"Bioeconomy to Create Up to $4 Trillion Annually... Policy Support Needed"

Bio Association Holds Bioeconomy Future Strategy Forum
Competition Heats Up Among Major Countries
Need to Balance Removing Technical Barriers and Expanding Demand Markets
Expand Biopharmaceuticals in National Strategic Technologies

The economic value generated by the bioeconomy, formed as biotechnology is utilized in various fields, is expected to reach up to $4 trillion annually (approximately 5,300 trillion KRW). The industry has called for policy support to realize the bioeconomy.

Joo Young-jun, Director General of the Industrial Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, is delivering a congratulatory speech at the Bioeconomy Future Strategy Forum held on the morning of the 26th.
[Photo by Korea Bio Association]

The Korea Bio Association announced on the 26th that it held a Bioeconomy Future Strategy Forum attended by about 100 people from the bio industry and academia. The forum, held at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, was organized to enhance understanding of the bioeconomy and discuss what preparations the domestic industry should make. The forum was hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and jointly organized by the Korea Bio Association and the Korean Bioeconomy Society.

According to the Bio Association, competition with major countries over the bioeconomy has recently intensified. In September and May of last year, the United States and China each announced development plans to secure leadership in the bioeconomy. Then, in March, the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), a leading industrial organization in Japan, voiced the need for the Japanese government to foster the bioeconomy.

At the keynote speech, Jeongsoo Lim, partner at the strategy and consulting firm McKinsey, introduced the current status of the global bioeconomy. He described the bioeconomy as "an economic mechanism that does not simply focus on biotechnology but realizes social and economic development and sustainable growth based on it," adding, "It is an important and very timely topic of discussion moving from a pharmaceutical and healthcare focus to expansion into materials, agriculture, food, energy, and consumer goods, advancing to a revolutionary stage." This implies that the bioindustry can cross various fields and shift paradigms.

Partner Lim assessed, "The bioeconomy is entering a new turning point and will significantly contribute to creating economic value worth $2 trillion to $4 trillion annually (approximately 2,700 trillion to 5,300 trillion KRW) across various fields over the next 10 to 20 years, as well as solving humanity’s greatest challenges such as food shortages." He also predicted that more than half of the economic value creation will occur beyond the traditional pharmaceutical industry, in diverse sectors such as agriculture and consumer goods.

Following this, Yoonhee Choi, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, stated that the bioeconomy "means creating meaningful social and economic effects by applying biotechnology to various industries such as primary industries, healthcare, energy, and environment," and suggested that "to realize the bioeconomy, policies to remove technological barriers, enhance social acceptance, and expand demand markets must be pursued in balance."

There was also an industry demand to expand the national strategic technology, currently limited to vaccines, to cover all biopharmaceuticals. Yong Park, head of the HR Support Center at Samsung Biologics, who presented on trends and prospects of the global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) market, said, "Although the government designates the bioindustry as a future growth industry and implements nurturing policies, the policy support is limited to vaccines," and argued, "To leap forward as a bio powerhouse, the national strategic technology, currently limited to vaccines under the Restriction of Special Taxation Act, must be expanded to biopharmaceuticals."

Ki-hwan Oh, director of the Bioeconomy Research Center at the Korea Bio Association, who led the forum, emphasized, "Competition among countries to secure leadership in the bioeconomy has officially begun," adding, "Biotechnology is influencing various fields beyond pharmaceuticals, including food, chemicals, energy, and materials. Since we started later than other countries, industry, academia, and research institutes must cooperate to swiftly establish a comprehensive government-wide strategy for the bioeconomy."

Seunggyu Lee, vice chairman of the Bio Association, also said in his opening remarks, "Until now, the bioindustry was centered on specific sectors, but now an era has come where we can view the roadmap with the agenda of the economy," and added, "The bioindustry will become an energy that creates national wealth beyond sectors."

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