Jeong Myeong-geun, Mayor of Hwaseong: "We Will Develop Dongtan as a Venture Business Hub"

Designation of 'Venture Business Promotion Zone'
"Combination of Urban Strategic Industry + Venture Zone"

Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province has declared its intention to develop the Dongtan area as a key axis of the semiconductor and research and development (R&D) industrial belt connecting Pangyo and Gangnam.

Following the government's designation of the Dongtan area as a 'Venture Business Promotion Zone' on the 10th, Hwaseong City announced its development plan on the 13th. Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun of Hwaseong stated, "For the first time nationwide, we will combine the city's strategic industries with the venture zone to create an advanced cluster innovation district model in Dongtan Technopol, Hwaseong City's first regional technopol." He added, "Through institutional support such as tax benefits and the establishment and implementation of development plans, we will nurture it as a mecca for venture companies and startups."

A panoramic view of Dongtan Technovalley area in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, designated as a government venture business promotion district.
[Photo by Hwaseong-si]

Earlier, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups designated the Dongtan area as a Venture Business Promotion Zone on the 10th. The official name of the designated zone is 'Hwaseong Dongtan Technopol Venture Business Promotion Zone.' The Venture Business Promotion Zone is a venture company location support system implemented since 2000 to induce the concentration of venture companies or to support infrastructure in concentrated areas to create a collaborative Korean-style venture zone. Once designated as a zone, venture companies receive reductions of 50% on acquisition tax and 35% on property tax, along with exemptions from development charges and other benefits.

The city expects that this designation will strengthen the 'Hwaseong City Regional Technopol,' which has been promoted around regional hubs linked to advanced strategic industry clusters such as semiconductors, future vehicles, and bio.

According to the city, as of the end of last year, there are 1,677 venture companies located in the Hwaseong area. This ranks third among cities and counties nationwide and is the second highest in Gyeonggi Province. Notably, 433 venture companies are concentrated in the Dongtan area, which was designated as the zone this time. Within the zone, there are startup and venture support institutions such as the Hwaseong Startup Support Platform, Dongtan Small and Medium Business Support Center, Makerspace, Hwaseong KAIST-Science Hub, as well as four research institutes, 164 venture company-affiliated research centers, and two universities.

Experts also evaluate the venture infrastructure as excellent, noting the presence of a metropolitan transportation network connecting to Seoul’s Gangnam area, including the SRT, the Greater Seoul Metropolitan Express Railway (GTX) Line A, Subway Line 1, Gyeongbu Expressway, and Yongin-Seoul Expressway.

Hwaseong City plans to create a semiconductor and R&D industrial belt connecting Dongtan, Pangyo, and Gangnam by institutionally supporting and operating the zone together with the Hwaseong Industry Promotion Agency, aiming to generate synergy effects through the concentration and collaboration of venture companies within the zone.

Meanwhile, Hwaseong City is currently managing the 'Hwaseong City Startup Investment Fund' worth 68.7 billion KRW and plans to expand the strategic industry-tailored fund to 200 billion KRW. Additionally, the city plans to establish the Hwaseong Small and Medium Business Support Center at the Dongtan 2 Incubating Center within the zone to build a systematic enterprise support service.