This project stems from a commitment to strengthening the existing partnership, named 'Australian-Korean Cooperation for Virtual Design and Construction Technologies: Sustainable Partnership (VDCT Partnership)', between Swinburne University of Technology (Melbourne, Australia), Hanyang University (Seoul, Korea) and Pusan National University (Busan, Korea). It seeks to compensate the strengths and weaknesses of both, thereby generating convergent benefits. The Australia-Korea Foundation (AKF) fund was a stepping stone to strengthen the bilateral VDCT partnership, and it was an opportunity to facilitate visitors from Korean partners.

Swinburne University of Technology has been continuously looking for opportunities to increase Korean engagement to Australia. This project, together with our Korean parties, began with a strong belief that the partnership of two separate specialties will create a synergy effect that will be greater than the sum of the isolated two. By the support of granted fund, the program in 2016 consisted of several main activities on the basis of four research topics: A. Smart Construction using Information and Communication Technologies; B. Integrated Framework for Virtual Construction and Implementation in Supply Chains; C. Optimized Building Information Modelling for Modular Construction Projects; D. Sustainable Construction Innovations via Life Cycle Analysis

One of the main activities was the Australia-Korea Foundation (AKF) & Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI) Joint Symposium, December 2016. With the AKF grant, it had the opportunity to invite several celebrated professors and their research students from Korea: Professor Jae-Jun Kim (President of Korean Institute of Building Information Modeling & Professor of Hanyang University), Professor Sungwoo Moon (Pusan National University), and Professor Ju-Hyung Kim (Hanyang University).

The theme of the Symposium was "Virtual Design and Construction Technologies". Prior to the academic sessions, Mr Hongju Jo (Consul-General) and Mr David Livingstone (Deputy State Director, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) delivered their congratulatory speeches. The symposium comprised several special talks from international speakers, covering a wide array of topics that included: Building Information Modelling, Modular Construction, 3D printing in Construction, FRP Composites, Supply Chain Management, Virtual Reality, Megaproject Management, Sustainability, Life Cycle Analysis, and Value Engineering. Furthermore, relevant case studies from both Australia and Korea were also explored for each area.

With approximately 150 delegates arriving for the symposium, the keen interest shown by these attendees contributed strongly to making this an instructive and valuable day. The event also provided a range of networking opportunities and university public information, as well as free meals and refreshments. As a result, both Swinburne and Korean delegates successfully strengthened their partnership in the field of 'Virtual Design & Construction Technologies (VDCT)'. Moreover, the symposium offered the participants and Swinburne staff/students a chance to experience the most recent research projects in VDCT.

This partnership has been in development for a considerable amount of time, and the AKF 2016 project was able to strengthen it and it will definitely continue to grow.