"Package Support Linking Infrastructure and Data Is Crucial for Successful Regulatory Free Zone Demonstrations"

Regulatory Free Zone Roundtable
Sharing the Metropolitan Cooperative Zone Initiative

An event was held where officials involved in regulatory free zones gathered to share on-site challenges and discuss directions for the development of related policies.

On December 10, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it had hosted a regulatory free zone roundtable at the Osong Advanced Medical Industry Promotion Foundation in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to promote innovation in new industries and facilitate cooperation between regions. Introduced for the first time in 2019, regulatory free zones have contributed to revitalizing local economies and supporting domestic small and medium-sized enterprises in entering both domestic and overseas markets by temporarily easing regulations in non-metropolitan areas, thereby enabling verification of the safety of new technologies and services and supporting commercialization.

During the roundtable, policy stakeholders for regulatory free zones-including local governments, small and medium-sized enterprises, and industry experts-shared on-site difficulties and discussed directions for the advancement of the regulatory free zone system. They also exchanged views on ways to expand interregional cooperation and shared the 'Metropolitan Cooperative Zone Initiative,' which will be fully implemented starting next year. The Metropolitan Cooperative Zone is a regulatory free zone model based on the cooperation of multiple local governments, aiming to ease large-scale regulations across supply chains and industries and to serve as a testbed for new forms of convergence industries that combine a variety of new products and services.

Small and medium-sized enterprises attending the roundtable emphasized the importance of establishing a package support system that links research and development (R&D), infrastructure, and data utilization to ensure successful demonstrations within the zones. They also requested the preparation of follow-up support measures, such as liquidity provision and securing sales channels for companies in the zones, to facilitate stable commercialization of products and services.

Local governments expressed strong willingness to actively participate in the Metropolitan Cooperative Zone, noting that building a regulatory free zone model connecting metropolitan units would enable demonstrations that overcome the limitations of single-region infrastructure and resources, thereby greatly expanding the potential for mutual growth between regions.

First Vice Minister Noh Yongseok stated, "Regulatory free zones are innovation platforms led by local regions, and it is now time to achieve even greater outcomes through interregional linkage and cooperation. Based on the opinions discussed today, we will create tangible regulatory innovation outcomes that companies can feel in the field through the Metropolitan Cooperative Zone."

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