Incheon Defense Venture Center to Open Next Month... City Moves to Attract Defense Industry Innovation Cluster

Incheon City is moving to attract a defense industry innovation cluster, focusing on the fields of aerospace, unmanned aerial vehicles, and aircraft maintenance, based on the establishment of the Defense Venture Center.

On January 21, the city announced that the Incheon Defense Venture Center will open next month at the Songdo Mudflat Tower. The center, which will be jointly operated by the city and the Agency for Defense Development, is not simply a support window for companies, but will function as an integrated platform managing the entire process from entry into the defense industry market to commercialization.

For companies at the entry stage of the defense industry, the center will provide support such as education on the structure of defense projects, training on systems and procedures, and the identification of initial military commercialization tasks, thereby lowering barriers to entry. For companies in the growth stage, it will assist with linking to technology development funding, support for military demonstrations, and specialized defense consulting, helping them participate in military projects and generate sales.

For companies that have already achieved a certain level of performance and are in the leap stage, the center plans to focus support on linking them to large-scale defense research and development projects, export and global marketing, and building cooperative networks with major defense companies.

On January 16, the city also held a briefing session to recruit partner companies, targeting local small and venture businesses wishing to enter the defense industry market, and shared its strategy for fostering defense companies.

Incheon Defense Venture Center Support Project Briefing Session. Provided by Incheon City

With the establishment of the Defense Venture Center, the city has set a goal to attract a defense industry innovation cluster to Incheon. The government requires the installation of a Defense Venture Center as a condition for participating in the defense industry innovation cluster project, and since Incheon is the only location in the Seoul metropolitan area with such a center, it is considered the most likely candidate to host the cluster.

Currently, there are 11 Defense Venture Centers operating nationwide, but there is not a single center in the metropolitan area, where companies with high potential for conversion to the defense sector in fields such as aerospace, electronics, and precision machinery are concentrated. As a result, there is a gap in support for related companies.

In this context, the city explained that establishing a Defense Venture Center in Incheon, which has an industrial base closely linked to advanced defense industries such as aerospace, unmanned aerial vehicles, and aircraft maintenance, will both absorb the demand from metropolitan area companies and minimize functional overlap with centers outside the metropolitan area, thereby complementing the balance of the national defense industry support system.

Attracting a defense industry innovation cluster is also expected to have a significant ripple effect on the Incheon economy. According to the Agency for Defense Development's "2024 Statistical Yearbook," companies supported by Defense Venture Centers have seen an average annual sales increase of approximately 2.4 billion won per company, and once center operations are stabilized, it is projected that 119 billion won in added value and about 1,200 new jobs will be created annually.

An Incheon City official stated, "We will actively pursue the attraction of a defense industry innovation cluster, using the Defense Venture Center as a catalyst," adding, "By linking high value-added advanced defense industries with local industries, we aim to create a new growth axis for the Incheon economy."