Korea Institute of Materials Science, a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, has acquired the ISO 37001 certification, the international standard for anti-bribery management systems of public institutions and companies. The certification award ceremony was held on Thursday, June 9 in the conference room of KIMS, located in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do and attended by board members and employees including Jung-hwan Lee, president of KIMS, and Dong-gyu Lee, Vice President of the Korea Productivity Center (KPC).

ISO 37001 is an international standard for the requirements and procedures of anti-bribery management established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Since its adoption in Korea in April 2017, it has been awarded to public institutions or companies that meet the international standard by implementing the system to enhance the integrity of institutional management and customer trust through corruption risk diagnosis and assessment.

KIMS has been making various efforts: establishing a self-inspection system for anti-bribery and integrity every year, issuing integrity alerts for special periods of anti-bribery, signing an integrity pledge by each employee, and appointing citizen auditors for integrity. Prior to this, KIMS received a grade 1 (excellent) in the anti-corruption policy evaluation by the Ministry of Science and ICT in December last year. This year, KIMS established a sustainable ethical management system by formulating guidelines for the anti-bribery management system (ISO 37001), appointing a corruption risk manager by the department, and preparing a self-evaluation system according to the level of corruption risk and was able to obtain the ISO certification.

Jung-hwan Lee, President of KIMS, said, “By acquiring the ISO 37001 certification, KIMS is taking a leap forward to create a culture of research integrity and establish a higher level of the ethical management system. As the public's interest and expectations on government-funded research institutes are high, KIMS will continue to strive for integrity in the future.”