Bio Clusters gather to compete at BIO Korea 2022

Exhibition halls for Chungbuk, Osong, Incheon and Seoul were prepared… competes to attract companies and investment

Major Bio Clusters of local governments have gathered in one place.

 

Major Bio Clusters of local governments including Osong, Incheon, Hongneung, Gimhae, Wonju, and Daejeon municipalities as well as the event’s co-host Chungcheongbuk-do are in heated competition to promote their cluster in the ‘BIO KOREA 2022’ event that is being held from May 11th to the 13th at Coex Seoul to promote their region.

 

At the event, the clusters are working hard to attract companies and investments by distributing handouts to participants and introducing the features of each bio cluster to corporate officials.

 

◆ Chungcheongbuk-do Bio Valley = Chungcheongbuk is promoting 5 Bio Valleys in its province.

 

The five Valleys are ‘Osong Bio Valley,’ which has the Osong High-Tech Medical Complex, the ‘Chungju Bio Valley,’ which is scheduled to be completed by 2027, ‘Jecheon Oriental Medicine Bio Valley,’ ‘Okcheon Medical Device Valley’, and ‘Goesan Organic Bio Valley.’ The Chungcheongbuk-do province had released a blueprint to attract 1,600 bio-companies in its 5 Bio Valleys by 2030.

 

The region has attracted 422 companies up to now.

 

Through the recruited companies, the region aims to increase production from the current ₩ 1.8 trillion to ₩7 trillion and human resource training from 3,050 to 50,000.

 

In particular, the province has been introducing corporate support incentives in detail at the exhibition hall.

 

Up to 24% of facility investment made by the companies will be supported by the province.

 

Also, a ₩500,000 subsidy for employment and education & training will be provided per month for all individuals for one year, and ₩2 million per month for one year if the company hires researchers.

 

The province also emphasized its tax reduction benefits.

 

In the case of the national tax, the corporate tax on capital gains is deferred for 5 years, then can be paid out in installments in the following 3 years.

 

Corporate tax is reduced by 100% for 7 years and 50% for 3 years thereafter.

 

Chungbuk will be also reducing the local acquisition tax and property tax by 75% each for 5 years.

 

◆ Osong High-Tech Medical Complex = The Osong Medical Innovation Foundation prepared a separate exhibition hall from Chungbuk to promote its Bio Cluster.

 

Osong emphasized that it can provide full-cycle support for new drug R&D.

 

By full cycle, the complex provides support from basic research to the derivation of candidate materials, clinical trials, permission, and production through its New Drug Development Support Center, Non-Clinical Support Center, Advanced Medical Device Development Support Center, Laboratory Animal Center, Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Center (GMP), and Korea Bio Human Resources Development Center.

 

Also, officials added that further support will be provided through the Advanced Clinical Trial Center which is scheduled to open this year, and the Innovation Startup Technology Commercialization Center, which is scheduled to open in 2024.

 

In addition, the complex is close to the Osong Health Technology Administration Town where the ▲Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, ▲ National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation, ▲Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency ▲National Institute of Health reside and have great accessibility to national and public research institutes such as the ▲National Biobank of Korea, ▲ National Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research, ▲ National Center for Medical Information and Knowledge, and the ▲Korean Vaccine Research and Development Center for Public Vaccines.

 

In addition, the complex also actively promoted its Osong Bio Industrial Complex and Osong Cosmetics Industrial Complex which are scheduled to be sold in 2023, and the Osong 3rd Life Science Complex which is scheduled to be sold in 2025.

 

◆Incheon Technopark = Incheon Technopark, where Celltrion·Samsung Biologics reside, also introduced its various business support services.

 

The supports provided by the Incheon Technopark include support for bio equipment use support, bio-health care product development, bioproduct effectiveness evaluation, biopharmaceutical raw material commercialization, etc.

 

The support for bio equipment includes the use of 80 or more equipment including HPLC, GC-FID, MALDI-TOF, etc.

 

at an inexpensive price at the joint laboratory.

 

Companies that move into the Bio Cluster will receive a 20% discount on equipment usage.

 

As efficacy assessment support, the Bio Cluster will support ₩18 million for non-clinical and clinical drug trials to 3 companies selected among those that have moved into the Incheon Bio Cluster.

 

As startup support, the Incheon Technopark introduced the establishment of a K-Bio Health regional center, the Incheon Startup Park support project, the creation and operation of the Incheon start-up fund, and support for the Bio Cluster establishment.

 

◆Seoul Biohub= The city of Seoul also promoted its Seoul Biohub, located in Hongneung-dong, Seoul.

 

Seoul Biohub first made a kick-off in 2017 with the opening of the Industrial Support Building.

 

In 2019, the city added a research laboratory building, and an open region building, and in 2020, the Seoul Bio-Innovation Community Center and Industry-University Cooperation Center were opened.

 

Last year, the BT-IT Convergence Center was opened to expand the bio-startup ecosystem.

 

The Seoul Biohub is concentrating on attracting bio startups.

 

The companies will be able to move into the biohub in 2 years and are provided opportunities to pursue joint challenges with global bio companies such as Johnson&Johnson, Novartis, and MSD.

 

In particular, the companies may receive policy support for new technology demonstration and tax reduction as the region was designated as a special Innotown in 2020.

 

◆ Gimhae Biomedical Industry Promotion Agency = The Gyeongnam Gimhae city plans to establish a biomedical industry complex that specializes in the manufacture of medical devices by 2025 around the Biomedical Center it established in 2008.

 

In addition, the city aims to bring in technologies such as AI-based image reading, bio-functional materials, and 3D bioprinting.

 

Companies that move into the complex will receive various development support including those for patents, certification, and design development as well as marketing support such as for participation in domestic and foreign exhibitions.

 

The city plans to discover R&D projects jointly with local medical institutions such as the Inje Paik Hospital and Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, and provide clinical trial support.