The scale of the “bio cluster” established in Songdo International City in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, is expanding.

According to the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority on the 29th, Lotte Biologics (Lotte Bio) recently built its first Bio Campus plant in Songdo and obtained approval for its use.

Lotte Bio has been constructing a plant with a biopharmaceutical production capacity of 120,000 L on a site of 202,285㎡ in Songdo District 11 since July 2024.

To respond to large-scale production demand, Lotte Bio has installed eight 15,000 L bioreactors (equipment for cultivating cells that are the raw material for pharmaceuticals) at Plant 1 and plans to begin trial operations and verification of its production systems.

As a result, with Lotte Bio joining Samsung Biologics and Celltrion, which are already located in Songdo, the city’s biopharmaceutical production capacity has increased to 1.16 million L per year.

In particular, Samsung Biologics, established in 2011, has a production capacity of 780,000 L in the antibody pharmaceuticals field in Songdo, the largest in the world. Samsung Biologics is promoting the creation of an “innovative pharmaceuticals bio village” in Songdo by securing the site for a third campus with an area of 187,427㎡, in addition to its existing first and second campuses.

In addition, construction is scheduled to begin on the “K-Bio Lab Hub,” a facility for nurturing pharmaceutical and bio start-ups, on the campus site of Yonsei University International Campus in Songdo.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority plans to invest KRW 93 billion by 2028 to build the facility with one underground floor and nine above-ground floors (total floor area of 20,375㎡). Earlier, Park Chan-dae, the Incheon mayor-elect, put forward the development of the bio cluster as a key campaign pledge and, as his final legislative activity, served as the lead proposer of the “Incheon Bio Science and Technology Institute Act.” The main content is the establishment of the Incheon Bio Science and Technology Institute (Bio KAIST) to foster talent and promote industry-academia collaborative research in the field of advanced bio science and technology.

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