Jinju City Opens Gyeongnam's First Public Rental 'Jinju Knowledge Industry Center'

Opening Ceremony of Jinju Knowledge Industry Center, Gyeongnam's First Public Rental Type. (Photo by Jinju City)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Jinju City, Gyeongnam Province, held the opening ceremony of the 'Jinju Knowledge Industry Center,' Gyeongnam's first public rental knowledge industry center, on the 24th, which had been postponed due to the COVID-19 situation.

The city started construction in July 2017 with a total project cost of 28.8 billion KRW to provide rental-only business spaces for local small and medium-sized enterprises and create jobs, completing the construction in January last year.

The Jinju Knowledge Industry Center was built with one basement floor and six above-ground floors, covering a total floor area of 15,856㎡. In addition to exclusive spaces for tenant companies, it includes resident convenience facilities such as the Cheonjeon-dong Administrative Welfare Center and a toy bank, as well as auxiliary facilities like studios, video conference rooms, and large conference rooms.

The Jinju Knowledge Industry Center is uniquely operated directly by the city nationwide. Currently, the Corporate Commerce Division and Startup Support Team are stationed there to support tenant companies and manage the facilities.

Through three public recruitment rounds from May last year to April this year, 28 companies have moved in. As of 2020, the tenant companies' sales amounted to 17.8 billion KRW, and the number of employees was 196, serving as a vital force for the local economy.

Most tenant companies belong to manufacturing sectors such as ceramics, aerospace new materials, and bio, which are local strategic industries. There are also many companies engaged in content development and design, so it is expected that collaboration and networking among companies will strengthen mutual competitiveness.

Mayor Jo Gyu-il said, “With the opening of the Knowledge Industry Center as an opportunity, our city plans to implement various startup support projects and actively promote the nurturing of technology-based startup companies. We will do our best to foster youth startups and Jinju-type strong small and medium enterprises befitting the status of Jinju as the capital of entrepreneurship.”

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