Investment road shows to tour four regional hubs across the country

The 2026 four-hub cooperative regional investment road show series. [Provided by the Korea Research and Development Special Zone Foundation]
The 2026 four-hub cooperative regional investment road show series. [Provided by the Korea Research and Development Special Zone Foundation]

The government is moving to build a regional investment ecosystem to support the scale-up of promising deep tech companies as part of its push for balanced national development and locally driven growth.

The Korea Research and Development Special Zone Foundation announced it will hold the "2026 Four-Hub Cooperative Regional Relay Investment Road Show," touring four regions across the country from Wednesday through July 8.

The event goes beyond the previous model of support limited to individual special zones. It is designed to foster a deep tech innovation ecosystem spanning four national hubs — the Southeast, Central, Daegyeong and Honam regions — by linking smaller compact special zones with broader metropolitan special zones.

The relay road show targets around 10 promising deep tech companies per region that have moved past the early startup stage and have launched market-validated products or prototypes. It will run in two sessions.

The first session will connect existing special zone and regional investment networks to generate organic investment opportunities and facilitate deep tech-focused investor matchmaking. Each regional stop will also support networking and fundraising for promising special zone deep tech firms centered on the region's strategic and specialized industries.

The second session will bring together fund managers whose investment mandates align with each region's strategic and specialized industries for one-on-one consultations with pre-matched deep tech companies from local special zones — creating a setting where conversations can move beyond simple networking into substantive investment discussions. A briefing on the R&D Special Zone Fund and region-specific and national strategic technology funds will also be held to help participating companies better understand available funding vehicles.

The first event, the Southeast Regional Investment Road Show, will be held Wednesday at the Busan Global Tech Biz Center.

Busan, the metropolitan special zone, will participate alongside four compact special zones — Ulju, Changwon, Jinju and Gimhae — with investment briefings and one-on-one consultations focused on Southeast-region specialties such as next-generation batteries and electric propulsion systems.

"We are strengthening ties among promising regional companies, investors and anchor firms to expand opportunities for local deep tech companies to scale up," said Jeong Hui-gwon, chairman of the Special Zone Foundation. "Through this, we will do our utmost to invigorate a self-sustaining regional investment ecosystem so that special zones can become the innovation hub driving balanced national development."


nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com