A 'K-Bio Startup Hub' to Be Built in Songdo, Incheon; 60 Biotech Startups to Move In

【Financial News, Incheon—Reporter Han Gap-su】A K-Bio Lab Hub supporting biotech startups from company formation through research and development, clinical trials, and investment will be built in Songdo International City, Incheon. Incheon Metropolitan City plans to combine startup and research functions in Songdo, which is home to a cluster of world-class biotech production facilities, and develop it into a global biotech industry hub. The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority announced on the 30th that it had held a groundbreaking ceremony for the K-Bio Lab Hub at Yonsei International Campus in Songdo, Incheon.
Modeled after LabCentral, a biotech startup support organization in Boston, U.S., the K-Bio Lab Hub is a national facility designed to support biotech startups. The facility will be built with a total project cost of 224 billion won on a 13,169-square-meter site near 162-1 Songdo-dong. It will have one basement level, nine above-ground floors, and a total floor area of 20,375 square meters. Completion is targeted for January 2029.
Once completed, the facility will house approximately 60 biotech venture companies. The companies will be able to share high-cost research equipment and receive stage-specific support ranging from candidate discovery and preclinical and clinical development to regulatory approval and investment attraction.
Songdo is home to biotech companies including Celltrion, Samsung Biologics, Samsung Bioepis, SK bioscience, and Lotte Biologics, as well as research and medical institutions such as Severance Hospital. Incheon Metropolitan City plans to link the lab hub with the existing biotech manufacturing base and establish a startup ecosystem connecting startups, major companies, universities, hospitals, and investment institutions.
The project began in 2021, when Songdo was selected as the site in a competition organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Incheon Metropolitan City, and Yonsei University signed a memorandum of understanding in 2023. After design work began last year and various administrative procedures were completed, a construction company was selected this July.
Incheon Metropolitan City plans to transform itself into a global biotech hub by adding research, startups, investment, and talent development functions to its industry structure centered on biotech manufacturing.
Incheon Metropolitan City Mayor Park Chan-dae said, "We will create more quality jobs by adding startups and new drug development to Incheon's biotech manufacturing base," adding, "We will also actively pursue the establishment of the Incheon Institute of Bio Science and Technology."
Lee So-young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, "The K-Bio Lab Hub will become a global growth hub for biotech startups in South Korea."
[email protected] Han Gap-su Reporter