The South Korean government announced on Wednesday plans to boost its local biotech industry’s production capacity to a massive 100 trillion won (approximately $76.9 billion) by 2030, aiming to position the nation as a global leader in the biotech economy.
The government’s comprehensive plan, outlined by the Ministry of Science and ICT, is set to foster the amalgamation of biotech and advanced digital technologies, thus sparking innovative advancements across various sectors such as medicine, environment, and agriculture.
The initiative is an ambitious leap from South Korea’s bio industry’s annual capacity, which stood at 43 trillion won in 2020.
The plan envisages doubling this over the following decade. The key to achieving this ambitious target will be the integration of digital transformation strategies across the biotech industry, including cutting-edge fields such as AI-driven medicine, digital healthcare devices, digital breeding, and synthetic biology.
The South Korean government will focus its policy on large-scale research and development projects, offering robust support to the biotech industry in their R&D efforts for critical vaccines, groundbreaking treatments, and climate change prevention methods.
Furthermore, the development plan also includes provisions to bolster young entrepreneurs launching biotech startups. These startups will receive financial and administrative support for R&D and global expansion.
The government anticipates an annual formation of approximately 1,000 new ventures around 2030, a significant increase from the 399 new firms established in 2020.
In a bid to create a thriving, biotech-led ecosystem, the Ministry of Science and ICT will devise strategies to nurture researchers and experts in digitally integrated biotechnologies, promoting a global network of collaborative projects.
This strategy is expected to fortify South Korea’s global standing in the biotech industry, paving the way for a future steeped in technological innovation.
