A delegation from South Korea’s Gangwon Technopark visited Tartu again to turn the memorandum of cooperation signed in June 2024 into practical action. The delegation’s first visit to Tartu was followed last year by a return visit from Andrus Kurvits, a member of the management board of Sparkup Tartu Science Park, to explore local opportunities for business and research cooperation.
While 2024 focused on signing the memorandum and getting to know each other, this time the focus was on helping health tech companies from Gangwon and Estonia reach each other’s markets and launching joint research and development projects.
Gangwon Province is one of the regions the Korean government has designated as a Global Innovation Special Zone, and it is developing the AI Healthcare Global Innovation Zone, where it is testing a lighter regulatory environment for digital health startups. The region has a strong bio and health tech ecosystem, including the National Biotech-Specialized Complex, the National Antibody Cluster, and Gangwon Data Valley, as well as companies such as PharmaResearch, Hugel, Geomexsoft, and Mezoo.
According to the delegation, they want to cooperate in three directions: helping Gangwon’s AI healthcare companies enter the European market, launching joint research and development projects, and moving from symbolic cooperation to real pilot projects and working collaboration. As specific points of contact, the delegation highlighted Tartu Science Park’s activities with early-stage health and biotech companies, as well as cooperation with the University of Tartu.
The delegation was also interested in the health applications of space companies operating in Tartu. Sven Lilla, Head of ESA BIC Estonia, introduced two companies whose technology goes from space to the clinic: RightStep, which originally developed a biomechanics sensor to measure bone loss in astronauts and has now brought it to market as a post-surgery rehabilitation product, and litegrav.ai, which is building a microgravity bioreactor platform for drug discovery, regenerative medicine and cancer research and already works with the Korean pharmaceutical company Boryung.
“Our goal is simple. If a Gangwon company wants to expand to Europe, Sparkup Tartu Science Park is the place to start. We want the same for our startups in Gangwon, a soft landing in both directions,” says our board member Andrus Kurvits.
The meeting was a direct follow-up to the memorandum signed in June 2024, which established cooperation in information and technology transfer in digital health, joint research, industrial development, and training support for the members of both organizations.
Read more about the signing 2024. of the memorandum.
