Park Namchun "Fostering Incheon-Specialized Bio Industry, Making Songdo a Global Role Model"

President Moon Visits Songdo, Incheon, Emphasizes Government Support
Samsung Biologics and Celltrion Announce Investment Plans

Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun is presenting the 'Incheon Specialized Bioindustry Promotion Strategy' at a bioindustry event held on the 18th at Yonsei University International Campus in Songdo. 2020.11.18 [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] On the 18th, Park Namchun, Mayor of Incheon, told President Moon Jae-in, who visited Songdo International City, "We will foster Incheon's specialized bio-industry and develop Songdo into a globally recognized bio-cluster role model."

On the same day, President Moon attended the 'Bio-industry Promotion Strategy Report Meeting' held at Yonsei University International Campus in Songdo, along with Hong Namki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy, Choi Ki-young, Minister of Science and ICT, Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Park Neung-hoo, Minister of Health and Welfare, and Lee Ho-seung, Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs at the Blue House.

At the meeting, Mayor Park announced Incheon's specialized bio-industry promotion strategies, including ▲establishing a bio-innovation cluster foundation ▲creating an open innovation-based startup ecosystem ▲building a support system for localization of bio raw materials and components.

He also presented detailed projects such as establishing an Incheon-type advanced medical complex, building a bio-process workforce training center, setting up a bio resource sharing coordination center, implementing 30 projects for localization of raw materials and components, and constructing a commercialization support center for bio-pharmaceutical raw materials and components.

To this end, Incheon plans to invest a total project cost of 3.6 trillion KRW to attract about 700 bio-companies by 2030, create 170,000 jobs, and train 15,000 bio workforce members.

Mayor Park emphasized, "Incheon Songdo is the optimal location for fostering the bio-industry, equipped with world-class logistics infrastructure such as Incheon International Airport, Incheon Port, and highways, as well as a consumer market of 25 million people in the metropolitan area. Since it has the best environment for bio-industry growth with leading global companies and excellent universities and research institutes, we will develop Songdo into a global bio-industry mecca and surely realize South Korea's bio-industry dream."

In response, President Moon highlighted the government's role in supporting Incheon's efforts for localization of bio materials, parts, and equipment, as well as supplying key personnel, and expressed his intention to actively support these initiatives.

Meanwhile, at the event, Samsung Biologics and Celltrion announced their bio-investment plans and held an online groundbreaking ceremony for expanding production plants and building large-scale research centers.

Samsung Biologics plans to invest a total of 1.74 trillion KRW by 2022 to expand its 4th plant with an annual production capacity of 256,000 liters.

Celltrion also plans to invest 500 billion KRW to build a research center with 2,000 research personnel and complete the expansion of its 3rd plant with a capacity of 60,000 liters by 2023. Afterwards, it promised to invest 1 trillion KRW to build a 4th plant and a complex bio-town in Songdo.

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