Bayer Korea said on the 27th that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF) to expand cooperation in Korea's pharmaceutical and biotech industry and to support the global growth of startups.
Bayer Korea is the Korean subsidiary of Bayer, a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Germany. The agreement was pursued to strengthen the cooperation network between Bayer Korea and domestic pharmaceutical and biotech startups to boost new drug development capabilities.
The two sides agreed to cooperate mainly on ▲ supporting the introduction and implementation in Korea of Bayer's global open innovation program "Bayer Co.Lab Connect" ▲ tangible support such as domestic research and development (R&D) investment and mentoring ▲ discovering promising startups and linking them to the global network.
Bayer Co.Lab Connect is a global program that expands Bayer Co.Lab, Bayer's life-sciences incubator network operated out of hubs including Berlin, Germany; Cambridge, United States; Shanghai, China; and Kobe, Japan.
It is characterized by providing early-stage biotech startups with research facilities, specialized mentoring, and a global network to support the commercialization of innovative ideas.
Through this agreement, Bayer will push "Bayer Co.Lab Connect Seoul" and support domestic startups' entry into global markets. To that end, at BIO KOREA 2026 on the 30th, it plans to host a separate session to introduce the program and set out to discover promising corporations.
Lee Jin-a, head of Bayer Korea, said, "Collaboration is a key element of innovation in the pharmaceutical and biotech fields," adding, "We expect 'Bayer Co.Lab Connect Seoul' to take root successfully through cooperation with the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF)." Lee added, "We hope Bayer's global network and accumulated know-how will combine with the excellent technological capabilities of domestic startups to lead to meaningful innovation that contributes to improving patient outcomes."
Park Young-min, head of projects at the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF), said, "For domestic corporations to achieve tangible results in global markets, cooperation with big pharma that has global new drug development capabilities is essential," adding, "Based on this collaboration, we will actively support strengthening the competitiveness of promising pipelines and translating them into commercialization outcomes."
Under the mission "Health for All, Hunger for None," the company has continuously sought new technologies and approaches to develop effective treatments for diseases.
One of them is a global open innovation program. The company has worked to discover and nurture pharmaceutical and biotech startups with innovative ideas through Grants4Apps, Leap by Bayer, and Bayer Co.Lab.
In practice, the company is building open innovation success stories with biotech ventures AskBio (Asklepios BioPharmaceutical), Vividion Therapeutics, and BlueRock Therapeutics. In particular, it is expanding the innovation ecosystem through an "arms-length" model that provides support while maintaining the independent operations of the ventures.