Gyeongbuk Province Accelerates Development of Region-Specialized Green Bio New Industry

Pohang, Establishing a Foundation for Advanced Science and Technology Convergence in Green Vaccine and Microbiome Industries

Andong, Securing Global Bioindustry Competitiveness through Korean-style Hemp Industrialization

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Dong-guk] Gyeongsangbuk-do is focusing on the green bio industry, a blue ocean market emerging as a solution to global social issues such as local extinction, environmental crises, and carbon neutrality, and is making various efforts to secure regional job creation and economic growth engines through this.

The green bio industry is an industry that produces high value-added products by combining agricultural and life resources with biotechnology.

In September 2020, the government announced the ‘Green Bio Convergence-type New Industry Promotion Plan’ to foster five promising industries through the development of core technologies based on green bio as a new food industry, big data, infrastructure, full-cycle support for green bio commercialization, and the establishment of a green bio convergence industry ecosystem.

In line with this government policy direction, Gyeongbuk Province plans to respond with selection and concentration centered on the southern region (centered on Pohang) and the northern region (centered on Andong), which have strengths in the bio industry within the region.

The southern region (centered on Pohang) is fostering a specialized green bio industry based on its strength in advanced science and technology.

In 2018, it won the ‘Plant Vaccine Enterprise Support Facility Construction’ contest hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, investing a total project cost of 17.7 billion KRW (6 billion KRW national funds, 11.7 billion KRW local funds) to complete construction in March this year at the Pohang Convergence Technology Industrial Complex and has begun full-scale operation.

Gyeongbuk Province plans to support companies manufacturing animal pharmaceuticals using plants through the Green Vaccine Demonstration Support Center and establish a research cooperation system with local universities and research institutes to foster the green bio industry as a representative industry of the region.

Additionally, to revitalize venture startups in the five core fields of green bio, the province is also focusing on attracting the Green Bio Venture Campus, for which the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is currently conducting a site selection contest as of March this year.

Microbiome, alternative foods & medifoods, seed industry, animal pharmaceuticals, other biological materials

The Green Bio Venture Campus project provides specialized research facilities, equipment, corporate residency spaces, and startup incubation programs tailored to green bio.

The province plans to participate in the contest to establish a regionally specialized green bio convergence industry hub by combining various advanced technologies such as gene editing, bioprinting, synthetic biology with the five core fields.

The northern region (centered on Andong) is promoting a demonstration project to pioneer the CBD market, which is not opened by regulation, by converting hemp, which has been strictly controlled as a narcotic in Korea, into bio-materials through the Industrial Hemp Regulatory Free Zone.

In particular, as interest in bio-materials such as CBD components is increasing domestically, related government policies and key tasks to foster the bio industry are being promoted.

Hemp CBD has almost no side effects such as addiction or psychoactive effects and is effective in treating chronic pain, relieving muscle spasms, enhancing lung function and respiratory capacity, and treating glaucoma and rare diseases. It is already used overseas as a functional pharmaceutical raw material.

Gyeongbuk Province was designated as the ‘Industrial Hemp Regulatory Free Zone’ in July 2020 as part of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ 3rd Regulatory Free Zone project, covering six areas including Andong City (370,000㎡), where 35 companies and institutions are accelerating demonstration projects for hemp industrialization until 2024.

This is significant in that it attempts Korean-style hemp industrialization with cannabis, which has been strictly restricted so far, and is expected to play a major role in domestic CBD industrialization through future legal amendments.

The province is also focusing on promoting a large-scale hemp smart farm project in preparation for the full-scale growth of the global hemp industry.

Through this, it will be possible to establish a foundation where various products such as functional foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals can be researched and prototyped using hemp produced under standardized smart farm cultivation conditions, as well as ensuring a smooth supply of raw materials for CBD raw material pharmaceuticals.

Moreover, the introduction of smart agriculture and the attraction of hemp-related companies will create local jobs and bring about a paradigm shift in the agricultural industry, as well as serve as a new breakthrough in the agricultural sector through the bio-materialization of agricultural and life resources.

Hemp seeds are also a grain and a collection of useful nutrients of protein and lipid origin and plant-synthesized compounds.

The oil extracted from seeds by cold pressing contains over 100 types of terpenes, phenols, flavonoids that determine color, aroma, and taste, as well as various vitamins and minerals, making it a very useful material for sustaining life and enhancing health functions.

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do, said, “The green bio industry is a convergence-type new industry combining life resources with advanced technology, with high potential and steady growth expected. Gyeongbuk has abundant natural resources and top-tier scientific and technological innovation capabilities nationwide. We will leverage these strengths to foster it as a regionally specialized new industry through securing life resources, technology development, and infrastructure expansion.”