Biotech cluster in Songdo to be expanded twice

The city of Incheon that successfully invited the government’s K-BioLab Hub in July announced its plan to profoundly increase the size of its biotech cluster in Songdo International City. The Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) stated on Thursday that it plans to provide 357,000 square meters of the land in Zone 11 of Songdo International City as a site for cutting-edge pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities producing next generation vaccines and therapeutics.

The IFEZ will accept applications until Nov. 30 and hold a meeting to determine preferred bidders on Dec. 10. Preferred bidders will enter into a land sale contract after three months of negotiation.

Earlier in June 2019, the IFEX gained approval from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to revise the land development plan to develop the biotech industry. The IFEZ plans to invite R&D and manufacturing facilities in the biopharmaceutical sector to the 11th site in accordance with the plan it devised back in September 2020 to build biopharma clusters in Songdo.

Songdo International City houses Samsung Biologics, which mass produces Moderna vaccine, and 60 companies researching, manufacturing, and providing services related to the bio-healthcare industry. SK Bioscience will begin construction of its headquarters and vaccine R&D facilities in Songdo in 2022.

The city of Incheon and the IFEZ will connect the biotech cluster built in Zone 4 and 5 with an area of 920,000 square meters to Zone 11 and expand the size of the cluster to two million square meters. With the expansion of the biotech cluster, the IFEZ plans to increase the number of people working in bio-related companies from current 5,000 to 20,000.


Jun-Ho Cha run-juno@donga.com