With hopes of becoming a global bio center on par with those in San Francisco and Singapore, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority unveiled its plans to expand a bio cluster in Songdo to attract global biopharmaceuticals. 

Kim Jin-yong, commissioner of IFEZ said during a Global Bio Hub Symposium held earlier this month that IFEZ will make use of 990,000 square meters of land to build bio infrastructure facilities for research development and service center for global medical health care. 

“The global bio industry is expected to grow to market size of $427.3 billion next year, on a gradual increase from $323.1 in 2014, with annual growth of 5.7 percent on average. The figures mark the potentials of the bio industry, proving more opportunities are to come,” Kim said.

During the symposium, eight academic and research institutions agreed to develop Songdo as the world’s top bio hub. The institutions include Yonsei University, Incheon National University, Celltrion, Samsung Biologics, Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization and Utah-Inha DDS & Advanced Therapeutics Research Center.

According to IFEZ, global pharmaceuticals have shown interest in Songdo for its proximity to Incheon International Airport and operation of large-scale R&D institutions run by Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics.

Currently, there are 25 large bio organizations and 60 smaller laboratories in Songdo. 

Seven out of 10 of Korea’s licensed bio products, including four from Samsung Bioepis and three from Celltrion, are from companies based in Songdo, making Songdo the largest biomedical research and development city in Korea. 

In September last year, the South Korean government has designated Songdo as an overseas expansion and production cluster in an aim to develop bio industry in Korea. 

IFEZ said Germany’s pharmaceutical company Merck will build a manufacturing facility for cell culturing facility in Songdo in July. In 2016, Merck has opened its biopharmaceutical support center in Songdo. US manufacturing company GE Healthcare has also built a biopharmaceutical support center there in the same year.

“The global biomedicine market alone reached $179 billion in in 2014, double the value of the semiconductor market. This shows the high development potential of the global bio industry,” said Kim.

“As commissioner, I will support the creation of a bio hub in Songdo that will surpass the global bio clusters in San Francisco and Singapore. It will become the world’s best bio hub.”

By Kim Da-sol, Lee Hong-seok (ddd@heraldcorp.com)