CHA Biotech will team up with Thermo Fisher Scientific to build an open research hub to support domestic bio startups. The plan is to establish an integrated support system that links research and development (R&D) to clinical trials, manufacturing, and commercialization, strengthening the foundation for domestic bio corporations to expand globally.
CHA Biotech said on the 18th that it signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Thermo Fisher Scientific to build and operate the K-Bio-CIC Open Innovation Center (K-Bio CIC). The two sides will create pharmaceutical and bio research infrastructure and an open innovation ecosystem at a global level, and support domestic bio corporations in strengthening research and development capabilities and growing their businesses.
First, an integrated research environment will be established so that K-Bio CIC tenant corporations can carry out everything from basic research to analysis and process development. Research resources will also be linked, including the world's largest cell library owned by CHA Bio Group, six cell and gene therapy (CGT) contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) sites spanning the United States, Korea, and Japan, the CHA Laboratory Animal Center, and the CHA Global Clinical Trial Center. Through this, the plan is to expand support from startups' proof of concept (PoC) to clinical trials, commercialization, and global partnering.
The two sides will also incorporate a research environment based on digital, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI), along with advanced analytical technologies. By building an integrated development system that connects research to clinical trials and production, the goal is to raise bio corporations' development efficiency and potential to enter global markets. In addition, they plan to broaden cooperation to include building open research infrastructure at a global level, training on advanced research solutions, and operating global network programs.
CHA Biotech is currently building a Cell Gene Biobank (CGB) with a gross floor area of 66,115 square meters (about 20,000 pyeong) in the second Pangyo Techno Valley. The CGB will be created as an integrated bio cluster that provides consolidation among research and development, clinical trials, manufacturing, and business development functions centered on cell and gene therapies. It will house a CGT CDMO facility, a manufacturing facility meeting U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) standards, a biobank, advanced research equipment, and an open innovation center.
Of this, about 10,000 square meters (3,000 pyeong) will be developed as K-Bio CIC space and is set to begin operations in the second half of 2026. K-Bio CIC will be run as an integrated open innovation hub that provides linked support for research, clinical trials, manufacturing, business development, and investment by adopting the operating model of the U.S. innovation platform operator Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC). It will also be equipped with high-cost advanced laboratory equipment and specialized facilities, as well as research spaces of various sizes, to support bio ventures in proof of concept, commercialization, and global expansion.
Cha Won-tae, CEO of CHA Biotech, said, "By partnering with Thermo Fisher, which has strengths in life science equipment and solutions, we expect to lay the groundwork for the growth of K-Bio CIC tenant corporations and their entry into global markets." Seok Su-jin, head of Thermo Fisher Scientific Korea, said, "Based on Thermo Fisher's global technological capabilities and solutions rooted in digital, automation, and AI, we will work to help K-Bio CIC grow into a global-level hub for pharmaceutical and bio research innovation."