Following the Moon Jae-in government, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration also emphasizes the need to promote the bio-industry. Still, there is a shortage of workers who jump into this field, experts pointed out Friday.

That and other issues were discussed during the “5th K-Life & Bio Forum” held at the National Assembly titled “How to create a global hub to foster bio manpower – outcome and directions of development.”

During the forum, Rep. Kim Min-seok of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea said he organized the forum to emphasize the outcome of the policy to create a “global hub to nurture bio manpower” but acknowledged that the workforce is still insufficient in industrial fields.

“It takes 10 years and massive investment to develop a vaccine. However, we developed a vaccine in two years during the Covid-19 pandemic,” SK Bioscience Deputy President Kim Ba-reun said. “Our goal is to manufacture a vaccine within 100 days if another pandemic comes.”

Kim emphasized that the most important element for joining this process is manpower, adding that he felt the urgency and importance of vaccine-developing talents while responding to Covid-19.

“We are racking our brains on how to play a bridging role in creating a hub to foster global bio manpower,” Kim said.

Kim stressed the importance of trained talents (through the global bio manpower hub program) coming to businesses as employees, noting that explains why his company manages such manpower at the human resources department.

“Even if interests may cool down somewhat due to the weakening of Covid-19, we must prepare from now (to prepare for the next pandemic),” Kim said.

LG Chem Managing Director Park Hee-sul said, “Doctors tend to start a company after they develop the technology. Therefore, there are about 2,500 bio startups in Korea now. However, we need to consider whether there are sufficient workers to fill these companies. That can make it difficult to allocate human resources efficiently.”

Park said the industry should focus more on fostering “substantive talents” (who can work in industrial fields).

“When I discuss vaccine process and manufacturing with workers, there are many hurdles and problems in these areas, which individual businesses can hardly solve,” Park added.

Rep. Kim said for the government’s policy to create a global hub to foster bio manpower, it must consider it an ongoing project, expanding its scale and preparing for post-Covid-19 situations.

Korea launched the global bio manpower fostering hub program to dissolve vaccine inequity between countries by helping mid to low-income countries attain vaccine self-sufficiency by supporting their fostering of manpower. As a result, the World Health Organization designated Korea as the central organization that provides education and training programs on the vaccine and other bio-medicine manufacturing processes in February 2022. Korea has completed training 754 such workers from 43 mid- to low-income countries under the program.

“We want to picture a new vision through this training hub program. Large companies, doctors, and physicians should jump in the program to enjoy benefits in their future networking,” Rep. Kim said. “The government should approach this issue from a broader perspective instead of limiting it to working-group officials.”

Kim stressed that the program, which began under the Moon Jae-in government, should continue through the Yoon Suk Yeol government.

“All should join forces and paint a broader picture. The industry cannot grow if it is left to the government alone. Both private and public sectors should draw a broader picture together,” he said.

Shin Eun-kyoung, head of the Global Vaccine Cooperation Team at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, presented a set of administrative objectives as future strategies, including establishing a global bio campus to foster global bio manpower, solidifying Korea’s status and governance as bio manpower training hub, expanding international networks, and supporting domestic businesses’ overseas advance.