Pohang City Holds Meeting in Seoul to Hear Expert Opinions on Overcoming Crisis in Secondary Battery Industry

Industry, Academia, and Research Experts Gather to Seek Response Measures to Overcome the Global Secondary Battery Chasm
Mayor Lee Kangdeok Visits InterBattery 2025 to Expand the Global Secondary Battery Network

Pohang City has embarked on discovering policies and preparing response measures to support the secondary battery industry, which is facing difficulties due to the global electric vehicle chasm and changes in the secondary battery landscape.

On the 6th, Mayor Lee Kang-deok of Pohang participated in ‘InterBattery 2025’ held at COEX in Seoul to expand the global network. He also attended the ‘Pohang Secondary Battery Experts Meeting’ held at the InterContinental Seoul COEX Hotel, seeking regional response measures to the changing global secondary battery industry environment.

On the 6th, Pohang City participated in 'InterBattery 2025' in Seoul and held a meeting to overcome the crisis in the secondary battery industry. Photo by Pohang City

At the meeting, experts from research institutions, companies, and specialized research organizations gathered to share trends and prospects of the global secondary battery industry and to collect broad opinions on support measures.

During the meeting, Mayor Lee expressed empathy for the volatility of the rapidly changing secondary battery market and emphasized the need for support from both central and local governments to secure the competitiveness of South Korea’s secondary battery industry.

He explained that he has proposed the designation of a Special Industrial Crisis Response Area to overcome the crisis situation in the secondary battery industry, such as deteriorating corporate performance and delayed facility investments, and is making efforts to strengthen practical support for companies, including the enactment of special laws.

In the subsequent discussion, global issues and challenges facing the secondary battery industry were discussed, including the impact and response measures to the Trump administration’s inauguration and the possibility of introducing the Korean version of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). They explored regional response measures and ways to secure industrial competitiveness amid the rapidly changing industrial environment.

Additionally, various opinions on cooperation methods among industry, academia, research institutes, and government to overcome the secondary battery chasm, as well as on discovering new projects and tasks, were discussed.

Experts emphasized that despite domestic and international difficulties, companies have no choice but to continue research and development, and that it is a crucial time for definite support at the central and local government levels, such as direct facility investment support and R&D infrastructure establishment, to secure technological leadership.

The city plans to actively incorporate the suggestions and proposals from this meeting to discover effective policies that can revitalize Pohang’s industrial economy and enhance the applicability of future projects on the ground.

After the meeting, Mayor Lee Kang-deok visited the Gyeongbuk & Pohang joint promotional booth at ‘InterBattery 2025’ to encourage participating company representatives. He also visited promotional booths of local companies such as Ecopro, POSCO Future M, and Dawon Chemical to review trends in secondary battery technologies and products.

He further visited overseas promotional booths including the Swedish Trade and Investment Council in Korea and China’s BYD to expand global secondary battery networking and actively promote Pohang’s investment and industrial environment for regional investment attraction and business cooperation.

Mayor Lee said, “As the secondary battery industry is going through growing pains for a greater leap forward, now is a time when active government support is more necessary than ever. We will actively incorporate the opinions of experts who serve as the compass for secondary battery policies and do our best to foster Pohang’s pillar industry.”

Pohang City, together with Gyeongbuk Province, plans to hold the Pohang Battery Expo around September, the first among basic local governments, including a conference, exhibition, and job fair, to further solidify its position as a leading battery city.

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