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| Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) Commissioner Kim Jin-yong speaks at the Global Bio Hub Symposium held at the Songdo Convensia in Incheon, April 11. / Courtesy of the IFEZ Authority |
By Park Jae-hyuk
The Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) Authority said Monday it recently held the Global Bio Hub Symposium at Songdo Convensia to sign agreements with academic and research institutions in the Songdo International Business District (IBD) for the successful development of the district's bio industry.
"The size of the global bio industry is expected to grow to $427.3 billion next year from $323.1 in 2014, showing a 5.7 percent annual growth rate on average. The global biopharmaceutical market alone reached $179 billion in in 2014, double the size of the memory semiconductor market at that time. The figures prove the strong growth potential of the bio industry," IFEZ Commissioner Kim Jin-yong said at the symposium earlier this month. "As IFEZ commissioner, I will try my best to make Songdo the world's best bio hub, surpassing global bio clusters in San Francisco, Singapore and Ireland."
To achieve that goal, Kim announced several plans for the use of 990,000 square meters of land in the district.
The plans include attracting R&D units of global healthcare firms, improving infrastructure for global competitiveness and developing advanced technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
He promised to set up a medical complex in the district as well, through the construction of Songdo Severance Hospital on the Yonsei University International Campus, the Science Park and Gachon University Gil Hospital's Brain Valley.
The commissioner also came up with plans to offer training for bio industry workers and vowed to sponsor startups specializing in biopharmaceuticals to create more jobs for young people.
The symposium was attended by officials from Yonsei University, Incheon National University, the Ghent University Global Campus, Celltrion, Samsung BioLogics, the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, Gachon University Gil Hospital and the Utah-Inha DDS & Advanced Therapeutics Research Center.
The eight institutions agreed to collaborate with the IFEZ to establish in Songdo the world's best bio hub.
Deputy Minister of Trade and Investment Kim Young-sam, who delivered a congratulatory speech at the symposium, promised the government's support for the bio hub.
"The IFEZ Authority and the trade ministry will cooperate with each other to make a bio cluster in Songdo, so original technologies and ideas of universities, institutions and innovative enterprises will result in the development of new medicines," the deputy minister said. "I have confidence the pharmaceutical industry will become a key growth engine of the national economy."
According to the IFEZ Authority, Merck will build a manufacturing facility for cell culture media on Songdo in July, following the construction of its biopharmaceutical support center in the district in 2016. GE Healthcare also has a biopharmaceutical support center there.
The IFEZ Authority attributed the global biopharmaceutical companies' interest in Songdo to the district's proximity to Incheon International Airport, high-quality universities and large-scale R&D facilities built by Celltrion, Samsung BioLogics and Samsung Bioepis.
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