Foodpolis recruits food startups
An artist’s rendering of the Food Venture Center and other business support facilities at the Korea National Food Cluster, Foodpolis, which is being built in Iksan, North Jeolla Province. / Courtesy of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
By Lee Hyo-sik
The Korea National Food Cluster ― Foodpolis ― is gearing up to recruit startups as part of efforts to become a globally competitive food industry complex like the Netherlands’ Food Valley.
The cluster plans to open the Food Venture Center late September inside Foodpolis in Iksan, North Jeolla Province. The center is capable of accommodating 50 startups and research institutes.
Newly established small businesses making food products and food-related research bodies are eligible to apply for space in the three-story building. Those selected will be able to lease offices for five years at rents much lower than market rates. They also can extend leases for another five years.
“We will receive applications from food startups here and overseas from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2,” a Foodpolis official said. “We urge those interested in setting up offices to promptly file applications because the space is limited.”
After reviewing applicants in three areas ― management ability, technological prowess and commercial feasibility ― Foodpolis will inform those selected, who will then have to sign a lease within 10 days and move into the center within 60 days.
Those interested can go to foodpolis.kr and apply online. For more information on rent and other matters, call 02-507-8907.
The government is investing $500 million to build the complex on a 2.32 million-square-meter site. It is largely designed for companies aiming to export value-added, processed foods.
Foodpolis is projected to generate annual output worth $14 billion and create 22,000 new jobs through over 150 businesses and 10 research centers operating there.
So far, 128 Korean and non-Korean companies have either signed memorandums of understanding or begun building plants or other facilities in the food cluster.
Besides the Food Venture Center, Foodpolis will operate three main state-of-the-art R&D centers, each dedicated to ensuring food safety, quality and packaging, to help companies improve existing products or develop new ones.