보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Government to Nurture 110,000 Core Specialists to Secure Super Gap in Biotechnology

manpower to lead innovation in bio health, a core growth engine in the low growth era

training facilities including K-NIBRT and K-BIO training centers and support college education and private-sector training

on training high-tech and convergence specialists including AI-based healthcare and AI-based new medicine development

The government will expand manpower infrastructure by training 110,000 core bio-health specialists to develop bio-health as a new next-generation industry to chart the path of the Korean economy, following the semiconductor industry.

On April 6, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (Minister Cho, KyooHong) announced the “Bio-Health Manpower Development Plan”* formulated jointly by related government ministers at the 20th Policy coordination meeting on key state affairs.

* The plan is a follow-up to the “Strategies to Create New Bio-Health Markets” announced in February 2023

Bio-health is a new industry with high potential expected to grow rapidly*, owing to the aging population as a global phenomenon and rising healthcare demand. The Korean bio-health industry has even more growth potential than the world bio-health market**, which highlights the importance for Korea to training sufficient specialists to compete effectively in the global market. In this context, the government will ramp up the training of 110,000 bio-health specialists to secure a super gap in bio-health technology.

* Global bio-health market is forecast to grow an average of 5.4% annually until 2027 (Korea Health Industry Development Institute)

** Korean bio-health market share in the global market (2021): ▴(pharmaceuticals) 1.7% ▴(medical devices) 1.8% (Korea Health Industry Development Institute)

Firstly, the government will provide industrial demand-based academic education. Under the plan, the government will introduce the biohealth-meister university (2 universities & 6 departments (majors) in 2023) and expand field training by connecting specialized schools and meister high schools to public and private training facilities. Industry-academia cooperation will also be strengthened by linking academic education customized to industry needs, which offers a bio-health curriculum as an academic major under an SME contract and builds industry-academic convergence complexes.

Secondly, the government will develop production and regulatory science specialists who are trained to meet the specific needs of industries. Specifically, large-scale production process training facilities, including K-NIBRT and K-BIO Training Centers (tentative name), will be built and operated in connection with the existing public facilities, including high-tech medical complexes, to help colleges and the private sector expand their training capacity. In addition, the government will train world-class regulatory science specialists by offering industry-specific regulatory science education and provide training to enhance the competency of SME employees, which is designed to reflect changes in the bio-health industry, including training them to be qualified to conduct cosmetics safety evaluations in response to China’s tightening regulation on mandatory submission of ingredient safety reports.

Thirdly, the government will support the training of core research specialists to promote the bio-health industry as the growth engine of the next-generation following the semiconductor industry. To this end, it will further strengthen high-tech and convergence-focused education, including AI-based medical services, and expand MA and Ph.D. degree programs, including graduate schools specializing in pharmaceuticals and medical devices, to increase the national manpower pool of bio-health researchers. The government will also improve training systems for physician-scientists of all level of career and education to transfer health and medical R&D results to hospitals and the bio-health industry and support creative and innovative bio-health research projects, including Priority Research Institute Program, Brain Korea 21, and SRC, ERC, MRC, and CRCs.

Finally, the government will create the framework to support the development of bio-health manpower including developing regional personnel, linking job seekers and startup enterprises, and creating sound governance. Under the plan, colleges and local communities will work together to link and utilize various local resources including corporations and research institutes for developing local bio-health specialists. Pharmaceutical and bio expos will be held and startup support centers will be set up within high-tech medical complexes to facilitate the matching of qualified job seekers and employers in the bio-health sector. The government will form the Bio-Health Manpower Development Council (tentative name), and create the framework for mid- to long-term industry support including policy research.

Minister of Health and Welfare Cho KyooHong said, “The newly emerging bio-health industry boasts great growth potential with a global market size larger than that of the semiconductor industry. The role of bio-health is essential for our health and national security,” and also stressed, “Since the bio-health industry is a dynamic one of constant technological innovation, the government will actively communicate with industry and academia to design and implement effective manpower development policies that can reflect these changes.”