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The Korea Herald

November 22, 2004
By Yoo Soh-jung




A research and development center for multinational companies will be established in the Bundang district of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, as part of the region's plans to serve as a global R&D belt.
The province said yesterday that it has invested 12.7 billion won to acquire five floors of an office building located in Bundang Venture Town, which is 60 percent complete.

Within the floor space totaling 6,996 square meters, the R&D center for Germany's Siemens is scheduled to begin moving in during July 2005. The move is expected to be completed by July 2006.

National Semiconductor, a U.S. company, is also expected to set up an R&D center in the space in July next year.

Gyeonggi Province said that it plans to devote 25,080 square meters of space within Bundang's Venture Town building, which is partly owned by the Seongnam government, toward building a "Global Foreign R&D Center." This venue will eventually serve as a multinational R&D town.

It added that this specially designated facility will offer "affordable" rents to foreign companies.

Once the multinational R&D town is completed, Gyeonggi Province said that it will focus more on promoting foreign investment, employing more "qualified and talented" researchers and bringing in more relevant venture start-up companies.

The province expects the multinational R&D town to ultimately help advance the technical skills of locals.

Bundang serves as one of the clusters along the envisioned R&D belt that also comprises Pangyo and Suwon.

Gyeonggi Province hopes to contribute to the government's goal of building Korea as a finance, R&D and logistics hub of Northeast Asia. Seongnam currently houses more than 500 venture start-up companies.

The province strategically rests on the western coast and houses numerous high-tech industries. Related high-profile companies include Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and LG.Philips LCD Co.

(sohjung@heraldm.com)