The four zones drew major investment, validated technologies and expanded into global markets

Researchers at Curbus, located in the Hongneung small R&D zone, conduct research on Alzheimer's treatments. [Provided by KIST]
Researchers at Curbus, located in the Hongneung small R&D zone, conduct research on Alzheimer's treatments. [Provided by KIST]

Seoul's Hongneung, North Gyeongsang Province's Pohang, Incheon's Seo-gu and South Gyeongsang Province's Jinju have received top ratings in the annual evaluation of the country's 14 small research and development zones.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Research and Development Special Zone Foundation announced the results of the 2025 annual evaluation of the 14 small R&D zones, known as "gangso teukgu."

The small R&D zones are compact, high-density research clusters built around core technology institutions — universities and government-funded research institutes — designed to accelerate the commercialization of R&D outcomes. A total of 14 such zones have been designated at the city, county and district level.

This year's evaluation covered three areas and six indicators, assessing zone development project outcomes, member satisfaction and the contribution of local governments to zone advancement. Evaluators placed particular emphasis on major achievements by leading companies in each zone, including large-scale technology transfers and global market entry.

Hongneung in Seoul, Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province, Seo-gu in Incheon and Jinju in South Gyeongsang Province all earned the top "excellent" rating for producing standout innovative companies through differentiated technology commercialization support, including major investment attraction and overseas market expansion.

The Hongneung zone, which specializes in advanced biotech, attracted a total of 75.4 billion won ($48.9 million) in corporate investment — the highest among all small R&D zones. Endorobotics, a research spinoff specializing in endoscopic surgical robots, received core technology transfers and hospital product supply support from the zone. The company went on to become the first in South Korea to obtain the US Food and Drug Administration medical device authorization code "NAY," secure 32.5 billion won in Series C funding and sign an exclusive distribution agreement with global medical device company Olympus.

The Pohang zone focused its support on advanced materials companies and delivered strong results. Pohang city injected about 11 billion won in subsidies into Graphene Square, a graphene advanced materials developer, while Pohang University of Science and Technology — the zone's core technology institution — provided graphene mass-production equipment and other support, enabling the company to build the world's first factory capable of mass-producing graphene film. Celloid, an advanced biomaterials company, also received zone support for product upgrades and overseas market development, going on to raise 9 billion won in Series A funding and sign research agreements with global universities and biotech firms including Johns Hopkins University.

The Incheon Seo-gu zone concentrated on advancing its specialty in environmental technology, with notable achievements in building domestic and international networks and pursuing global cooperation projects, including hosting the Incheon International Environmental Technology Exhibition. Roots Lab, a company developing eco-friendly cosmetics ingredients derived from agricultural byproducts, signed $2 million in export contracts with overseas luxury cosmetics brands including Chanel, demonstrating strong global competitiveness.

The Jinju zone produced a number of outstanding companies in its specialty field of aerospace. ANH Structure, an aircraft engineering firm and the first company to move into the Jinju zone, received systematic support for technology transfer and business development from the zone's early days. It went on to earn an A rating in the technology-exception listing evaluation and achieve mass production of lightweight composite components for Boeing 737 aircraft.

Lee Eun-young, the Ministry of Science and ICT's director general for research outcome innovation, said the small R&D zones had generated achievements in their respective specialty fields through industry-academia-research cooperation centered on core technology institutions. "We will continue to provide support so that successful models suited to the characteristics of each region and industry can be created — through investment linkage, network building and entry into global markets," she said.


nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com