Gyeongbuk Province establishes ‘Food Tech Research Support Center’ | To the news

Gyeongsangbuk-do (Governor Lee Cheol-woo) was finally selected for the ‘Food Tech Research Support Center’ project hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and secured a total project cost of 15.5 billion won, including 5.2 billion won in government funds.

This project is to build three research support centers nationwide in the fields of food robots, plant-based substitutes, and food upcycling, among the 10 core technologies in the food tech field. Gyeongbuk was selected in the food robot field.

Gyeongbuk Province has proposed the ‘K-Kitchen Project’ and 10 food tech core technology fields to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for public contest and reflected them in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ ‘Basic Plan for Food Industry Promotion (2023~2027)’, laying the foundation for the center construction project. Efforts were made to prepare.

Gyeongbuk Province will invest a total of KRW 15.5 billion over three years from this year to 2026 in the convergence technology business district of Pohang City (6,636㎡ of land) to build a research support center with space for companies, a technology demonstration center, and kitchen incubation.

The center provides customized support for the development of prototypes using facilities and equipment, as well as technology development and empirical research fields that are highly demanded by companies.

In addition, it lowers the burden on companies by supporting Korea’s first NSF food device certification prototype production and testing and analysis fees, and provides a stepping stone for entering overseas markets such as the U.S. and Europe.

In addition, from the initial stage of food robot technology development, technology development tailored to the needs and conditions of restaurant companies will be applied, and furthermore, a futuristic K-kitchen ecosystem will be built by implementing customized kitchen automation for each type of restaurant company.

According to related research results, the operation of the center was analyzed to have an economic ripple effect of 38.2 billion won in production inducement, 16.7 billion won in added value inducement, and employment inducement of 261 people.

The development of food tech companies is expected to enable the simultaneous growth of not only food-related industries but also various forward and backward industries such as smart manufacturing, kitchen materials and equipment companies, and the restaurant industry.

Gyeongbuk Province Governor Lee Cheol-woo said, “We plan to build the nation’s first food tech research support center in the food robot field to fill the growth plate of a new industry connecting the semiconductor and battery industries in Gyeongbuk,” and added, “We will do our best to establish it as a support facility as a base for the national food tech innovation cluster.” “He said.