The nation’s first demonstration support center for the development and commercialization of innovative medical devices based on mechano-bio active materials broke ground on the 20th at JBNU (President Yang O-bong).

Through the establishment of an interventional mechano-bio medical device cluster, JBNU is expected to serve as the central control tower in realizing the vision of Jeollabuk Special Self-Governing Province to develop the region into a future high-tech industrial city.

On the 20th, JBNU held a groundbreaking ceremony on campus for the Mechano-Bio Active Materials Innovation Medical Device Demonstration Center (Non-Clinical Testing Institution (GLP-Certified)). The ceremony was attended by President Yang O-bong; Kim Jong-hoon, Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs of Jeollabuk Special Self-Governing Province; Woo Beom-gi, Mayor of Jeonju; and Oh Su-man, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

JBNU was selected in 2022 for the “Industrial Innovation Infrastructure Project” supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Over five years through 2026, it will receive KRW 21.5 billion to prepare a demonstration center and equipment for development support and commercialization manufacturing of mechano-bio active material-based innovative medical devices on the Jeonju Campus.

The Innovation Medical Device Demonstration Center to be established at JBNU will be a three-story above-ground building with a total floor area of 1,168 m² (approximately 353 pyeong). It will house a performance validation evaluation room, a biological safety evaluation room, a materials synthesis development laboratory, and 22 types of non-clinical evaluation equipment.

Once completed, this center will be the first in the country to offer support from the exploration and discovery of mechano-bio active material innovative medical device companies through the development of commercialization technologies and demonstration. In addition, through non-clinical demonstration support facilities and equipment, it will enable one-stop, full-cycle support in the medical device field—from prototype fabrication and physico-chemical evaluation to non-clinical testing and technical consulting.

In particular, the center has signed an MOU with the Mechano-Bio Center (EBICS) at MIT in Boston and is building a global cooperation system for innovative medical devices. It is also pursuing joint project identification and international collaborative R&D with Harvard Medical School, raising expectations that JBNU will play a leading role in the domestic mechano-bio innovative medical device industry.

JBNU President Yang O-bong stated, “This project has attracted attention as a highly successful university–local government collaboration model that reached groundbreaking through organic cooperation among JBNU, Jeollabuk Special Self-Governing Province, and Jeonju from planning through evaluation.” He added, “Centered on the Mechano-Bio Active Materials Innovation Medical Device Demonstration Center, we will establish an R&BD and demonstration support system for the region’s innovative convergent medical device industry, and we will spare no support to ensure it becomes a Korean-style ‘Lab Central’ responsible for the advanced bioindustry competitiveness of Jeollabuk Special Self-Governing Province and Jeonju.”