Executive Editor

DRESDEN, Germany - South Korea (the Republic of Korea, if you will) had a near-ubiquitous presence during last week's BIO-Europe 2005 conference at this historic city's International Congress Center.

In addition to having the most prominent booth on the exhibit floor, its representatives for Korea's economic development, and its political and scientific interests spent more than an hour extolling the country's virtues as a site for biotech ventures during a featured program.

One comment made during that session by Alan Timblick, who heads up the Seoul-based Invest Korea economic development organization, offered a concise explanation for the Korean government's interest in promoting the nation as a site for biotech investment: "This is a technology where it is possible to leapfrog and move forward quickly," he said.

So quickly, in fact, that biotech now is seen by both national and regional governments as a new economic "growth engine," following on the heels of Korea's successes in information technology (IT)-related industries. As Timblick noted, the country's plan is to fan the development of "fusion industries" incorporating IT, biotechnology and nanotechnology.

From what it said was a 14th-place ranking last year, based on the industry accounting for 1.9 percent of worldwide output in the sector, Korea's goal is to climb to seventh place by 2010, when it plans for the sector to account for 7 percent of global biotech production. Korea's biotech industry is growing at an annual rate of 25 percent, Timblick said.

The national vision for biotech development is built on a foundation of Korea's standing as a knowledge-based, high-tech business hub in Northeast Asia. Upon that foundation, Korea is erecting a framework for biotech growth that includes four primary pillars: R&D support, the development of "bio clusters," promotion of foreign direct investment through a variety of incentives and a strong commitment to protection of intellectual property.

Since 1998, the government has increased its investment in biotech R&D by leaps and bounds, growing from $111 million in that year to an estimated $708 million in 2005.

The most visible evidence of Korean R&D capabilities lies in the well-documented accomplishments of stem cell researcher Woo-Suk Hwang, who in May became the first to derive patient-specific embryonic stem cells to repair damage caused by disease and injury.

But in addition to stem cell research, the country is developing considerable expertise in areas such as gene therapy and gene sequencing, protein engineering and biochip R&D. The strength of the IT industry has helped speed that growth in genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics.

Korea's growing bioindustry human resources, the result of its schooled work force, are demonstrating their intellect via rapid growth in domestic biotech patent applications - from a total of 1,630 in 1998 to 2,909 last year.

"Korea is very well-endowed with a highly educated population," Timblick said, noting that the country ranks third worldwide in the percentage of adult population with higher education. At 41 percent, that figure trails only Canada (51 percent) and Japan (50 percent) and surpasses the U.S., which ranks fifth at 39 percent.

As for foreign investment, he said that more than half the Fortune 500 companies - 263 in all - have either direct or joint-venture operations in Korea. One key element of the nation's effort to attract foreign investment is its Project Manager (PM) system, with a PM assigned to provide what Timblick characterized as "full support" to potential investors from overseas.

The promotion organization even includes an investment ombudsman as part of its "aftercare" effort, with that office serving to help resolve any difficulties experienced by foreign companies once they are in place in Korea.

For foreign investors involved in biotech or biomedicine, Timblick said the bottom-line attraction should be Korea's location, which provides what he termed "easy access to the fastest-growing region of the world, a market that includes China, Japan, India and Southeast Asia."