Wando-gun Launches Construction of Seaweed Bio Production Facility

Introduction of Korea's First Seaweed Bio-Production Facility

Wando-gun Office Building Exterior (Photo by Wando-gun)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Kyung-pil] Wando-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Shin Woo-cheol) announced on the 11th that it has secured 500 million KRW in design fees for next year to establish a “Seaweed Bioactive Material Production Facility” as a new national subsidy project.

An official from the county stated, “After making great efforts, including multiple visits to the National Assembly and central government departments since early this year to continuously explain the feasibility of the project, we were able to secure national funding.”

This project, which will be promoted with a total investment of 25 billion KRW over three years, aims to build a supply system for bio raw materials by extracting functional substances from various seaweeds produced in Wando for the production of health functional foods, pharmaceuticals, and functional cosmetics.

Marine bio companies operate on a small scale and lack investment capacity, facing difficulties in commercialization due to unstable raw material supply. Therefore, public support for bio raw material supply facilities is urgently needed.

Additionally, unlike terrestrial resources, seaweed requires treatment facilities for desalination and heavy metal removal, but there are currently no specialized raw material production facilities for seaweed in Korea, causing significant challenges in marine bio industrialization.

Through this project, the seaweed industry, which has remained a simple processing industry, is expected to achieve high added value by utilizing bioindustry materials and establish a foundation for fostering various marine bio companies within the region.

The county plans to start the detailed design next year with a project budget of 1 billion KRW (500 million KRW national funds, 150 million KRW provincial funds, and 350 million KRW county funds), begin construction in 2022, and complete the seaweed bioactive material production facility in 2023.

Meanwhile, Wando-gun plans to invest 11 billion KRW to create a marine bio research complex, attracting 10 domestic and international corporate research institutes and 30 startups, and to foster a marine bio industry ecosystem by promoting industrialization based on various research achievements.

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