WellBeing
Looking towards a health-conscious Korea
“It’s strange that there aren’t more Finnish businesses in South Korea! The country is very technology-oriented and makes up a solvent market, where Finnish companies have a good reputation,” says Well-being Cluster Programme Director Ilpo Kuronen of Kuopio Innovation Oy. The Well-being and HealthBio clusters are hoping to open doors to Korea for Finns by organising a bio and health technology event in South Korea. Scheduled for the end of May, the event will take place in the same week as the International Association of Science Parks (IASP) world conference.
The Seoul-based seminar will also involve Korean companies, which will hopefully be encouraged to partner with their Finnish counterparts. The programme includes familiarisation with Samsung’s health and safety-related living concept, whose functions involve IT-based health monitoring in the home.
South Korea’s information and communication technology status is interesting. The country has the world’s most comprehensive broadband network, with 75 per cent of the country’s 50 million population being served by broadband. In addition to Internet, the fast and competitively priced broadband network is used to bring HD-grade digital television into homes. Meanwhile, the wireless network is not as developed.
Some of the world’s best-known brands
In addition to Samsung, South Korea is home to dozens of the world’s world leading brands, including Hyundai, Daewoo and LG. Meanwhile, the country is on a par with Japan with having the world’s fastest-aging population, and has a large market for private health care. All this makes partnerships with Korean corporations tempting, to say the least. South Koreans are very interested in increasing well-being, for instance through healthy and safe nutrition, and they are not averse to the idea of health tourism.
At the moment, the best-known Finnish product in South Korea is Xylitol chewing gum. According to surveys by Finpro, Finland has a good reputation in South Korea, and is clearly better-known there than the other Nordic countries. “Over the years, Xylitol advertisements have showcased not only Finnish birch forests and a green-suited Santa Claus, but also our world-class health research,” explains Coordinator for Korea Ari Virtanen of Finpro’s commercial office.
When making small talk, it is useful to remember that, like Finland, Korea is mostly covered by forests and that hiking is a popular pastime. Life expectancy is similar in both countries, at around 82 years for women and 75 years for men.
Don’t always start in the domestic market
A lot of high-level research is conducted in Finland, for instance in the areas of biotechnology, health foods and medical technology. The aim of the Well-being cluster is to turn research into business activities and to support the internationalisation of companies. Internationalisation is also a focal point for the HealthBio “sister cluster”. “Business operations do not always have to start at home. Korea is in many ways a much easier market than China, for example, which is where many Finnish companies aim for. Registration and licensing activities progress much more smoothly in Korea, for instance. It is a very Western country, considering its location,” Kuronen says.
For the purpose of conquering South Korea, the Well-being cluster has made a deal with a local partner specialising in health care services, which can help in obtaining permits. Finnish companies are also supported by a Finpro office in Seoul, with which the Well-being and HealthBio-clusters are currently preparing a market survey. Licensing and permits will only become easier and trading will pick up when the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement comes into effect this year.
The Centre of Expertise Programme’s Health and Well-Being Cluster comprises the Oulu Wellness Institute Foundation, Finn-Medi Research Ltd in Tampere and Culminatum Innovation Oy Ltd in Espoo, as well as Kuopio Innovation Ltd as the coordinator. These same centres of expertise are involved HealthBio, which is coordinated by Turku Science Park.
