Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Gov. Kim Jin-tae received the 2026 National Development Leadership Award in the advanced industry innovation institutional sector for heads of local governments. He was credited with overcoming the limits of Gangwon's existing image and presenting a vision for a "new Gangwon." His execution-focused drive, including building out a future industrial ecosystem in earnest, was also reflected.
Gangwon Province had long been perceived as distant from industry due to its clean-environment image and various regulations. But after Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province officially launched in June 2023 under the slogan "global city of future industries," it improved regulations across multiple areas including forestry, environment, farmland, and defense.
Gangwon's industrial map is now being reorganized. At its center is semiconductors, a core industry of the Republic of Korea.
Gangwon currently has 12 semiconductor industry projects underway totaling 300 billion won. In 2025, it will sequentially break ground on the Korea Semiconductor Institute (April), which aims to train 10,000 on-site practitioners annually; the Reliability Verification Center (October), which verifies the reliability and safety of automotive system semiconductors; and the Consumables Demonstration Center (November), which supports performance and quality demonstrations of consumables for semiconductor processes, building an ecosystem that spans the entire semiconductor industry.
The bio-health field is also quickly taking root in the region. Through a regional specialization strategy, Gangwon is building out bio-pharmaceuticals in Chuncheon–Hongcheon, medical devices in Wonju, and natural products and biotechnology in Gangneung. Once the specialization strategy is realized, the entire province will be linked as a single bio cluster. Gangwon's bio-health industry has now grown to rank around second to third among non-capital regions, and cooperation with the United States and Japan is expanding as it rises to a global industry.
In future mobility, 12 projects centered on Wonju and Hoengseong are set for completion in 2026. Once these projects wrap up, a full life cycle support system for future vehicles—covering research and development (R&D), testing and evaluation, and commercialization—will go into full operation.
In addition, the province is systematically building industrial ecosystems across all future industry fields, including creating a hydrogen specialized complex and an integrated test and research complex for energy storage systems (ESS), attracting a defense protection test range, and pursuing designation as a leading district for Gangwon medical AI (AI Transformation).
This year, Gangwon ushered in its first "10 trillion won in national funding" era. Gov. Kim Jin-tae said, "As national funding investment in advanced industry fields gets into full swing and the third amendment to the Gangwon Special Act is ahead, we will be one step closer to realizing a 'global city of future industries,'" adding, "We will continue to work steadily for the future livelihoods of Gangwon residents."