- Incheon Metropolitan City-Yonsei University Consortium helps win the public tender commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare -

- New Campus to train and develop more than 2,000 experts in bio industries from low- to middle-income countries annually, making the domestic bio industry more competitive than ever -

- Incheon to open facilities in the first half of next year, soft open the Campus in the second half, and fully open at the end of the year -

Incheon has once again proven itself to be a “super-gap” Mecca for the bio industry.

Incheon Metropolitan City (Mayor: Yoo Jeong-bok), together with Yonsei University, applied for the “Global Bio Campus Project” commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in May. The Ministry recently announced its final decision to approve Incheon’s bid to host the main campus of the Global Bio Campus (GTH-B).

* GTH-B: Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing 

Previously, in February 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) chose Korea as a global training hub for bio industry experts. To that end, the Korean government submitted a letter of intent to train more than 2,000 global bio experts from low- and middle-income countries each year to contribute to solving the inequality in global vaccine development and distribution. 

<Vaccine and bio-processing trainees> 

<Vaccine and bio-processing trainees> 

Following up on this plan, in May, the government posted a public tender for the Global Bio Campus Project nationwide to help address the rising demand for manpower in the domestic bio and vaccine industry, to strengthen the competitiveness of the bio industry, and to nurture experts in the bio-pharmaceutical production process from low- and middle-income countries.

Upon learning the news of this Project, Incheon quickly formed a consortium with Yonsei University on June 2 and submitted a proposal for the Global Bio Campus (GTH-B), which was also part of a pledge made by the City’s 8th democratically elected administration. Five municipal governments across the country submitted applications for the public tender, but Incheon beat out its rivals after a thorough screening and evaluation process.

Incheon listed the geographical advantages of Songdo, Incheon, with excellent access to airports, railways, ports, etc., and extensive experience in training personnel (domestic and international) for the bio industry (training programs consigned by the ADB). It also presented a plan to interface and utilize vaccine and bio training facilities and equipment already available or new resources the City expects to secure going forward to highlight the fact that it can operate the Bio Campus at a much lower cost.

The main campus is expected to be ready by the end of 2024, with key facilities and practice equipment, including offices, lecture halls, labs/practice rooms, and waiting rooms for instructors built using the idle space available inside Yonsei University’s International Campus in Songdo. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will also open a foundation dedicated to supporting the Global Bio Campus (GTH-B), which oversees and manages the Global Bio Campus and its training programs, inside the new Campus.

The City plans to start building Campus facilities in the first half of 2024, soft open a bio production process program for pilot testing in the second half of 2024, and officially open the Global Bio Campus at the end of the year.

Lee Nam-joo, Director of the Future Industry Bureau, said, “Incheon was chosen to host the main campus of the Global Bio Campus (GTH-B), an educational institution tasked by the World Health Organization (WHO) to function as a global hub that trains experts for the bio industry. Incheon is ready to take a leap forward as a ‘Mecca’ for the bio industry that not only responds to the demand for experts in the domestic bio industry, but also nurtures world-class talent for the bio business.” Lee added, “We will continue to do our best to create a robust ecosystem so that Incheon can become a genuine hub for the global bio industry.”