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| President Park Geun-hye plays a carbon-fiber guitar at the Creative Economy Innovation Center that Hyosung Group opened in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Monday. / Yonhap |
By Park Jin-hai
President Park Geun-hye called for further development of the carbon fiber industry Monday to help create new jobs and businesses during the opening ceremony for an "innovation center" in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.
It was her first visit to the region, regarded as the political heartland of her rivals, since taking office in February last year.
"The North Jeolla center must make the most of its regional characteristics and become a base to enable the realization of a creative economy where traditional industries are in harmony with future industries," Park said.
Hyosung, a major chemical and materials company, in line with the government moves to foster the creative economy, will invest a total of 1.24 trillion won to build a "carbon cluster" in Jeonju.
It opened the Creative Economy Innovation Center in the North Jeolla city.
"We will expand our current carbon fiber plant and increase annual production capacity to 14,000 tons by 2020," said a company spokesman in a statement.
The company plans to build a carbon fiber cluster on a global scale.
It has allocated 1.2 trillion won for the expansion of the production facility, while 40 billion won will be invested in incubating small carbon fiber ventures, making the region a business hub for the carbon fiber industry.
It is the third local Creative Economy Innovation Centers, following ones in Daegu and Daejeon.
Carbon fiber is 75 percent lighter but 10 times stronger than steel and has been regarded as a new state-of-the-art material.
It is widely used in airplanes, missiles, auto parts such as hoods and sun roofs, hydrogen tanks for hydrogen fuel cell cars as well as tennis rackets and surf boards.
The company has succeeded in developing T700 grade carbon fiber in 2011, after a decade of research. Its Jeonju plant, constructed last year, currently produces 2,000 tons of carbon fiber a year.
The $2 billion industry is expected to grow to $10 billion market by 2030, but Japanese companies such as Toray and Mitsubishi Rayon dominated for the last three decades.
By increasing production, the company aims to become one of the top three carbon fiber producers in the world.
Along with the center, it has also established training center for venture firms on the same day as well. Hyosung and the local government will foster 20 venture firms initially to make the region a carbon fiber hub.
"With the local government, we will initiate projects where carbon fibers are used in various fields of automobiles, construction and power. Thus expanding its overall market," said the spokesman.
The Jeonju center, named C'incu Space — an amalgam of letters from the words "creative," "carbon," "culture" and "incubating" — is the third one to open after similar centers in Daegu and Daejeon.
Innovation centers were first launched by the Park administration in September under a plan to nurture local startups and venture firms with the assistance of conglomerates.
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