IBS was established in November 2011 by the Lee Myung-bak administration as a research institute, later a core of the International Science and Business Belt (ISBB)[2] upon relocation of their headquarters from a rented property to their own campus in January 2018[3] using land reclaimed from the Taejŏn Expo '93 in Expo Science Park.

The Institute is often referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize project’ of the nation, as obtaining that award was a clear goal behind the founding.

[4] In 2011,[5] the Korean government announced an investment of more than 2 trillion KRW (roughly US$2 billion) to build a heavy ion accelerator facility, named RAON, in northern Daejeon by 2021[6][7][8][9] before getting pushed back to 2025.

[11] In 2018, it was noted that the largest share of Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers in Korea are affiliated with IBS.

Campus Centers are based in the nation's science and technology universities (KAIST, DGIST, UNIST, GIST and POSTECH).

[28] The school opened in September 2015 to foster young scientists in basic science by using HQ Centers' facilities.