‘Greater Industrial Complex Clusters’

MKE and KICOX hold the 4th Cluster Day anniversary event

The Seoul metropolitan area will be made a global knowledge-based parts and materials industry hub under a strategy for establishing greater parts and materials hubs.
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) announced a plan to establish greater economic sphere clusters during the 4th Cluster Day anniversary event held at the COEX InterContinental Hotel in Seoul on Nov. 13.
Among about 400 people at hand at the anniversary event were Choe Sang-chuel, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Regional Development, Rim Chae-min, vice minister of knowledge economy, and Park Bong-kyu, president of Korea Industrial Complex Corp. (KICOX).
The plan was designed to establish greater industrial complex clusters in sync with the government’s Greater Economic Cluster Development Plan (5+2).
It calls for expanding the number of greater industrial complex clusters from the current 12 to 150 and the number of related firms from 23,000 to 42,000. Clusters have sprung up under a cooperative system to form up a networking among firms of industrial complexes, universities and research institutes like such cases as U.S. Silicon Valley and the Kista Science City in Sweden.
During the four-year period between 2005 and 2008, approximately 148,000 people from industry, academia and research institute circles participated in about 17,000 networking activities. It means that an annual average of 820 companies involved 1,910 tasks. A survey of 12 target industrial complexes showed that the industrial estates saw the value of production soaring 54.8 percent from 217 trillion won in 2004 to 335 trillion won recently, exports surging 59.6 percent from $97 billion to $155 billion and the number of the employed jumping 10.2 percent from 568,000 to 626,000.
Industrial complex clusters prove to be a great boon for SME employers.
Chung Jae-won, president of Korea E&S Co., said his company’s participation in a cluster has begun to pay off as it saw rapid growth. He was awarded with the KICOX President Prize during the anniversary event. He said before joining the cluster project, he wondered what’s going on in other firms and the industry community and he run his company in his own way, but his company was provided with support for conducting diverse networking activities and how to fix problems after participating in the cluster project and his company became a beneficiary of all areas, including sales.
SDT Co. President Yoon Jae-ho was presented with the top prize in essays on cluster experiences. Disclosing his experiences, Yoon confessed, “I once considered killing myself as my firm almost collapsed due to the bankruptcy of materials business partners, but raising me from the tunnel of despair was thanks to the KICOX’s cluster corps.” He said he was able to receive a necessary fund from Korea Technology Finance Corp. and other visible and invisible support through the participation of the cluster project. “Even though the KICOX started the cluster project, our businessmen will actively participate in the project with the goal of evolving it,” he added.
Kwon Won-hyun, president of Changlim E&D, an excellent prize winner, recalled, “In 2007, I established a plastic injection factory on my own after quitting my 15-year career as an office worker, then I soon hit the wall, but I find a new opportunity to establish partnerships with related companies through its involvement in the cluster project.”
KICOX President Park said, “As the cases showed, the cluster project has established a new growth force behind the development of regional economies, and we’re striving to actively implement the plan to establish grater clusters in keeping with the government’s Greater Economic Cluster Development Plan (5+2). nw

Park Bong-kyu, president of Korea Industrial Complex Corp. (KICOX)

Vice Minister of Knowledge Economy Rim Chae-min presents an award to a person for his contribution of the development of industrial complex clusters.