Lee Chang-yang's First Site Visit of the New Year at LG Chem Osong Plant... "Promoting Bioeconomy 2.0"

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Lee Chang-yang, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, announced on the 3rd, "We will establish a public-private joint consultative body to formulate the 'Bioeconomy 2.0 Roadmap (tentative name)."

On the same day, Minister Lee visited LG Chem Life Sciences Division's Osong plant and said, "Along with fostering biopharmaceuticals (Bioeconomy 1.0), we will utilize bio as an innovation and growth engine across the entire industry."

At the event, he reviewed domestic and international bioindustry trends and discussed ways to strengthen the competitiveness of Korea's bioindustry. This comes as major countries recently have been expanding the use of bio technology from focusing on pharmaceuticals to driving innovation and growth across industries.

In particular, the bioindustry is gaining attention as a driving force to transform industrial and energy paradigms by replacing carbon-based fuels with bio-based ones in manufacturing and energy sectors. The reason the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the promotion of 'Bioeconomy 2.0' in its '2023 Work Report' on the 27th of last month is to nurture new growth engines as a future industry.

The ministry plans to first build a bio big data platform with a scale of one million people, linking it with data from healthcare, finance, and other sectors, and support research and development (R&D) by developing advanced bio new materials and establishing related foundries. It also plans to promote bioenergy technology development and demonstration projects for bio aviation fuel and marine fuel.

At the event, Son Ji-woong, head of LG Chem Life Sciences Division, requested the government’s active support including ▲strengthening investment for localization of biopharmaceuticals such as essential vaccines for infants and young children ▲securing a stable supply chain of raw and subsidiary materials ▲expanding the market for eco-friendly products such as bioplastics and biofuels ▲advancing production infrastructure and revitalizing the manufacturing ecosystem.

Minister Lee said, "Including LG Chem’s proposals, we will continuously communicate with the bio industry to gather field opinions and reflect them in policies," and added, "We will fully support so that our bioindustry can take a step forward."

On the 30th, Lee Chang-yang, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, announced the plan to increase electricity rates for the next year at the Government Seoul Office. He stated that gas rates will be frozen for the time being. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@