Chungnam Seosan Industry Valley Designated as a 'Root Industry Specialized Complex'

The Seosan Industrial Valley General Industrial Complex (hereinafter Seosan General Industrial Complex) in Seosan, Chungnam, has been designated as a specialized cluster for the root industry. It is the second such designation following Asan Technovalley last year.

According to Chungnam Province on the 25th, the specialized cluster for the root industry is designated through a national root industry promotion center contest hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The purpose is to designate industrial complexes where root industries are concentrated as specialized clusters and support the establishment of shared facilities for environment, energy, processes, and equipment to promote the advancement of the complexes.

Chungnam Province, Seosan City, and Chungnam Technopark have established a support plan to invest a total project cost of 13.5 billion KRW, including 6.7 billion KRW in national funds, over five years following the designation of Seosan General Industrial Complex as a specialized cluster for the root industry.

The support plan includes customized support for building shared facilities and joint innovation activities aimed at eco-friendly and digital transformation of the root industry cluster, supply chain stabilization, and improvement of working conditions.

To build shared facilities, Chungnam Province plans to establish the Resident Company Council (2025) and the Next-Generation Complex Root Industry Support Center (2026) with the goal of improving living conditions.

Additionally, joint innovation activities will be carried out in areas such as linkage with specialized institution infrastructure, strengthening technological competitiveness, and market diversification.

Among these, linkage with specialized institution infrastructure supports cooperation with the regional Root Technology Support Center and continues support for linkage with metal industry-related infrastructure, while market diversification is promoted as an ongoing activity.

Strengthening technological competitiveness will be pursued as a continuing project through the operation of a task planning committee and the establishment of a Root Alliance, with plans to implement smart root processes and customized professional education by 2027.

The province expects that once the project is fully underway, it will resolve manpower shortages by advancing and securing growth engines for local upstream and downstream industries and the root industry, as well as fostering specialized personnel in root technologies.

The root industry refers to industries that manufacture process technologies or process equipment used throughout the manufacturing sector.

Examples include casting, mold, plastic working, welding, surface treatment, heat treatment, injection molding and pressing, precision machining, additive manufacturing, industrial film and paper processes, robotics, sensors, industrial intelligent software, and engineering design. It encompasses all industries producing intermediate goods that support domestic manufacturing.

Its importance is growing as a foundational industry supporting not only traditional key industries such as automobiles, shipbuilding, and semiconductors but also future new industries like the Internet of Things, robotics, energy, and environment.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has designated a total of 45 specialized clusters over 10 years since 2013 to promote the root industry, and by last year, it supported 27 complexes with 80 projects and 49.5 billion KRW in national funds.

Meanwhile, Seosan General Industrial Complex was completed in 2012 on an 810,000㎡ site in Haeseong-ri, Seongyeon-myeon, Seosan City. Currently, about 1,270 workers from 18 companies are active there.

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