[THE INVESTOR] GE Healthcare will establish its APAC Fast Track Center in Incheon and invest 24 billion won (US$21.97 million) by 2020, it announced on Sept. 29 at a press conference in Seoul.

South Korea was chosen for the first Asia-Pacific center as it has a great potential and leading companies in bio processing and biomedicine industries, said Kieran Murphy, president and CEO of GE Healthcare Life Sciences, a bio molecular medicine subsidiary of General Electrics.

In the last five years, the total manufacturing volume of biomedicine in South Korea has grown at an average of 9 percent annually. In 2015, the export amount reached 950 billion won, leaping from 700 billion won in 2014.

The global healthcare company’s APAC Fast Trak Center will offer training and education in bioprocessing, nurture young bio professionals and cooperate with major education facilities as well as with venture firms and startups, and will help build infrastructure in the country’s bio industry.

By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)