Pohang City Progresses Steadily in Establishing Bio Cluster... Full Efforts to Attract National Public Project

Strengthening Advanced Strategic Technology Capabilities Centered on Accelerator-Based New Drug Development and Green Bio Industry

Challenging National Public Projects Including Bio Specialized Complex and Green Bio Foundry Construction

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Pohang City is accelerating efforts to establish a bio-industry ecosystem to secure leadership in the bio sector.

The opening ceremony of the 'Bio Future Technology Innovation Research Center (IRC)' held last November.

Over the past several years, the city has continuously expanded excellent research infrastructure for creating a ‘bio cluster,’ including the nation’s only 3rd and 4th generation synchrotron radiation accelerators, the first domestically introduced cryo-electron microscope, POSTECH, a world-class research-oriented university, and the Protein Biotechnology Center (PBC), a specialized research institute for bio-origin technologies.

Along with these, Pohang hosts abundant bio infrastructure for R&D advancement and commercialization, such as the ‘Bio Open Innovation Center (BOIC),’ a venture startup platform for promising bio companies; the ‘Membrane Protein Research Institute,’ a global hub for new drug development; and the ‘Green Vaccine Demonstration Support Center,’ the nation’s first commercial plant vaccine facility.

Leveraging these strengths, the city applied in February for the national advanced strategic industry ‘Bio Specialized Complex’ contest, aiming to firmly establish itself as an innovative future bio-industry city.

The core goal of Pohang’s Bio Specialized Complex is to secure global competitiveness through organic collaboration among industry, academia, research, and government based on excellent R&D infrastructure and professional workforce development.

Additionally, the main strategy is to build a global cooperation system using future core competencies and to strengthen advanced strategic technology capabilities to foster an innovation ecosystem.

The expansion of Pohang City’s green bio business is also making a significant contribution to the creation of the bio cluster.

The green bio industry is recognized as a new industry sector that creates new growth engines for agriculture, food, and related industries due to its high potential and growth prospects. Pohang is focusing on various projects in the green bio field centered on the Green Vaccine Demonstration Support Center, the nation’s first commercial plant vaccine facility.

In February last year, Pohang was designated as a hub for animal pharmaceuticals among the six promising green bio industrialization sectors by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Responding to the need for an animal pharmaceutical hub support facility, the city is promoting an animal green bio pharmaceutical industrialization hub project with a total budget of 15 billion KRW, leading the development and industrial promotion of pet-specific pharmaceuticals in response to the rapid growth of the domestic and international pet market.

In particular, following green bio R&D, Pohang applied in February for the ‘Animal Pharmaceutical Green Bio Foundry Construction Project’ to advance production processes. Through the establishment of an advanced analysis system, it aims to automate, accelerate, and standardize development and production processes.

Moreover, the ‘Green Bio Venture Campus’ project (total budget of 35 billion KRW) to build a venture startup hub facility for fostering green bio convergence new industries is also scheduled to begin construction within the first half of the year.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok stated, “Based on various driving forces, Pohang will become a model case overcoming regional extinction as the center of Korea’s future biohealth industry.” He added, “We will accelerate the selection of the Bio Specialized Complex and the creation of the bio cluster to firmly secure domestic and international bio sovereignty.”

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