Daejeon City Achieves "Excellent" Rating for Daedeok R&D Special Zone Performance for Five Consecutive Years

Securing a 2 Billion Won Performance Incentive

Daejeon City Hall Exterior (Photo by Daejeon City)

Daejeon Daedeok Research and Development Special Zone has been awarded the highest grade of "Excellent" for the fifth consecutive year in the special zone performance evaluation conducted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, in recognition of the local government’s proactive efforts such as improving the commercialization environment.

As a result, the city secured a 2 billion won performance incentive for 2026.

This evaluation was conducted for five research and development special zones-Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu, Busan, and Jeonbuk-and comprehensively assessed the local governments’ contributions to special zone development, including 2025 special zone project performance, improvements to the commercialization environment, and the establishment of development strategies for the zones.

Daedeok Special Zone received high marks compared to other local governments for several reasons: the local government’s continuous efforts to improve the commercialization environment and infrastructure; the formation and operation of a consultative body of technology commercialization agencies to provide tailored support for companies; and, based on these efforts, the expansion of global technology transfers and the establishment of research-based companies.

Based on the results of this evaluation, Daejeon City will receive a 2 billion won national incentive, which will be used in 2026 for the commercialization of strategic technology research outcomes and scale-up projects for innovation-driven growth in the Daedeok Special Zone.

Meanwhile, over the past four years, Daejeon City has secured national incentives through excellent evaluations: 2.06 billion won in 2022, 2.656 billion won in 2023, 1.684 billion won in 2024, and 3.045 billion won in 2025.

Yoo Sejong, Director of the Future Strategic Industry Bureau of Daejeon City, stated, "The results of this annual evaluation for the research and development special zone are the culmination of achievements accumulated jointly by Daejeon City and the Daedeok Research and Development Special Zone," adding, "We will continue to strengthen support for the Daedeok Special Zone to foster leading local companies with global competitiveness based on strategic industries."