Pohang City Secures Future Food Sources! ... Establishing a Food Tech Industry Ecosystem

Launch of K-Kitchen Promotion Committee, Hosting Global Alternative Food Forum, and Efforts to Foster Food Tech

Full Effort to Designate Food Tech Innovation Cluster... Accelerating to Become a Food Tech Industry Hub City

Mayor Lee: "Leaping

Pohang City is accelerating efforts to advance the food tech industry as a central hub.

The launch ceremony of the 'K-Kitchen Promotion Committee' held last April.

As of 2020, the global food tech market size is estimated at approximately $554.2 billion (about 665 trillion KRW), with the domestic market around 61 trillion KRW. It is a future new industry showing a high growth rate exceeding 30% annually from 2017 to 2020.

Food tech is a compound word of Food and Technology, referring to a new industry that combines advanced technologies such as IT, BT, and AI throughout food production, distribution, and consumption. It includes alternative foods, smart factories and kitchens, delivery, serving, and cooking robots.

Accordingly, Pohang City is working with related organizations such as Gyeongbuk Province and POSTECH to foster the food tech industry and is dedicated to preparing to secure a leading position in this future growth industry.

In April, Pohang City launched the K-Kitchen Promotion Committee, centered on POSTECH, Gyeongbuk Province, and the Korea Food Tech Association, involving 10 leading food tech companies. In March, Pohang University of Science and Technology was selected for the Food Tech Contract Department led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Also, last November, Pohang City, together with Gyeongbuk Province and the Gyeongbuk Economic Promotion Agency, held the ‘Alternative Food Industry Ecosystem Building Global Forum (BAFE)’, establishing a cooperative system with B?hler of Switzerland, one of the world’s top three alternative food equipment companies, to revitalize the alternative food-based food tech industry. They also provided startups with an opportunity to explore new possibilities in the alternative food market.

Alongside this, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Neuromeka, and other local universities and companies are operating a Food Tech R&D Support Center, promoting the development and distribution of food tech robot automation systems to protect the health of workers in collective catering facilities.

Based on these achievements, Pohang City plans to create a food tech innovation cluster by 2027 through fostering the industry by establishing a food tech research support center, building smart manufacturing and food tech platforms for small and medium food and dining businesses, and expanding new technologies in the alternative food sector.

They will nurture local food tech companies through technology development and certification support, develop and distribute customized one-stop dining solutions for small business owners, and establish an industry-government-academia governance system to foster the food tech industry ecosystem for alternative food development.

Additionally, to spread public consensus on the food tech industry, Pohang City, together with the Youth Foundation and POSTECH, is creating a food tech education space inside the Dream Tree located in Jungang-dong as part of the city’s urban regeneration project. This space will be fully operational from next year, targeting youth and parents.

Furthermore, customized food tech education for food service workers linked with hygiene organizations and merchant associations will be expanded, and support and consulting for digital transformation in the dining industry will be provided to invigorate the local commercial district.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “With the global popularity of K-Food, the food tech industry, which merges food and 4th industrial revolution technologies, is becoming a new opportunity for the dining industry. Based on Pohang’s advanced scientific and technological infrastructure and abundant food resources, we will do our best to make 2024 the inaugural year for Pohang’s leap as a central city of the food tech industry.”

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