GANGWON-DO < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

Wonju City in Gangwon said on Jan. 23 that it has developed into the largest medical equipment cluster in Korea based on its strategy of intensively nurturing the medical equipment industry.

According to Wonju, 107 medical equipment companies have made remarkable achievements, recording 376.5 billion KRW in total production, creating 2,287 jobs and accounting for 21.5% of medical equipment exports since the foundation of Business Incubator Center in 1998.

The development is led by the center's continuous efforts in establishing infrastructures for test production and specialized complexes and industry-academic-research institute-public cooperation for providing support for development of transportation networks and medical equipment, cultivating professional human resources and offering marketing strategy.

Both quantitative and quality growth the Wonju medical equipment industry has made is evidenced by the fact that 11 companies including Nega Medical recorded more than 10 billion KRW of sales revenue and CU Medical System has become the first KOSDAQ-listed company among medical equipment companies in Wonju.

Last year, three companies, such as Nuga Medical, CU Medical System and Medicon, was awarded the "Proud Export Tower" prize for their excellent performance of recording USD 50 million, USD 10 million and USD 1 million, respectively, in exports on the Day of Trade.

In addition, about 100 companies signed USD 21.57 million-worth-contracts during their participation in exhibitions held home and abroad including Seoul International Medical Equipment Fair, Germany International Medical Equipment Fair and Gangwon Medical Equipment Fair, in an attempt to advance into the global market.

Wonju Medical High school, designated as the first Meister high school in medical equipment, developed into a major human resource cultivation center as about 180 students participated in the industry-academic cooperation program for employment last year.

The 48 billion KRW-worth-Wonju Cutting Edge Medical Equipment Multi-complex Center is expected to provide various supports as a major player in the medical equipment industry.

An official at Wonju City said, "We faced challenges when our plan to build a cutting-edge medical comprehensive complex went down the drain. But we will continue our efforts to establish infrastructures and to evolve into the No. 5 specialized city in medical equipment based on our citizens' keen interests."

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Jan. 23, 2012)

**This is an English translation of a Korean news article.