Daedeok Innopolis gets thrust into the spotlight due to COVID-19

With Korea being commended by the international community for playing an exemplary role in dealing with COVID-19, Korean-made products for infectious disease control and prevention are also garnering global attention.

K-Science and the K-Disease Control Model are also taking the world by storm, and taking leadership in this trend are the enterprises at Daedeok Innopolis located in Daejeon, the hub of science and technology in Korea.

In mid-March, Sugentech, a company specializing in medical diagnostics headquartered in Daedeok Innopolis, developed and launched a COVID-19 test kit that can produce the result in just ten minutes. In just a month, it began exporting to some 50 countries across the world, and more recently, it signed supply contracts valued at KRW 30 billion in total with Spain, Brazil, Russia, and Morocco. Sugentech is a startup founded by a former researcher from the government-funded Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology. The founder was transferred technologies from several government-funded research institutes and consolidated the competitiveness in the field of diagnostic kits.

It is not just the medical-related enterprises that are driving the boom of K-Science and the K-Disease Control Model. For instance, i3system is a company specializing in national defense technology that was founded by graduates of KAIST in Daedeok Innopolis in 1992. They recently gained tremendous success with the thermal imaging camera equipped with an infra-red sensor chip and sensor developed by applying the technology transferred by the Agency for Defense Development. There was a sharp increase in inquiries from potential buyers, such as operators of train stations, airports, and government and public agencies, that needed to measure people’s body temperature due to COVID-19, and inquiries from potential overseas buyers from Sweden, China, the United States and others skyrocketed this month, resulting in a 10-fold increase in sales.

As noted by foreign press, prompt testing and diagnosis was key to flattening the curve in Korea. According to the data announced by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups last week, there are 24 domestic enterprises exporting COVID-19 diagnostic kits, as of January and February this year, and the second large number of them are headquartered in Daejeon, following Seoul, where companies are headquartered for investment relations and buyer consultation. In addition to diagnostic kit manufacturers, Daejeon is home to a number of companies manufacturing products that are essential for the fight against COVID-19 such as thermal imaging cameras and KF-certified face masks.

The Reason Daejeon Has Been at the Forefront of the Battle Against COVID-19

It is because it is a city that contain a massive cluster of enterprises, schools, and research institutes.

It contains outstanding post-secondary education institutions including KAIST and Chungnam National University that produce graduates armed with exceptional competencies. It is also home to a number of government-funded research institutes and R&D centers of conglomerates that are capable of developing cutting-edge technologies and transferring them to the local private sector.
Daejeon and Daedeok Innopolis are also getting ready for the post-COVID-19 era. The resident industrial, academic and research entities of Daedeok Innopolis have formed a consultative body centering on KAIST and begun an active discussion to form the necessary framework to be better prepared against a new type of virus in the future. This is because just like the Spanish flu, SARS, MERS, and COVID-19, an epidemic or even a pandemic may happen anytime.

The increased export of diagnostic kits and thermal imaging cameras resulting from turning a crisis into an opportunity has catapulted Daejeon to a whole new level as a city of science.

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