North Gyeongsang Province said on the 13th that, together with six cities—Pohang, Gyeongju, Gimcheon, Andong, Gumi and Yeongju—it will hold the "2026 future strategic industries innovation investment forum" from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 at the Ambassador Seoul Pullman hotel in Seoul and across Pohang and Gyeongju.
It is the main event of the "post-APEC North Gyeongsang Province investment forum," aimed at turning last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting results into investment attraction. It will be divided by industry and held three times through Oct., with the first session focused on secondary batteries and auto parts.
Held under the slogan "Leap to the world, start in North Gyeongsang (Invest in Gyeongbuk, Go Global)," the forum will draw about 100 participants, including domestic battery and auto parts corporations, investment institutions and overseas corporations. Six groups—the Korea Enterprises Federation, Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, Federation of Middle Market Enterprises of Korea (FOMEK), Korea International Trade Association, Korea Battery Industry Association (KIBA) and Korea World Class Enterprise Association—are helping member companies participate, and more than 15 Chinese corporations identified during North Gyeongsang Province's first-half tour of key Chinese industrial cities, including Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Beijing, Chengdu and Chongqing, have also applied to join.
The first day will open with an industry vision forum on "restructuring of the secondary battery future car supply chain and investment opportunities in North Gyeongsang." Chung Yeon-seung, dean of the graduate school of business at Dankook University (next president of the Korean Academic Society of Business Administration in 2027), will moderate, and reviewers from leading battery corporations, major domestic venture capital (VC) firms and corporate venture capital (CVC) will join as panelists to discuss supply chain cooperation and investment criteria.
Next, corporations that have already invested in North Gyeongsang will share their experiences with site acquisition, permits and staffing, and North Gyeongsang Province, Pohang and Gyeongju will present available industrial complexes, power and water infrastructure, a permitting fast track and tailored incentives. Investment pitch (IR) presentations by six promising North Gyeongsang corporations in secondary batteries and auto parts are also planned.
In the afternoon, a one-on-one investment counseling session will facilitate corporate matching. Pairs will be set in advance based on demand surveys, with on-site matching added. Any combination is possible: local government–corporations, corporations–investors, domestic corporations–overseas corporations.
On the second day, those who wish will visit industrial sites in Pohang and Gyeongju. Participants will tour industrial complexes and tenant corporations, and the mayors of the two cities will personally brief them and take questions. The schedule includes seeing the sites firsthand, asking decision-makers directly and checking the operating status of nearby corporations.
Following this first session, North Gyeongsang Province will continue the forum on Oct. 7–8 with machinery parts and defense, and bio and food (Andong and Yeongju), and on Oct. 29–30 with semiconductors and drones and future cars (Gimcheon and Gumi). Tied to the third session, a forum results event to share annual investment attraction outcomes will be held in Seoul on Oct. 29, along with a project supporting reshoring and a "night of entrepreneurs."
A North Gyeongsang Province official said, "We structured it to show Seoul exactly what North Gyeongsang's industrial sites and investment conditions look like, and to let interested corporations verify them on-site the next day," adding, "We hope for strong participation from corporations in secondary batteries and auto parts."