Province holds industry-academia-research council Wednesday to discuss alliance formation, AI commercialization
South Chungcheong Province is accelerating its "Marine Biotech Innovation Ecosystem Development" project, an initiative aimed at consolidating the fragmented capabilities of the West Sea marine biotech industry to secure new engines of future growth.
The province held a marine biotech industry-academia-research council Wednesday at the provincial government building, chaired by Im Seong-beom, head of the marine policy division, with 18 participants from universities, research institutions and companies in attendance.
The council held vigorous discussions on three agenda items: forming and operating a marine biotech industry alliance, identifying AI commercialization projects, and activating the marine biotech platform development project.
The proposed industry alliance is designed to help early-stage marine biotech companies overcome their small scale and pool the capabilities of industry, academia, research institutions and government. The plan goes beyond simple support — the alliance would take the lead in jointly winning large-scale national research projects and creating new business models.
Participating companies will receive benefits such as bonus points in provincial support project evaluations, and the alliance is set to be formally launched at a signing ceremony to be held at a later date.
Alongside this, the province plans to proactively respond to the AI transformation of the marine fisheries sector. It intends to use infrastructure such as its industrialization support center to develop marine biotech-specific AI commercialization models — covering material discovery and production process optimization — and will make an all-out effort to win selection for Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries AI-related competitive grant programs.
The development of a field-tailored, hands-on support platform will draw on feedback gathered from a meeting with tenant companies held that day. The province will identify new initiatives that address shortcomings in existing support programs and generate synergies among companies.
"Through a solid network of cooperation among industry, academia, research institutions and government, we will build South Chungcheong into a global hub leading the marine biotech industry," Im said. "Above all, we will spare no effort in providing effective, tangible support that companies can actually feel, by putting the voices from the field first."
Meanwhile, the province is developing a West Sea marine biotech cluster in Seocheon-gun, with a target completion date of 2030. Following the opening of a marine biotech industrialization support center last year, it plans to swiftly expand key infrastructure, including a certification support center and a large-scale materials production plant.
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
