IFEZ Journal

Funding Highlights

Land-Sale Contract Concluded with Seoul Asan Medical Center

Construction of Cheongna Medical Complex Town Begins in Earnest

Cheongna Medical Complex Town is being promoted to become the largest and best medical complex service town in the country and is now moving toward construction in earnest. IFEZ recently signed a land-sale contract with Seoul Asan Medical Center, which will be housed here, and it plans to begin construction this year.

Cheongna, a New Home for Korea’s No. 1 Hospital

Last December, IFEZ signed a land-sale contract with Asan Medical Center for land located in Cheongna Medical Complex Town. Cheongna Medical Complex Town, which will be built in Cheongna International City, is being promoted to provide world-class medical facilities and services to IFEZ residents. The area of the land-sale contract comprises 260,336 ㎡ within Block 2 of the investment-attraction site in Cheongna International City, and the sale price is approximately KRW 260 billion. The contract includes the promotion of facility construction, such as general hospitals, Life Science Park a seniors’ cluster, Meditel, and office facilities, based on the business proposal, land-payment schedule, provisions related to infrastructure installation, compensation for damages for project delays, and public contributions. President Park Seung-il of Asan Medical Center said, “We have internally formed a promotion team for Asan Medical Center Cheongna and have been steadily and directly preparing the hospital’s architectural design and Meditel. We plan to complete the building permit and start construction this year.” He also outlined his ambitions in stating, “We will achieve the second leap forward of Asan Medical Center by actively introducing a smart healthcare system and establishing it as a top-level general hospital trusted globally.”

Largest and Best Medical Complex in the Country

With the completion of this land-sale agreement, the creation of Cheongna Medical Complex Town is expected to gain momentum. The 800-bed Asan Medical Center Cheongna is scheduled to begin construction this year and to open in 2029. Seoul Asan Medical Center was recently ranked first in Korea in the “2023 World’s Best Hospitals” survey conducted by Newsweek. It was also recognized as a world-class medical institution in the specialty rankings, ranking 3rd in endocrinology, 4th in urology, 5th in gastroenterology, 6th in cancer, and 8th in neurology.

In addition to Asan Medical Center Cheongna, Cheongna Medical Complex Town will house research institutes from KAIST and Massachusetts General Hospital(MGH). Moreover, Life Science Park, an entrepreneurship-education facility, will move in and play a role as an R&D hub for the medical complex industry. Senior healthcare service facilities, which are essential for a country entering a super-aging era, will also move in to promote medical, bio, and senior-friendly industries. It is expected that this will create synergy effects, regarding which Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok said, “Cheongna Medical Complex Town is a model optimized for the future medical paradigm where treatment, basic medicine, industrial demand, and the most convenient service facilities are integrated. The competitiveness of Incheon City and world-class research institutes, including Asan Medical Center, will come together to dominate the high value-added industries of the future.”

Enhancing the Biomedical Research Capacities of Incheon

Construction of the Korea Basic Science Institute’s Metropolitan Integration Center

Plans are in full swing to attract the Metropolitan Integration Center of the Korea Basic Science Institute(KBSI) and strengthen Incheon’s biomedical research capabilities. This key part of biomedical research infrastructure will be established in Songdo in 2026, 

with construction planned to begin this year.

Biomedical Research Infrastructure Comes to Songdo

On January 16, Incheon City, IFEZ, and the Korea Basic Science Institute(KBSI) signed a tripartite business agreement regarding construction of the Metropolitan Integration Center in Incheon. This agreement describes mutual roles and cooperation for this project, including securing budgets for each entity.

The KBSI Metropolitan Integration Center, which will be built in IFEZ’s Songdo International City, will serve to integrate the bio and medical research infrastructure and regional centers within the KBSI metropolitan area. The total cost of the project is KRW 45.7 billion(including for land) and consists of 40% national funding, 50% local funding, and 10% private investment. Planning for the project will begin this year and will be completed in 2026. The project site is located in the Knowledge Information Business Complex in Songdo Zone 4.

Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok said, “Housing the KBSI Metropolitan Integration Center is a great opportunity to solidify Incheon’s status as a super-gap bio city by strengthening Incheon’s public research base and expanding research capabilities in the bio and medical fields. We will actively support the implementation of future procedures.”

KRW 50 Billion Worth of Cutting-Edge Research Equipment Relocated to Songdo

For this project, IFEZ passed the local financial investment review in 2020 and secured a national budget of KRW 1 billion for design expenses in 2022. Additionally, at the end of last year, IFEZ went through procedures like passing the board of directors of the National Research Council of Science and Technology(an integrated support organization for 25 government-funded research institutes in the science and technology field).

As a government-funded bio and medical research infrastructure institution, KBSI is responsible for fundamental science-research facility equipment and analytical scientific procedures that form the basis for national scientific and technological development. More specifically, this organization conducts research and development, research support, and joint research related to these fields and integrates and manages the national research infrastructure.

When KBSI moves to Songdo International City, the region’s original technology-research facilities and capabilities will be strengthened. IFEZ expects that these changes will further promote the attraction of related companies and institutions to Songdo. Once the Metropolitan Integration Center is built, KBSI’s state-of-the-art research equipment, valued at around KRW 50 billion, will be transferred to Songdo, with the plan for more diverse equipment to be put in place in the future.

KBSI President Yang Sung-kwang expressed his ambitions regarding the plans, stating, “Once the metropolitan center is established in Songdo, we expect to greatly enhance the research capabilities of global biotech companies in Songdo through KBSI’s state-of-the-art research infrastructure and analytical science capabilities.”