Global Battery Leading City 'Pohang', Focusing on Innovation Zone Attraction Capabilities

Pohang City and Gyeongbuk Province are entering the government’s global innovation special zone competition.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the 'Electric Vehicle Battery Resource Circulation Cluster' held last December at Pohang Blue Valley National Industrial Complex.

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According to Pohang City on the 8th, they will compete to attract the ‘Gyeongbuk Battery Reuse and Recycling Industry Global Innovation Special Zone’ in the upcoming additional competition by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, expected as early as this month.

The city plans to expand the scale of the special zone to a metropolitan level and build an innovation cluster involving not only local companies but also provincial and nationwide secondary battery companies, making this competition a top priority.

The global innovation special zone is an advanced version of the existing regulatory free special zone, where systems and support aligned with global standards?including regulations, demonstrations, certifications, permits, and insurance?are applied to develop new products in future technology fields and facilitate overseas expansion.

In particular, it will be the first in Korea to apply a comprehensive negative regulation system, allowing all demonstrations except explicitly restricted or prohibited activities.

As battery cell manufacturing is globally mandated to include recycling and supply chain disputes among major countries pose a constant risk to South Korea, Pohang City and Gyeongbuk Province plan to contribute to supply chain stability by creating a global innovation cluster capable of demonstration, certification, and permitting through battery recycling and reuse.

Additionally, this initiative aims to provide a breakthrough for future car and battery companies struggling under Korea’s complex regulations, establish international standards through demonstrations, and secure a leading position in the global market.

Furthermore, targeting linkage with the electric vehicle and battery industry sectors in regions such as Gyeongju, Yeongcheon, Gyeongsan, Gimcheon, Sangju, Gumi, and Bonghwa, they expect synergy effects that can foster regional growth and pioneer a new era of local development through the attraction of the special zone.

Pohang City was designated in 2019 as the nation’s first ‘Next-Generation Battery Recycling Regulatory Free Special Zone,’ attracting large-scale investments worth 14 trillion KRW centered on leading companies like EcoPro and POSCO Future M, propelling it to become South Korea’s representative secondary battery city.

Building on these achievements, they plan to attract the global innovation special zone as an extension of the regulatory free special zone, turning the battery special zone?which has been designated as an excellent special zone for four consecutive years nationwide?into a foundation for growth alongside the region.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok emphasized, “Pohang is rapidly transforming from a steel city to a secondary battery city at an unprecedented pace,” adding, “We will do our best to secure the designation of the global innovation special zone so that the wave of change that started in Pohang can spread beyond South Korea to the world.”

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