South Korea is investing US$10 million (₩14.5 billion) in the construction of a new cultivated meat research center in Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang Province. This includes around $3.6 million in state funding, with the remainder provided by the county and province. The capital will be deployed over a three-year period extending from 2025 until the expected completion of the facility in 2027.
Claimed to be the first of its kind in the country, the three-floor center will span 2,663 square meters, providing resources to help companies with research, regulatory approval, and commercialization. This will include infrastructure for mass cultivation, prototype production, and full-cycle industrialization.
There are plans for the facility to build a system capable of producing up to 100 kilograms of cultivated meat per year. 11 companies, including SeaWith, Micro Digital, and LMK, have already reportedly expressed interest in operating within the center. The site will be overseen by Gyeongbuk Technopark and is expected to create 60 jobs.
“World-class innovation hub”
Uiseong County was previously designated a special regulatory zone for cultivated food by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in 2023. The zone will be operational until December 2028, allowing selected companies to demonstrate the commercialization of cultivated meat backed by R&D funding and tax breaks. The new facility will be located next to the Cell Culture Industry Support Center, which opened in 2023.
Around a year ago, South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (KFDA) announced that it had opened an application process for the regulatory approval of cultivated meat. Then, towards the end of 2024, GFI APAC partnered with the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Bio-based Future Food Industry Committee to accelerate the development of novel proteins in South Korea. The collaboration aims to boost market research, technical knowledge exchange, and policy coordination for novel food regulatory frameworks.
“Reimagining how meat is made is one of humanity’s greatest untapped opportunities,” said GFI founder and President Bruce Friedrich at the time. “As a world-class innovation hub, South Korea’s expansive R&D and manufacturing ecosystem will play a crucial role in supercharging cultivated meat development and pioneering the technological breakthroughs our planet urgently needs.”
