Gyeongbuk Province announced on September 10 that it has entered into a landmark tripartite business agreement with Andong City and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) to foster "Precision Fermentation-Based Bio and Food-Tech Industries." The official signing ceremony took place during the opening ceremony of the "2026 Gyeongbuk Bio Industry Expo" held at the auxiliary stadium of the Andong Indoor Gymnasium.

Key figures attending the event included Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo, Andong Mayor Kwon Ki-chang, and Professor Lee Sang-yeup, Head of the KAIST Synthetic Biology Research Center, alongside approximately 200 officials from related organizations, academic sectors, and expo participants.

This strategic collaboration aligns directly with the South Korean government's announcement last December of the "AI Bio National Strategy," which aims to establish innovation hubs across five major sectors, including biomanufacturing and agri-food technology. Capitalizing on this national paradigm shift, the agreement is designed to cultivate high-value-added future food industries by integrating advanced biotechnology, thereby maximizing the global market competitiveness of region-specific agricultural and food resources. 

Under the terms of the agreement, the three participating institutions have committed to close multi-faceted cooperation. Their joint initiatives will focus on fostering new industries centering on precision-fermented future foods and biomaterials, promoting advanced bio-research, development, demonstration, and industrialization, and nurturing specialized professionals who will lead the next generation of the bio-economy. 

As part of these ongoing efforts, Gyeongbuk Province and KAIST are already jointly executing a Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) R&D project this year focused on the localization and commercial production of high-value food ingredients such as lutein. Building upon this foundation, the province plans to leverage Andong’s robust existing bio-infrastructure to systematically construct public production facilities and corporate support systems. This framework is intended to bridge the critical gap between laboratory research outcomes and commercial viability by facilitating systematic pilot testing and full-scale mass production.

Complementing these infrastructure developments, Andong City has initiated a comprehensive research service project aimed at establishing the institutional and structural foundations for "Precision Fermentation Technology Industrialization." Through this study, the city will formulate granular, executable action plans to effectively merge local agricultural assets with cutting-edge bio-innovations.

Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo emphasized the strategic significance of the initiative, stating, "Precision fermentation is a vital future industry that infuses our native agricultural and food resources with advanced biotechnology to generate unprecedented economic value. By tightly coupling Andong’s solid bio-infrastructure with KAIST’s world-class research capabilities, we will construct a seamless industrial ecosystem where laboratory breakthroughs naturally evolve into practical manufacturing and corporate commercialization."

Industry experts note that this initiative marks a crucial milestone for Gyeongbuk Province as it expands its regional bio-competitiveness beyond traditional medical and vaccine sectors into the rapidly growing global fields of food-tech and synthetic biology. By turning local agricultural staples into high-tech bio-materials through microbial precision fermentation, the region is well-positioned to capture a leading share of the future global food market.

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