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(SEOUL=Yonhap News) The Korean government will support the new surgical innovation center that is being built in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, with an investment from a U.S. company.

On March 28, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the 1st Foreign Investment Committee in written form, and designated the surgical innovation center being constructed with a USD 8.3 million (KRW 9.2 billion) investment from the U.S. surgical equipment maker Intuitive Surgical, Inc., famous for its da Vinchi Surgical System, as a 'Foreign-invested Services Sector Area' in accordance with the Foreign Investment Promotion Act.

Once designated as a 'Foreign-invested Services Sector Area,' the government will provide 50 percent of all leasing fees (to be divided equally between national and local government funding) as part of the investment, for five consecutive years.

This was the second such designation since the system was introduced in 2011, following the 2015 designation of Italian company IDS-K's office in the Global R&D Center in Daejeon City.

The new center will be Intuitive Surgical's 5th surgical innovation center in the world, and 2nd in Asia following Japan.

When it opens, the new center will provide medical personnel from Korea and abroad with training on how to use robotic surgery equipment, and develop new robotic surgery techniques.

According to a trade ministry source, "should the surgical innovation center successfully take root in Seoul, it is expected to make significant contributions to the development of the local ICT convergence medical equipment industry and other related industries, through collaborations with businesses and universities involved in the fledgling medical robotics industry of Korea."

eun@yna.co.kr

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Source: Yonhap News (Mar. 28, 2017)