Gyeongbuk Province Promotes 'Gyeongbuk-style Bio Industry' to Align with the New Local Era

Fostering Hemp, Vaccine, Pharmaceutical, Beauty, and Medical Device Industries... Preparing the Region's Future

This Year's 'Gyeongbuk Bio-Life Expo' as a Stepping Stone to Discover Future Growth Engines

Gyeongbuk Province Deputy Governor Lee Dal-hee Visits Hemp Site.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Gwiyeol] The world has entered the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, intensifying competition among countries and companies to secure advanced technologies.

The OECD anticipates that from 2030, a full-fledged bioeconomy era will open as a new economic paradigm to solve future human challenges and drive economic growth.

The government plans to focus on fostering the vaccine and bio industries by selecting national tasks such as leaping to a global bio and digital health hub, industrializing agriculture as a future growth industry, and nurturing super-gap strategic technologies to become a G5 in science and technology.

In line with these government policies, Gyeongbuk Province has established and is implementing the ‘5 Major Regional Projects’ to formulate new strategies for Gyeongbuk’s science industry and promote core projects.

The key core tasks in the bio sector include ▲ securing global bioindustry competitiveness through Korean-style hemp industrialization ▲ advancing the foundation of regionally specialized pharmaceutical and vaccine industries fused with advanced technologies ▲ laying the groundwork for future new growth engines in the Gyeongbuk-style beauty industry ▲ fostering the medical device industry to strengthen global manufacturing competitiveness ▲ and preparing for the region’s future by discovering new growth engines through hosting the Bio Life Expo.

To secure global bioindustry competitiveness through Korean-style hemp industrialization, in July 2020, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups designated the ‘Industrial Hemp Regulatory Free Zone’ as the 3rd regulatory sandbox project. So far, eight regions including Andong (approximately 420,000㎡) and 35 companies and institutions have participated in various demonstration projects to industrialize hemp.

Domestically, cannabis-derived medicines can be imported through the Korea Rare Essential Drug Center and used as treatments for epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease, but the available items are limited. Cultivation of hemp for medical purposes and manufacturing and sales of medicines using hemp are still regulated under the Narcotics Control Act.

To lift these regulations, the Industrial Hemp Regulatory Free Zone’s demonstration project has been granted exceptions under the Narcotics Control Act, conducting demonstrations in three areas: ① industrial hemp cultivation, ② manufacturing and export of raw pharmaceutical materials, and ③ industrial hemp management.

Last month, it was selected as an excellent regulatory free zone (one of four selected) among 24 zones nationwide (1st to 4th rounds) due to outstanding performance in last year’s project operation evaluation.

In November this year, the results of the two-year demonstration project will be submitted, and by extending the special period, the completeness of the demonstration results will be enhanced, steadily laying the foundation for regulatory improvement.

Additionally, the current status of hemp legalization overseas will be closely examined to strive for amendments to the Narcotics Control Act and the establishment of systems for hemp industrialization.

Next, to advance the foundation of regionally specialized pharmaceutical and vaccine industries fused with advanced technologies, a vaccine industry professional training center is being constructed by 2026 with a budget of 24 billion KRW (10.5 billion KRW national funds, 13.5 billion KRW local funds).

For industry-academia joint research support, Andong University, which newly established the nation’s first vaccine major, is building a ‘Bio-Vaccine Open Laboratory’ with an investment of 6.7 billion KRW (4.7 billion KRW national funds, 2 billion KRW local funds).

Efforts are also accelerating to establish a comprehensive five-year plan to become a global vaccine industry hub.

In 2023, the province proposed a new national project to ministries for the construction of a ‘National Vaccine Bank’ for storage and preservation of public vaccines and established a joint cooperation system to activate the branch of the International Vaccine Institute, aiming to advance the entire vaccine development and support ecosystem.

The province achieved a great success in securing various national public projects linked to the Pohang Knowledge Industry Center, Membrane Protein Research Institute, and Green Vaccine Demonstration Support Center to create a new drug development base fused with diverse advanced technologies centered in Pohang.

Starting this year, projects such as the 16.5 billion KRW bio-printing-based artificial organ tissue production and animal alternative test evaluation platform for corporate support, the 18 billion KRW structure-based vaccine technology commercialization system to shorten vaccine development periods through disease structure analysis, and the 35 billion KRW Green Bio Venture Campus for fostering green bio convergence new industries will be actively promoted.

Based on this optimal new drug development foundation, preparations are underway to promote large-scale national projects such as the ‘Integrated Utilization of Large Equipment New Drug Design Platform (41 billion KRW)’ linked to presidential regional pledges, and to establish a regionally specialized new drug cluster.

To lay the foundation for future new growth engines in the Gyeongbuk-style beauty industry, the Gyeongsan Global Cosmetic Business Center, which has been in full operation since March last year, and the cosmetics specialized complex in the Gyeongsan area provide abundant beauty industry support infrastructure. Based on this, the province plans to intensively foster the cosmetics industry targeting 147 cosmetics manufacturers and 392 cosmetics responsible sales companies within the province.

Also, to revitalize the cosmetics industry, which suffered severe crises due to COVID-19, the Gyeongbuk Beauty Industry Forum will be held in November, and participation in domestic and international exhibitions by companies will inject vitality into the beauty industry.

Through a cooperative strategy for mutual growth in the Gyeongbuk-Daegu metropolitan area, the province plans to invest 20 billion KRW (10 billion KRW national funds, 10 billion KRW local funds) by 2026 in the Personal Care Convergence Alliance Development Project and the Beauty Industry Value Chain Convergence Support Project to create jobs and revitalize regional industries through the co-growth of the beauty industry in the Gyeongbuk-Daegu metropolitan area.

To strengthen global manufacturing competitiveness by fostering the medical device industry, the province will first focus on the field of body-attached visual function assistive devices (contact lenses and intraocular lenses).

For this, together with Daegu and Gyeongsan cities, 13 billion KRW (6.5 billion KRW national funds) will be invested by 2024 to actively support the development of the ophthalmic optics industry.

Additionally, the province is promoting the development of the rehabilitation device industry to enhance health and welfare and revitalize the industrial ecosystem in the ICT convergence rehabilitation device field.

This is expected to contribute to regional industrial revitalization through prevention of functional decline, early diagnosis and treatment using ICT convergence rehabilitation devices, and market entry and expansion in the rehabilitation device sector.

Finally, to discover future new growth engines by hosting the Bio Life Expo, the Gyeongbuk Bio Life Expo will be held this year.

The Gyeongbuk Bio Life Expo is a venue for harmony and development where one can explore the present and future of the bio industry through exhibitions, conferences, investment consultations, corporate promotion support, and a comprehensive view of new bio-related technologies and industry trends.

It is also expected to serve as a stepping stone for discovering future growth engines in the bio industry by providing opportunities for companies to emerge and grow, thereby driving regional economic development.

The Gyeongbuk Bio Life Expo will be held from October 14 to 16 at Saemaeul Square and Dongrak Hall within the Gyeongbuk Provincial Government.

The event will be divided into a bio company expo, bio future forum, vaccine industry forum and conference, corporate presentations, and export investment consultations.

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, said, “Based on our province’s excellent scientific and technological innovation capabilities and abundant natural resources, we will do our best to foster the bio industry, a regionally specialized new industry, by leveraging Gyeongbuk’s unique strengths in securing biological resources, technology development, and infrastructure expansion.”