Pohang Innopolis Zone Selected as 'Excellent Zone' for Second Consecutive Year, Achieving Top or Excellent Ratings for Four Years Straight

Fostering an Innovation Hub for Advanced New Materials, Connecting Startups to Manufacturing
Outstanding Achievements in Technology Startups, Investment Attraction, and Job Creation... Driving Regional Innovation and Growth
Leveraging Local Hubs... Advancing Global Expansion, Startup Planning, and Investment Attraction

Pohang City announced that the Pohang Innopolis Zone was selected as an 'Excellent Zone' for the second consecutive year in the '2024 Annual Evaluation of Small but Strong Research and Development Zones' organized by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

With this, the Pohang Innopolis Zone has continued its outstanding performance for four consecutive years, receiving the 'Highest Grade' evaluation in 2021 and 2022, and being selected as an 'Excellent Zone' in both 2023 and 2024.

The 'Annual Evaluation of Small but Strong Research and Development Zones' is a system that evaluates 14 such zones nationwide each year by comprehensively assessing quantitative indicators such as technology transfer, investment attraction, and startup performance, as well as qualitative indicators such as local government financial input and efforts to foster specialized fields, and then assigns a grade.

In this year's evaluation, the Pohang Innopolis Zone received high marks for: ▲ promoting university-research institute-linked technology startups ▲ focusing on fostering specialized fields (such as advanced new materials) ▲ providing customized support for each growth stage of research institute companies and Innopolis Campus startups ▲ revitalizing investment through linking local and zone funds.

Major achievements in 2024 include 61 cases of technology transfer, the establishment of 7 research institute companies, the establishment of 2 advanced technology companies, 11 new startups, attracting investments totaling 58.2 billion KRW, creating 220 jobs, and the beneficiary companies of the zone projects achieved sales of 13.8 billion KRW.

In particular, Graphene Square, the first company to be attracted to the zone, succeeded in securing large-scale investment in June last year, began construction of a production plant, won the Product Innovation Award at the International Consumer Electronics Show held annually in the United States for two consecutive years, and was selected as one of Time magazine's 'Best Inventions of the Year,' thereby proving its global competitiveness.

Additionally, ANPoly, the second advanced technology company in the zone, began construction in October last year of an eco-friendly materials production plant with an annual capacity of 1,000 tons within the Convergence Technology Industrial Complex.

This year as well, the Pohang Innopolis Zone is supporting corporate growth and industrial development through startup planning, overseas investment presentations, business partner matching, securing core technology patents, and cooperation with local institutions.

These efforts are leading to market development, investment attraction, and government support projects, providing tangible benefits for revitalizing the local economy.

Lee Jeongsu, Director of the Pohang Innopolis Zone Promotion Center, said, "This achievement was made possible by the full support of the local government, the challenges taken on by companies, and the collaboration of local innovation institutions. We will do our utmost to help companies within the zone grow into global unicorns by actively utilizing the corporate growth platform that connects even to the manufacturing base."

Mayor Lee Kangdeok stated, "Pohang City has an optimized support system and technological infrastructure for future industries such as bio, energy, and nano. Through the second phase of the Small but Strong Zone project, we will complete an advanced new materials industry ecosystem that connects startups, growth, and manufacturing, and foster Pohang as Korea's leading hub city for technological innovation."