AusBiotech and Austrade will co-host the Australia National Pavilion at BioKorea 2018 and are now inviting Australian organisations to join the Australian delegation that will head to Seoul in May.
BioKorea, inaugurated in 2006, has grown to be Asia's premier event for the global biotech industry.
At the 2017 event, 664 companies from 45 countries took part, including 9 leading Australian biotech companies. The organiser of BioKorea, The Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), has led large Korean delegations to AusBiotech over the past two years, demonstrating the strong interest Korean companies have in collaborating with Australia's biotech industry.
Korea ranks first among the OECD nations in the growth rate of aging population, increasing demand for medical technologies. The medical technologies market in Korea is growing tremendously over the past decade, netting an annual growth rate of around 6 per cent.
It is strongly led by the health IT sector. The South Korean government has plans to revitalise the bio sector of the country with the help of Big Data technology. The government is planning to create a bio fund worth US$33.93 million as well as programs to support bio health technology startups.
Korea's domestic production was valued at A$10.5 billion in 2016. In terms of domestic sales, biopharmaceuticals accounted for A$1.9 billion (37.4 per cent) of the total domestic market, followed by biofood at A$1.4 billion (26.9 per cent) and biochemical and energy at A$1.1 billion (22 per cent).
In the lead up to in the lead up to the BioKorea 2018 event, Austrade Korea is hosting a webinar on Korea Digital Health Market Snapshot. This webinar session, on March 22, is designed to provide a snapshot of Korea's digital health sector, Korean government initiatives, and Austrade Korea's activities to assist Australia's digital health industry to achieve commercial outcomes.
The webinar aims to:
- Provide an overview of Korea market;
- Give an update on the opportunities and trends in the Korean digital health industry;
- Explore areas of R&D collaboration and commercialisation opportunities with Korea; and,
- Provide advice about Austrade's services to assist Australian MTP industry to do business in Korea.
Webinar speakers will be:
- Dr Sunmi Cha, Researcher, National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA) – who will provide a briefing on Korean government's digital health initiatives;
- Rodney Commerford, Trade Commissioner, Austrade Korea – who will provide a briefing on the Korean market and Australia and Korea bilateral trade and investment relationship and overview of Korea's MTP industry focusing on Digital Health, and Korean start-up ecosystems; and,
- Juliet Woo, Senior Business Development Manager, Austrade Korea – who will provide a briefing on Austrade Korea's digital health initiatives and related activities for the Australian digital health sector.
Below are the registration links to the respective events: