Pohang City Strives to Attract 'Global Innovation Zone' to Lead Battery Recycling Market

Free and Verifiable Global Innovation Zone, Leading the Battery Recycling Market

Mayor Lee Gang-deok, "Accelerating Global Battery Market Domination through Attraction of Global Innovation Zone"

Pohang City, together with Gyeongbuk Province, is making every effort to attract the "Global Innovation Special Zone," the first in Korea to completely lift all regulations on a specific industry, in order to dominate the global market through focused development of the battery recycling industry and to strengthen the supply chain of core raw materials and components.

Blue Valley Industrial Complex.

The Global Innovation Special Zone is an innovation cluster created by upgrading and expanding the existing Regulatory Free Zone to support the development of new products in future technology fields and overseas expansion. It is the first in Korea to apply a "comprehensive negative regulation" system, which allows all demonstrations using new technologies except for explicitly stated restrictions or prohibitions.

Pohang City expects that by attracting the Global Innovation Special Zone, known as the ultimate in deregulation, it will be able to lead international standards related to used batteries from electric vehicles through advanced technology development, demonstration, and rapid commercialization of products related to battery recycling.

Once international standards are established, it becomes difficult to replace them with other technologies, making it easier not only to dominate the global market but also to actively develop related technologies and facilitate the global expansion of domestic companies.

Since Korea depends on importing major raw materials from resource-rich countries such as China, electric vehicle battery recycling is considered an alternative to reduce dependence on core materials.

In particular, as China recently designated graphite, a key raw material for secondary battery anodes, as an export-controlled item, causing an emergency situation for the government and the battery industry, Korea is vulnerable to conflicts among major countries worldwide at any time. Therefore, the Global Innovation Special Zone, which enables demonstration, certification, and approval through battery recycling and reuse, is very important for stabilizing the secondary battery material supply chain.

In 2019, Pohang City and Gyeongbuk Province proactively granted regulatory exemptions demanded by the industry to resolve the difficulty in industrializing used batteries due to laws not keeping pace with the rapid technological advancements in batteries. As a result, Pohang was designated as the nation's first next-generation battery recycling Regulatory Free Zone.

Based on demonstrations in the Regulatory Free Zone, the city revised related laws such as performance evaluation, grade classification, sale, reuse, and recycling standards for used batteries in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, laying the foundation for revitalizing the used battery industry. Pohang also achieved the distinction of being the only Regulatory Free Zone designated as excellent for four consecutive years.

Additionally, recognizing the need for a hub space to support further demonstration and commercialization of used batteries, Pohang City and Gyeongbuk Province have been building and operating the Secondary Battery Integrated Management Center since 2021. They have also attracted numerous government policy projects, including the Ministry of Environment’s Used Battery Resource Circulation Cluster and Inline Automatic Evaluation Center projects, thereby creating a sustainable growth foundation for the secondary battery industry.

Alongside this, Pohang has attracted investments from leading companies such as EcoPro, POSCO Future M, and Energy Materials (GS Construction), as well as small and medium enterprises like SoluM, Mirae Ceratech, and Haedong Engineering. By 2027, Pohang plans to attract large-scale investments totaling 14 trillion KRW, demonstrating its capability to lead Korea’s industrial innovation through battery-based national defense.

Building on the achievements of the battery Regulatory Free Zone, Pohang City plans to attract the Global Innovation Special Zone for batteries to secure a stable supply chain of secondary battery raw materials, dominate the recycling market, and create an ecosystem where global companies can emerge locally, fostering co-growth with businesses.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok stated, “With the U.S. IRA and China’s moves to control exports of core raw materials and components, securing a stable supply chain for secondary battery raw materials and components is urgent. By designating the battery recycling Global Innovation Special Zone, we will enhance the self-reliance rate of secondary battery materials and systematically support local companies’ overseas expansion to accelerate the domination of the global battery market.”

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