Busan City and 6 Companies Sign Investment Agreement ... Overcoming Economic Recession with Continuous Attraction

Memorandum of Understanding on Investment with 6 Companies at City Hall on the 14th at 2 PM

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Busan City will sign memorandums of understanding (MOUs) for investment with a total of six companies, including three future-oriented technology companies (Panacia, Douzone Bizon, WIDIT), at 2 p.m. on the 14th in the International Protocol Room on the 7th floor of City Hall.

Busan City Hall.

The investment agreement signing ceremony will be attended by Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, Lee Su-tae, CEO of Panacia, Yoon Jae-gu, BS Division Head of Douzone Bizon, Kwon Gwi-tae, CEO of WIDIT, and company executives and employees.

▲Panacia is an eco-friendly energy equipment specialist company recognized globally, ranking 3rd to 4th worldwide in ship ballast water treatment systems in 2007 and ship sulfur oxide reduction devices in 2017.

Taking advantage of increasingly stringent environmental regulations, sales of ship ballast water treatment systems and sulfur oxide reduction devices have surged, showing high growth. The company plans to strengthen its competitiveness through active research and development investment in eco-friendly technologies in the future.

Additionally, as a leading company in carbon capture and hydrogen extraction fields, Panacia is taking the lead in 'carbon neutrality' with eco-friendly technology. A notable aspect of this investment is the establishment of the 'Green EPC Center' for carbon neutrality, which is expected to contribute to preventing the outflow of young talent by providing high-quality jobs preferred by local youth through hiring excellent professionals to work at the center.

Panacia plans to invest 10.9 billion KRW in the Gangseo-gu International Industrial Complex and hire 250 new employees. Utilizing Gangseo-gu's locational advantages favorable for steady research and development (R&D) and exports, the company is expected to grow into a global enterprise.

▲Douzone Bizon is a mid-sized company ranked first in the information technology solutions industry, which is expected to experience explosive growth in the digital transformation era. It is an advanced company focusing on enterprise resource planning (ERP), digital transformation, and enterprise cloud services, maintaining continuous growth based on excellent technology and quality.

With the IT market growth continuing in the digital transformation era, Douzone Bizon has established a joint venture with Shinhan Bank to operate a corporate finance specialized platform business and has built a precision medical big data platform with Samsung Seoul Hospital, actively entering new industries since 2022.

Douzone Bizon established a Busan branch with about 40 employees in Centum Science Park, Haeundae-gu, in 2017. Collaborating with local universities, it has trained IT professionals and hired 260 local talents to date. Through this agreement, it plans to hire an additional 300 IT professionals by 2025.

As a high-tech workforce-based business capable of continuous growth in the era of digital transformation, it is expected to continuously create good jobs preferred by young people.

▲WIDIT is a 3D digitalization specialist company essential to the metaverse industry. It was selected as an Inno-Biz (technology innovation small and medium enterprise) by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in 2021 and as a youth-friendly small giant company by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in 2022, making it a young company.

WIDIT is the first advanced IT company among those returning to Busan after closing their Vietnam branch and plans to relocate its Ulsan headquarters to Busan simultaneously with its domestic return.

It plans to build the 'LED Virtual Studio,' a film and video business infrastructure recently gaining attention, as the first private facility outside the metropolitan area, expected to play a key role in the development of Busan's film industry.

In collaboration with major local universities, WIDIT will provide job-linked IT field education, offering Busan youth opportunities to enter the film industry.

The LED Virtual Studio is a special filming facility that installs LED walls to create backgrounds for movies and dramas using computer graphics, reducing production costs by substituting overseas locations while enhancing graphic quality. There are 41 such studios nationwide (80% in the metropolitan area with 33 studios), and Busan has one (Busan Film Shooting Studio, operated by the Film Commission).

Additionally, Busan City will sign MOUs for investment with MJT, a future car parts manufacturer; Geukdong Jinryeol, a metal products manufacturer; and Hunect, a contact center, through written agreements.

Thus, the city will provide not only jobs in future growth industries preferred by young people but also diverse and broad employment opportunities, including reemployment for women with career interruptions.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, "Despite domestic and international economic downturns, we thank the companies that boldly decided to invest in Busan City. The city will build a foundation for corporate growth through various customized support policies and actively support companies investing in Busan to become global leaders in their industries."

Busan City promised to continue systematic project implementation management and proactive administrative support to ensure the successful completion of investments by companies even after signing the MOUs.