Total project cost of 15.5 billion KRW invested; opens its doors first among seven research support centers nationwide

Gyeongsangbuk-do held a completion ceremony on Thursday, September 17 for the "Food Robotics Food-Tech Research Support Center" built in Heunghae-eup, Buk-gu, Pohang-si, officially launching its operation as a hub for the industrialization of food robotics. It is the first to open among the seven food-tech research support centers established nationwide.

The event was attended by some 200 people, including Vice Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Kim Jong-gu, Gyeongsangbuk-do Governor Lee Cheol-woo, and Pohang City Mayor Park Yong-sun, alongside officials from companies, universities, and research institutes, as well as local residents.

The research support center serves as a research and demonstration hub dedicated to the food robotics sector among the 10 core food-tech technologies. Built from 2024 to 2026 with a total project cost of 15.5 billion KRW, it spans a gross floor area of 2,484.27 square meters across two buildings. It features joint research equipment rooms, spaces for prototyping, demonstration, and performance testing, and corporate office spaces, with the occupancy of catering and cooking automation companies already confirmed.

The shared equipment and demonstration facilities can be utilized not only by tenant companies but also by domestic food robotics companies, including local businesses. The center supports everything from product development to performance and safety verification and commercialization, while enabling food service businesses to test cooking automation technologies tailored to their menus and workflow operations.

Asia's first NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) international testing and certification institution, secured by Gyeongsangbuk-do, will also be housed within the center. It will support hygiene and safety testing as well as overseas certification for food robotics and commercial food equipment. Companies will be able to receive certifications in Pohang rather than sending products to the United States, reducing the certification period from about six months to under one month and lowering costs to one-third of the previous level.

By securing a total of 2.9 billion KRW through two additional public contest projects from government ministries such as the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the center has expanded its testing and analysis equipment and established a smart kitchen replicating a real restaurant kitchen. It supports durability and safety evaluations of food robotics and cooking appliance materials, performance verification in actual kitchen environments, recipe datafication, and on-site experience and education.

Taking the completion of the research support center as a turning point, Gyeongsangbuk-do will launch the "Food Robotics Regional Innovation Cluster" project—worth a total of 8.9 billion KRW in accordance with the government's basic plan for fostering the food-tech industry—starting in 2027. Through industry-academia-research-government cooperation, the province plans to promote joint research, technical support, workforce training, and business attraction, thereby fostering Pohang as a core hub for South Korea's food-tech industry. Standardization projects will also be pursued to establish common test methods and safety standards for food robotics and link them with domestic and international certification and performance evaluations.

Gyeongsangbuk-do Governor Lee Cheol-woo stated, "This completion is the first fruit of the nation's seven food-tech research support centers, and it is significant in that we have established an industrialization base that verifies food robotics technology in the field and connects it to certification, commercialization, and export." He added, "We will connect Pohang's food robotics, Uiseong's cell-cultured food, and Gumi's smart food manufacturing into three food-tech hubs, creating a national test bed for South Korea's food industry that develops and demonstrates new technologies and products first before spreading them nationwide."