Korea Testing Laboratory Supports Global Expansion of Advanced Bio SMEs...14 Companies Obtain Overseas Certifications

The Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL) is helping increase sales and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in obtaining overseas certifications through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's "Advanced Bio-Materials Commercialization Support Project."

KTL announced on the 10th that, through last year's Advanced Bio-Materials Commercialization Support Project, the total domestic sales of 50 companies increased by more than 8.5 billion won, and 14 companies succeeded in obtaining overseas certifications with KTL's support.

As part of the Advanced Bio-Materials Commercialization Support Program, the "Seminar on Trends in Alternative Animal Testing Methods under the Advanced Bio-Materials Commercialization Support Program" is underway. Korea Testing Laboratory

원본보기 아이콘

In the global advanced bio market, a consumer trend is spreading in which people carefully check product ingredients and efficacy before purchasing. Accordingly, for domestic K-beauty (cosmetics) products and others, securing international trust through verification and certification has become increasingly important for entering the market.

In response to this trend, the government has made it a national agenda to discover and foster new growth engines in order to advance into an advanced industrial nation and to realize global leadership in medical artificial intelligence (AI), pharmaceuticals, and bio-health. It is supporting the development of advanced bio industries such as K-medical and K-beauty.

In particular, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has designated KTL as the specialized institution for the Advanced Bio-Materials Commercialization Support Project and is providing support to ease the verification, certification, and market-entry barriers that companies face after technology development.

Last year, KTL supported a total of 50 domestic bio-material SMEs with safety assessments, performance and efficacy evaluations, and domestic and overseas certifications, thereby securing product reliability. In addition, it supported product promotion and the conclusion of actual contracts through exhibitions, market-entry consulting, and online marketing.

The overseas certifications obtained through KTL's support include: Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) for food ingredients in the United States; HALAL certification; compliance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA); the EU Cosmetic Products Notification Portal (CPNP); the UK Submit Cosmetic Product Notification (SCPN); and Eurasian Conformity (EAC) certification.

Going forward, KTL plans to expand its support model to consumer products based on advanced bio materials and to converged service industries, thereby fully accelerating entry into global markets. Key areas include: quasi-drugs related to mental and physical health, regeneration, and anti-aging; cosmeceuticals (cosmetics + pharmaceuticals); and personalized service solutions based on bio materials.

Park Sungyong, Head of the Bio-Medical Health Division at KTL, said, "We are pleased that last year's commercialization support has led domestic companies to achieve product commercialization and sales performance," adding, "Going forward, we will gradually apply and expand a converged commercialization support model that incorporates AI-based analysis and evaluation technologies."

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.