‘Biom?ca’ Rapid Rise … Pohang City Fosters Future Growth Biohealth Industry

Pohang City is accelerating its leap toward becoming a ‘Bio Hub City’ by focusing on the intensive development of the ‘Biohealth Industry,’ which is gaining attention as a key future growth engine amid population aging and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aerial view of the Green Bio Venture Campus.

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As the government has adopted ‘Becoming a Global Center for Biohealth’ as one of its 120 major national tasks, preparing for definite change and growth, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the ‘Green Bio Industry Promotion Strategy’ on February 16 to promote the industrialization of the domestic green bio sector.

The Pohang Green Vaccine Demonstration Support Center was designated in March as the animal pharmaceutical hub among the six major green bio industry bases outlined in this strategy. The Green Vaccine Demonstration Support Center is the nation’s first production support facility for animal green vaccines and houses five promising venture companies in the green bio field, including BioApp, JinCell Biotech, ToolGen, BioCom, and Seaweed.

Following the announcement of the ‘Green Bio Industry Promotion Strategy,’ the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs held the inauguration ceremony of the public-private consultative body, the ‘Green Bio Industry Development Council,’ in March to promote regulatory innovation, information sharing, and strengthened cooperation among companies in the green bio sector.

At the inauguration ceremony, exhibitions of outstanding regional cases in the green bio field were held, and cases of livestock disease prevention using green vaccines (BioApp, Pohang) were introduced, drawing attention to Pohang’s green bio industry.

Pohang City has continuously worked to establish infrastructure and support systems for company growth in the bio sector, including the Green Vaccine Demonstration Support Center, the Membrane Protein Research Institute, the Bio Open Innovation Center (BOIC), the Pohang Small Giant R&D Special Zone, and Pohang Technopark.

In particular, the Pohang Green Bio Venture Campus, selected in last year’s public project, is a facility that provides research, equipment, space, and startup incubation programs specialized in green bio. It is scheduled to be established by 2025 in the Pohang Convergence Technology Industrial Complex, covering approximately 13,000㎡ with a total project cost of 35 billion KRW.

Additionally, Pohang City was selected this year for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ ‘Animal Green Bio Pharmaceutical Industrialization Hub Project’ and plans to create additional industrialization infrastructure for the production of animal green bio pharmaceuticals and corporate support with a total project cost of 15 billion KRW from 2023 to 2025.

Moreover, Pohang was selected for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries’ ‘Marine Biomedical Demonstration Research Center Construction’ project to build marine biomedical convergence research facilities and equipment and support joint use by companies. From 2023 to 2027, with a total project cost of 30 billion KRW, it aims to conduct pioneering research in the early development stage of the marine biomedical field, expand networks, and enhance research capabilities, expecting to gain an advantage in the marine bio sector as well.

In the pharmaceutical bio sector, Pohang was selected last year for the ‘Structure-Based Vaccine Technology Commercialization System Project’ to develop new drug R&D and establish a rapid response system for infectious diseases, as well as the ‘Bio-printing-Based Animal Alternative Testing and Evaluation Platform Construction Project’ for verifying drug efficacy and testing. Efforts are underway to attract related demand companies and discover new markets to strengthen domestic and international competitiveness.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok stated, “Since the biohealth industry is a government priority area, we will do our best to establish a global-level bio cluster by securing core technologies in the bio field based on excellent bioindustry infrastructure, discovering government projects to support corporate growth, and attracting companies.”

Pohang City expects a synergistic effect for the innovative growth of the bioindustry by building a win-win ecosystem among industry, academia, research, and government related to the biohealth industry through the 2023 Gyeongbuk Bio Industry Expo, held in September this year at POSTECH, and widely promoting the image of a bio city both domestically and internationally.

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