Hwasun Vaccine Special Zone by 2030... 5,000 Jobs, 100 Companies, Total Sales Expected to Reach 1 Trillion Won
County Governor Gubokgyu: "We Will Do Our Best to Create Jobs So That Youth Dreams Can Flourish in Hwasun"
The commitment of the 8th term of Hwasun County's civil administration is that "Hwasun County will become a key player in realizing the global bio-industry powerhouse KOREA," which indicates that expectations for the Hwasun Bio-Medical Cluster are beyond imagination.
Hwasun County has early on designated three sectors?culture and tourism, vaccines, and affluent rural areas?as future growth engines, presenting various visions and concrete action plans to accelerate the establishment of a new Hwasun for the happiness of its residents.
The reason Hwasun County is presenting visions and focusing on these sectors is to overcome the crisis of local extinction caused by population decline in the era of the population cliff, and at the same time, to focus on job creation as a breakthrough toward becoming a self-sufficient city with a population of 100,000.
◆ The vaccine industry is a highly technology-intensive and accumulated industry monopolized only by advanced countries
The vaccine industry requires significant time and capital investment from the construction of human and physical infrastructure, and demands special expertise, making it a technology-intensive and accumulated industry with a monopolistic status pursued only by a few advanced countries, applying highly advanced technologies.
Therefore, while residents were curious about what was happening in the Hwasun Vaccine Industry Special Zone and when the development of the vaccine special zone would translate into regional income, there was also a side where understanding the progress was difficult.
Despite such a challenging environment, based on the two pillars of the Hwasun Bio-Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex (Naepyeong-ri) and Hwasun Jeonnam National University Hospital, the Hwasun Vaccine Industry Special Zone has steadily laid the foundation for growth.
Since the establishment of the Jeonnam Bio-Industry Promotion Agency in 2002, it has gone through ▲the first phase of infrastructure construction from 2002 to 2013, ▲the second phase of business area expansion from 2014 to 2019, and ▲the third phase of full-scale venture startup cultivation since 2020, spending over 20 years.
The Hwasun Vaccine Industry Special Zone experienced a major turning point with its designation as a special zone in 2010.
Since then, research and development support institutions began moving in one by one, revitalizing the area, and after repeated rapid growth, it is now only a few steps away from reaching a level that residents can feel.
◆ Hwasun Jeonnam National University Hospital plays a core role in the Hwasun Vaccine Industry (Bio-Medical)
A bio cluster (including vaccines in the medical and life sciences fields) has been formed in the Hwasun Bio-Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex, and a medical cluster (medical device field) at Hwasun Jeonnam National University Hospital.
Since both are within the system under the Hwasun Vaccine Special Zone, Hwasun’s vaccine industry essentially refers to bio-medical.
In the bio-medical cluster, Hwasun Jeonnam National University Hospital plays a pivotal role as a core institution for research and clinical activities, and many support institutions and companies that systematically assist from product development to commercialization, production, and export are stationed in the Hwasun Bio-Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex.
◆ Achievements of the Hwasun Vaccine Special Zone
Securing national vaccine sovereignty / Establishing a one-stop support system / Establishing a Start-Up incubating system / Two companies listed on KOSDAQ / Rapid growth in employment, company attraction, and annual sales...
Looking at the achievements of the Hwasun Vaccine Special Zone so far, ▲it contributed to securing national vaccine sovereignty by supplying the H1N1 flu vaccine in 2009 and producing clinical trial vaccines for COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021.
▲Since 2014, it has started workforce training through a one-stop corporate support system utilizing the full-cycle infrastructure for bio new drug development, including training 158 bio GMP manufacturing specialists with an employment rate of 84%, and being designated as a WHO global hub bio workforce training practice site in 2024 (300 people annually).
▲By operating a startup incubation center, 14 companies have moved in, employing 115 people with sales of 5.7 billion KRW, and five graduated companies employ 54 people with sales of 13 billion KRW, establishing a bio new drug Start-Up incubating system.
The institutions belonging to the corporate support cooperation system within the special zone include three companies such as Green Cross, five research institutions including the Microbial Demonstration Support Center (CMO), and four universities and hospitals including Jeonnam National University College of Medicine, totaling 12 institutions.
Two leading companies, Baxell Bio (listed in 2020) and BioFDNC Co., Ltd. (listed in 2022), which received full-cycle support from startup to product development, have already been listed on KOSDAQ, laying the foundation for rapid growth.
Looking at the development since the designation of the Hwasun Vaccine Special Zone in 2010 through statistics, ▲employment steadily increased from 1,441 in 2010 to 2,144 in 2017 and 2,538 in 2021.
▲In terms of company attraction, it surged more than tenfold over ten years from 3 in 2010 to 25 in 2017 and 33 in 2021, and ▲annual sales (275.8 billion KRW → 465.9 billion KRW → 706.1 billion KRW) and annual exports (15 billion KRW → 105 billion KRW → 146.4 billion KRW) also show tremendous progress.
Accordingly, Hwasun County has set a policy to create a second bio-industrial complex and significantly expand the area to a third complex for regional economic revitalization based on past achievements.
◆ Hwasun Vaccine Special Zone in 2030... Expected 5,000 employees, 100 companies, and total sales of 1 trillion KRW
Moreover, as a future development strategy, five development tasks have been established: ▲advancing infrastructure for cutting-edge bio new drug development ▲establishing an open innovation innovation system ▲expanding the vaccine industry special zone ▲carrying out large national projects (Advanced Medical Complex, Southwest Nuclear Medical Center) ▲creating a bio workforce training hub.
Once the advanced bio-medical hub centered on vaccines and immunotherapy is realized and the bio workforce training hub is established, the Hwasun Vaccine Special Zone is expected to achieve 5,000 employees, 100 companies, and sales of 1 trillion KRW by 2030.
If the bio-medical business proceeds smoothly as planned with the full-scale venture startup cultivation period of the Hwasun Vaccine Industry Special Zone, it will bring high-quality jobs and attract a flood of young people.
Hwasun County’s ambitious aspiration toward a self-sufficient city of 100,000 population depends on the success of the vaccine industry (bio-medical), which is a remarkable turnaround measure to revive the local economy after the closure of mining operations.
◆ Bok-gyu Gu, Hwasun County Governor: “We will do our best to create youth jobs with the Advanced Medical Complex, Southwest Nuclear Medical Center, and Global Bio Campus as immediate tasks”
Governor Gu Bok-gyu said, “We will do our best to create jobs so that the dreams of young people can mature in Hwasun County, the only vaccine special zone in Korea,” and added, “We will make every effort to establish the Advanced Medical Complex, attract the Southwest Nuclear Medical Center (branch), and the Global Bio Campus as immediate tasks.”
Meanwhile, as the number of companies knocking on the door to move into the Hwasun Vaccine Special Zone has reached dozens, exceeding the capacity of the first complex, the county plans to complete the creation of the second bio-industrial complex (approximately 307,660㎡) by 2025.
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