- MOF Announces the「Marine Bio Sector New Growth」 Strategy -

 

 

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (Minister CHO, Seung-Hwan) announced that it has finalized the Marine Bio Sector New Growth Strategy, which contains the key initiatives to be implemented by the new government by 2027 in order to promote the marine bio sector, during the State Affairs Review and Coordination Meeting held by the Prime Minister on July 28th.

 

The marine bio industry can be utilized in the development of high value-added products in various fields, including food, energy, industrial materials, and medicine thanks to the development of advanced technologies such as biotechnology.

 

◦ Through such contributions, the marine bio industry will become a leading industry of the future that can not only help resolve social-economical issues, such as those related to the environment, health, diseases, and fishing sector challenges, but also contribute to innovative growth and job creation.

 

The value of the global marine bio market is currently estimated roughly at KRW 7 trillion, with further expectations for it to grow 1.6x to KRW 11 trillion by 2027, as the Korean market alone exhibits 8% yearly growth.

 

Major markets, such as the US and the EU have established national strategic plans to take the lead in the global market and are actively expanding the relevant R&D and infrastructure investments.

 

The Marine Bio Sector New Growth Strategy aims to double the market size and triple job creation by 2027 and includes the policy directions and action items needed to deliver these objectives.

 

The Ministry will drive three main initiatives, ①development of three core marine bio technologies, ②creating a virtuous cycle of industrial ecosystems, and ③the framework to support the autonomous growth of companies to deliver on the above goals.

The three core marine bio technologies will be selected based on the importance and the industrial growth potential of the technologies, where R&D investment will be focused.

 

First, to become a powerhouse in marine bio materials, stronger efforts will be made to secure basic materials from marine bio resources, including from the deep sea and from pollution, which shall be integrated with advanced technology such as nanotech, to be used in the development of high value-added products.

 

- To that end, the Ministry will secure basic materials with diverse characteristics, such as anticancer or antibacterial efficacy, from about 4,000 marine bio resource species, and will provide bio-materials and conduct joint research with companies through a marine bio bank.

 

- Moreover, genomics research will be expanded to secure the genomic information of 500 marine life species that have high industrial value by 2027.

 

MOF intends to expand research in synthetic biology*, while developing mass culture technology, including that of microalgae, and introduce bio-foundries** in collaboration with companies to accelerate the industrialization of marine bio materials.

 

* Synthetic biology: a field of biology that artificially designs, manufactures, and synthesizes life systems

** Bio-foundries: systems that standardize, automate, and accelerate the end-to-end processes of synthetic biology

 

- In particular, the Ministry will contribute to the activation of the fishing economy and improvements in environmental issues by transforming seafood byproduct waste into marine bio resources.

 

③ The Ministry also plans to expand the R&D on integration with other high-end technologies to allow the utilization of marine bio materials in other fields, including the environment, energy, and medicine.

 

- Microorganisms will be developed that can inhibit the growth of red tide organisms as well as the technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of harmful viruses that cause illness in aquafarms.

 

- Discarded seaweed, such as Sargassum horneri, will be used as raw materials for the development of bio-plastic materials, and bio-hydrogen will be commercialized through the mass production of deep-sea archaea.

 

- MOF will actively support the development of materials to be used for pharmaceutical products, such as the use of mussel protein to produce biotissue bonding agents, treatments for joints extracted from marine algea, and painkillers from microalgae toxins.

󰊲 To ensure a virtuous cycle ecosystem for the marine bio sector, investments will be boosted by establishing relevant funds, while creating industrial hub clusters that are linked to the activation of local economies.

 

◦ Investments in the R&D of core technologies will be increased to expand marine bio R&D investment capacity from the current KRW 72 billion to KRW 130 billion by 2027. Public-private joint funds will be introduced to support businesses with quality technologies. Furthermore, the marine bio bank will be expanded, together with the launch of the marine bio data center*, to ensure more access and use of marine bio materials by the industrial sector.

 

* Collect and manage bio data produced from the marine bio R&D programs and provide access to businesses and researchers

 

◦ Advisory services will be provided to businesses for investments, business management activities, research, and technologies, and an innovative smart marine bio platform will be introduced by next year to allow all participants to jointly use leading-edge bio facilities. In addition, a dedicated research vessel for the identification of marine bio materials will be constructed, which is planned to increase the scope of Korea’s bio resources to 23,000 species by 2027.

 

◦ Regional characteristics, such as the status of marine, fisheries, and bio facilities, will be reviewed and considered to create marine bio hubs by region. Four hub regions, consisting of the Central, Southwestern Sea, East Sea, and South Sea regions, will each be developed to specialize in one of the four areas, basic materials, functional products, medicine and health, and integrated research, and will be supported with the necessary infrastructure.

 

󰊳 The Ministry will push for policy improvements, including deregulation, to support free and creative business activity.

 

◦ First, a marine bio regulation improvement task-force (TF) team will be formed with participants from industry, research, and government to promote business investment and successful commercialization in the marine bio sector. The TF team will identify and revamp regulations that apply throughout the industry, including the development of materials, mass production, standardization, certification, and commercialization.

 

◦ In addition, to resolve the shortage of professional talent in companies, an initiative will be introduced to establish a marine bio professional training institution, and the Marine Life Resource Act will be revised to systematically nurture the marine bio sector and to provide more support for businesses.

 

□ Minister of Oceans and Fisheries CHO, Seung-Hwan stated that “the newly launched Yoon administration has highlighted future growth driven by new marine businesses, and declared its support for the development of the marine bio sector during the Oceans Day last May." He added, “taking the new strategy as its foundation, (the Ministry) will introduce policies that support the development of the relevant industries and provide full support to help the marine bio sector become a new growth engine for Korea.”