Government research institutes to drive regional innovation in Gangwon Province with natural products, biotech expertise

Government-funded science and technology research institutes are mobilizing their specialized expertise in natural products, biotech, future agriculture and functional materials to foster new industries and drive regional innovation in Gangwon Province.

The National Research Council of Science and Technology (NST) said Tuesday it held a "Gangwon regional innovation forum for government-funded research institutes" at the Natural Products Research Institute of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Gangneung branch.

The forum was organized to help regional branches of government-funded research institutes in Gangwon spread their research achievements and capabilities into local industries and to build a research and development cooperation framework tailored to regional needs.

The gathering brought together officials from regional branches of government-funded institutes operating in Gangwon Province, including the Natural Products Research Institute at KIST's Gangneung branch and the Gangwon Technology Commercialization Center of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology.

Participants focused on ways to strengthen the competitiveness of Gangwon's industries by leveraging each institution's specialized research capabilities in natural products and biotech, future agriculture, and functional materials.

A key agenda item was expanding industry-academia-research collaboration among local universities, companies and the institutes, and accelerating the transfer of research results and technologies to regional businesses. Participants also agreed that joint R&D efforts should center on technologies needed on the ground, with the goal of developing regional branches into core hubs for local innovation.

NST said it plans to support regional branches of government-funded institutes in going beyond their role as simple research outposts — helping them resolve technological challenges faced by local companies and identify new industries, effectively serving as regional R&D hubs.

Gangwon Province holds strong industrial potential in natural products, biotech and functional materials, and officials believe that connecting the foundational technologies and research infrastructure accumulated by government-funded institutes with the commercialization capabilities of local companies could generate new engines of growth.

"Gangwon Province has great potential to create new growth drivers by combining its specialized fields — natural products, biotech and functional materials — with the outstanding research capabilities of government-funded institutes," NST Chairman Kim Young-sik said. "We will actively support regional branches in fulfilling their role as regional R&D hubs through collaboration with local industry, academia and research institutions."

Kim Ju-sun, director of the KIST Gangneung branch, said the institute had steadily expanded its commercialization of research results and regional outreach activities, drawing on its specialized expertise in natural products. "We will work to strengthen cooperation with the Gangwon Technology Commercialization Center of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, as well as with local universities and companies, so that our research achievements translate into the development of regional industries," Kim said.

NST said it plans to increase on-site visits and communication with regional branches of government-funded institutes across the country, build an R&D support framework aligned with local industrial needs, and advance science and technology-based balanced regional development.