Growing the Green Bio Market to a 10 Trillion Won Scale by 2027

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Announces 'Green Bio Industry Development Strategy'
Domestic Market Currently at 5.4 Trillion KRW
Dedicated Funding and Expanded R&D for Startups

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Joo Sang-don] The government has decided to nurture the domestic green bio industry market to a scale of 10 trillion won by 2027. To this end, it plans to expand research and development (R&D) in core technology fields such as digital breeding, along with dedicated financial support for startups.

On the 16th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the 'Green Bio Industry Promotion Strategy' containing these details.

The green bio industry is a new industry that applies biotechnology to agricultural biological resources to create added value across agriculture and related upstream and downstream industries. Major fields include seeds, veterinary pharmaceuticals, microorganisms, insects, natural products, and food materials. It can also enhance sustainability by replacing fossil fuel-based production with bio-based production.

The global green bio market was approximately $1.2 trillion in 2020, with a rapid annual growth rate of 6.7% expected. However, the domestic market was only 5.4 trillion won in 2020, accounting for just 0.3% of the global market. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs views this as a time when national-level preparation is necessary to keep pace with global growth.

Accordingly, the ministry has established and is promoting this strategy with goals centered on ▲industrialization promotion ▲development of innovative technologies and workforce training ▲creation of an industrial ecosystem, aiming for a domestic industry scale of 10 trillion won, exports of 5 trillion won, and nurturing 15 global and large startups (unicorn companies) by 2027.

To promote industrialization, investment will first be expanded through dedicated financial support for startups. The size of the green bio dedicated fund will be expanded to over 100 billion won by 2027, and various funds such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sovereign wealth fund and policy finance (New Growth 4.0, etc.) will be utilized. Green bio specialized investment institutions will be linked to support startup capital and consulting, and product commercialization will be supported through large and medium-sized enterprise-venture linkage programs.

In addition, corporate support will be strengthened around six major industrial hubs (Green Bio Hubs). These include the K-Seed Complex (Gimje), Veterinary Drug Efficacy and Safety Evaluation Center (Iksan), Microbial Industry Promotion Support Center (Jeongeup), Insect Industry Hub Complex (Yecheon), Natural Product Material Hub (scheduled for public contest in 2023), and National Food Cluster (Iksan), where comprehensive support for product evaluation, demonstration, and commercialization processes for green bio companies will be provided.

Efforts will also be made to develop innovative technologies and nurture convergent human resources. To this end, short-term project-type R&D that companies need, such as digital breeding, bio-feed, pesticides, fertilizers, veterinary pharmaceuticals, and fermented product material development, will be expanded. For fields requiring mid- to long-term investment (such as digital breeding), feasibility studies and roadmaps will be prepared and promoted. When planning R&D, marketable projects such as technology commercialization support will be expanded, and tax incentives for R&D in the green bio field will also be promoted. Convergent personnel will be trained across research, industry, and service sectors, and venture startups utilizing promising green bio technologies will be supported.

To create an industrial ecosystem, the ministry will promote the digital transformation of green bio companies and establish systems and regulatory innovations to create demand in the green bio field.

Jung Hwang-geun, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "Through the systematic implementation of the green bio industry promotion strategy, an opportunity for a leap forward will be created to generate high added value as a new value chain structure in agriculture and the food industry. Companies will actively enter the global market, and the nation as a whole is expected to achieve sustainable growth through carbon reduction."

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