Songdo launches Global Bio Campus to train vaccine manufacturers from low-income nations

On Monday, Songdo’s Incheon Free Economic Zone unveiled the Global Bio Campus, a biomanufacturing training facility designed for workers from low- and middle-income nations. The opening ceremony at Yonsei University’s International Campus was attended by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong and IFEZ Commissioner Kim Jong-cheol. The campus spans about 2,500 square metres, including 1,700 square metres of hands-on laboratories for microbial cultivation, purification, analytical testing and quality assurance.

Officials plan to add further production and quality-control equipment in stages up to 2028, enabling comprehensive training from vaccine production to quality testing. The initiative follows Korea’s 2022 designation as a Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing and is managed by the Global Bio Human Resource Development Hub Support Foundation in partnership with the International Vaccine Institute and Yonsei University. A budget of 9 billion won will support the campus’s operations through 2028, aiming to strengthen global health security by expanding skilled workforces in vaccine and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.