ongoing CINEMAS software project. IIT BBS established in 2008, one of the eight new IITs established by Ministry of Human Resource Development.
• Indian Institute of Science (IISc), BangalorecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Collaborative science projects since 2016. PASTA code developed in collaboration with IISc team. Dr. Manish Jain from IISc collaborates on Wannier90 framework calculations.
• Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013MoU signed with International Center for Material Sciences (ICMS), JNCASR in 2013 for cooperation in joint research projects, symposium and workshops. Active collaboration in computational materials science since establishment.
• Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010KIST is the parent organization. IKST is the Indian branch of KIST, Seoul, funded by Government of Korea. Established to promote collaboration between Indian and Korean research scientists.
• KIST EuropeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliated research center under KIST network, listed as international partner.
• Vietnam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology (VKIST)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliated international partner institution under KIST network.
• Hanyang UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKorean university partner. Exchange program participants include students from Hanyang University.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR): JNCASR is a Core IKST partner (MoU since 2013) and operates the International Centre for Material Sciences, with strong overlap in computational and experimental materials science — directly comparable as an Indian academic counterpart leveraging shared IKST software tools.
• Materials Project (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory): U.S. Department of Energy-funded computational materials science platform that IKST's CINEMAS integrates with via its Materials Project importer. Both provide open DFT-based tools, materials databases, and property-prediction capabilities to researchers globally.
• VASP Software GmbH: Commercial DFT package (Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package) that IKST's CINEMAS and AMMCR integrate with as their primary DFT engine. The most widely used academic materials simulation code; represents both a key dependency and a competitive benchmark for IKST tools.
• Quantum ESPRESSO Foundation: Open-source DFT software foundation producing widely used plane-wave pseudopotential codes for electronic-structure calculations. Directly comparable to IKST's open-source CINEMAS/PASTA/AMMCR stack serving the computational materials science community.
• Indian Institute of Science (IISc) – Materials Research Centre: IISc is both an IKST founding partner and a leading Indian academic research center where IKST was originally housed. Comparable as a computational materials science hub actively publishing and training researchers, with shared faculty collaboration (e.g., PASTA co-development).

Broad incumbents

• Max Planck Institute for Materials Research (MPI für Eisenforschung): German government-funded interdisciplinary materials research institute. Comparable as a publicly funded research organization with significant in-house computational materials science capability and tool development, though at much larger scale than IKST.
• Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST): KIST is IKST's parent organization and South Korea's flagship government R&D institute, operating across multiple domains including materials science. Directly comparable as a sovereign-funded multidisciplinary research center with software/tool development for materials.
• Dassault Systèmes BIOVIA: Commercial materials informatics and molecular simulation suite from Dassault Systèmes. Comparable as a workflow-driven scientific software platform targeting materials science R&D, but at greater enterprise scale with licensing revenues.
• Schrödinger, Inc. Commercial leader in computational chemistry and materials simulation software. Comparable to IKST in targeting DFT/molecular simulation workflows for materials science researchers, but with vastly larger development and commercial resources.

Regional players

• Argonne National Laboratory – Center for Nanoscale Materials: U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory operating a major computational materials science facility. Comparable in mission (open DFT/ML tools for materials discovery) and bilateral-collaboration context, though IKST is India-based and CNM is U.S.-based.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ikstblr
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/indo-korea-science-and-technology-center19

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Indo-Korea Science and Technology center