Gwangju City Selected for 'Camera Lens Optical Material Industrialization Support Project'

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 6th that its project, "Support Project for Industrialization of Optical Materials for Camera Lenses," was selected in the 2021 Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Smart Specialization Infrastructure Project competition.

The Smart Specialization Infrastructure Project is a government initiative aimed at strengthening regional competitiveness and balanced development in national strategic industries. Gwangju applied to the competition to enhance competitiveness in the field of optical materials for camera lenses, which has a very high external dependence on countries such as Japan and Germany.

The "Support Project for Industrialization of Optical Materials for Camera Lenses" promoted by Gwangju will establish a new optical materials industry support hub center from next year until 2023 to support the industrialization of optical materials and lens modules for autonomous vehicles. The total project cost is 16.3 billion KRW (including 7.82 billion KRW in national funding).

The hub center will establish a value chain of "optical materials → components → systems" by building a hub for test production support of high value-added, small-quantity, multi-variety optical lenses and camera specification optical materials. It will provide spoke-type support throughout the entire process: "optical design → manufacturing process (processing, molding, coating) → performance evaluation → lens modularization → systematization (demonstration)."

Additionally, in collaboration with regional innovation institutions such as the Korea Photonics Technology Institute, the Southwest Headquarters of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Chonnam National University, the project will implement ▲ establishment of manufacturing equipment for optical materials and applied components, and performance evaluation equipment ▲ support for prototype production of high value-added optical materials and applied components ▲ human resource development projects linked to the establishment of specialization bases for optical materials and components.

Through this project, Gwangju expects to discover five star products including optical lenses and modules for autonomous vehicles, defense, and optical lenses for living and industrial environment monitoring. It aims to foster more than three strong small and medium enterprises and attract more than four new companies, targeting sales of 200 billion KRW and the creation of 1,400 jobs by 2026.

Lee Chi-seon, Director of the Future Industry Policy Division of the city, said, "The internalization of optical materials through this project will help local optical companies break away from the cormorant-type industrial structure and attempt to transition to an advanced country-type optical industry. The camera lens industry can also be linked with front-end key industries such as artificial intelligence and the automotive industry, as well as back-end industries such as ultra-precision processing and mold industries. We will devote ourselves to policy support to enhance synergy with these industries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.