WASHINGTON April 17 PRNewswire-FirstCall - Alcatel-Lucent Euronext Paris and NYSE ALU today announced that its Bell Labs research organization has signed a memorandum of understanding MOU with the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economys Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute ETRI This MOU provides a framework for the two parties to cooperate in RD projects into critical technology areas of communications This planned joint research activity is expected to focus on - advanced optical communications and network applications - wireless technologies networks and applications and - fundamental studies in the enabling sciences including mathematical sciences computer science and physicsThe MOU was executed by Dr Mun-Kee Choi President of ETRI and Dr Jeong Kim President of Bell Labs in a signing ceremony in Washington DC attended by Mr Lee Youn Ho Minister of Knowledge Economy and John J Sullivan Deputy Secretary of Commerce for the United States Specific support terms and conditions will be further defined in future discussionsThe Ministry of Knowledge Economy is a shining innovative model of proactive government engagement in supporting the development of a national innovation culture - one that will generate new technologies at the forefront of IT and communications said Jeong Kim President of Bell Labs We are proud to partner with the ministrys Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and see this as just the first step in a deep and longstanding engagement between Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs and the government of Korean and its scientists to generate fundamental innovations that will change the world around usWith this agreement we hope to combine Bell Labs unmatched fundamental research expertise with ETRIs proven capabilities in developing applications and technologies said Mun-kee Choi the President of ETRI The combination of these two powerful institutions should make it possible to innovate state-of-the-art IT and communications infrastructure and help Korea further its goal of world-class leadership in IT technologiesAbout Alcatel-LucentAlcatel-Lucent Euronext Paris and NYSE ALU provides solutions that enable service providers enterprise and governments worldwide to deliver voice data and video communication services to end-users As a leader in fixed mobile and converged broadband networking IP technologies applications and services Alcatel-Lucent offers the end-to-end solutions that enable compelling communications services for people at home at work and on the move With operations in more than 130 countries Alcatel-Lucent is a local partner with global reach The company has the most experienced global services team in the industry and one of the largest research technology and innovation organizations in the telecommunications industry Alcatel-Lucent achieved revenues of Euro 178 billion in 2007 and is incorporated in France with executive offices located in Paris For more information visit Alcatel-Lucent on the Internet About ETRIETRI is an innovative research and development organization in Information Communication Technologies It has been playing a key role in boosting Korean ICT technologies for more than 30 years ETRI has successfully commercialized advanced and new technologies such as DRAM CDMA DMB Digital Multimedia Broadcasting and WiBro Wireless BroadbandETRI has more than 1900 researchers in its Daejeon campus Over 96 of them have masters or doctors degrees ETRI is performing major government-funded projects from Ministry of Knowledge and Economy Ministry of Education Science and Technology Broadcasting and Communications Commission and so on ETRI has more than 1000 international patents Its royalty income falls on about 70 of the whole royalty income arising from all government supported research facilities in Korea It has transferred its technologies to 385 companies and its accumulated royalty income exceeded USD 485 million in 2006 ETRI Journal is the 4th in the world to be registered in SCI Science Citation Index following ATT BT and IBMThe vision of ETRI is to be one of the leading IT RD institutes in the world In order to achieve this vision ETRI will keep on innovating cultivating human resources and developing hardware systems to pursue the most effective RD process and the best intellectual asset management infrastructure ETRI is the first government-supported RD organization in Korea to be certified with ISO 90012000 This certification allowed ETRI to set up quality management process protocols to insure quality research and development productionETRI is concentrating its RD capability in four larger sections such as Convergence Components and Materials Broadcasting and Telecommunications Convergence Software and Content and IT Convergence Technology on successful conclusion of u-IT 839 strategy Up to date ETRI has been focusing on the development of IT-BT-NT Convergence New Component Materials OpticalRF Materials IT SoCs Next Generation Mobile Communications BroadcastingCommunications Converged Media Global IT Protocol RFID-Ubiquitous Sensor Networks Broadband Convergence Networks Convergence Software Digital Content Information Security Ubiquitous Robot and Postal Technology to attain the Nations ICT aim and to position ETRI as globally competitive RD institute ETRI has been involved in joint RD projects with renowned counterparts such as Fraunhofer Motorola Microsoft Samsung KT and Saint Marys Hospital and welcome opportunities to work with competent global partners from all around the worldFor more information visit ETRI on the Internet Alcatel-Lucent