RIST was founded in 1987 with full funding from POSCO as Korea's first private comprehensive research institute. In 1996 it became the incorporated foundation Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST).

Its founding purpose is to carry out research and development in science and technology that underpins national industrial development, and to disseminate the results, contributing to the advancement of industrial science and technology.

Under its vision of “a practical-application research institute that opens the future with innovative technology”, RIST pursues new EHS technologies, energy solutions, next-generation core materials and testing and analysis. This platform connects its commercialization-ready technologies with companies that need them.