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Good practice Imported

Pangyo Techno Valley: Korea's ICT-Biotech Knowledge Cluster

South Korea · Seongnam · See the South Korea profile · See the Seongnam profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 76% 57/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2011, this Gyeonggi Province-developed tech cluster near Seoul has grown from 88 to over 1,600 resident companies and KRW 120+ trillion in annual sales by 2021, though rising rents have driven notable startups to relocate to Seoul.

88 companies
Companies at launch (2011)
1121 companies
Companies (2015)
70.3 KRW trillion
Sales (2015)
167.7 KRW trillion
Sales (2022)
38.8 %
Year-on-year sales growth (2022)
1,622 to 1,196 companies
Registered companies decline (2022-2025)
Pangyo Techno Valley: Korea's ICT-Biotech Knowledge Cluster

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Gyeonggi Province / Gyeonggido Business & Science Accelerator, with Korea Land & Housing Corporation and Gyeonggi Housing & Development Corporation
Period
2011-present
Keywords
ICT, gaming, biotech, cultural technology, nanotechnology, semiconductors

Context

Pangyo Techno Valley is an urban high-tech industrial cluster in Seongnam city, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, often called 'Korea's Silicon Valley.' Former greenbelt land was designated for development in the early 2000s, with the tech complex opening in 2011 alongside a new Shinbundang Line metro station. Korea Land & Housing Corporation and the Gyeonggi Housing & Development Corporation developed the site; Gyeonggi Province government and its Gyeonggido Business & Science Accelerator run operations.

Activities

The cluster brings together IT, biotech, cultural-tech and nanotech companies alongside university campuses (Sungkyunkwan, Seoul National, Kyung Hee) and public research institutes such as the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute. A second Techno Valley phase was announced in 2017, and a third phase is under construction (2025-2029).

Results

The valley grew from 88 companies at its 2011 launch to 1,121 companies and 70,577 employees generating KRW 70.3 trillion in sales by 2015, and to roughly 1,600-1,650 companies employing 73,000-78,000 people with sales of KRW 120.8 trillion (2021) rising to KRW 167.7 trillion (2022, +38.8% year-on-year). Major resident firms include gaming companies NCSoft, Nexon, Smilegate and Krafton.

Conclusions

Growth has not been uniform: by 2019, average office rents matched Seoul's Gangnam district, and companies including fintech Sodacrew and secondhand-marketplace Daangn Market relocated to Seoul citing rent, venture-capital access and talent proximity; more recent reporting (TechCrunch, 2025) describes early-stage founders increasingly choosing Gangnam over Pangyo. Company counts and revenue figures vary across sources and years (one 2022-to-2025 comparison shows registered companies falling from 1,622 to 1,196 even as reported sales rose), suggesting inconsistent tracking rather than a clean growth trend.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M) — No specific development or operating budget disclosed; scale indicated by sales growth (KRW70.3tn in 2015 to KRW167.7tn in 2022) and multi-phase land development (2nd phase from 2017, 3rd phase 2025-2029).
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Greenbelt land designated for development in the early 2000s; complex opened 2011; second phase announced 2017; third phase under construction 2025-2029.
Staffing & skills
Developed by Korea Land & Housing Corporation and the Gyeonggi Housing & Development Corporation; operated by Gyeonggi Province government and its Gyeonggido Business & Science Accelerator

Conditions for success

  • Co-location of university campuses (Sungkyunkwan, Seoul National, Kyung Hee) and a national public research institute (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) alongside resident firms
  • New metro infrastructure (Shinbundang Line station) built alongside the tech complex to secure transit access
  • Central-government-backed second development phase (announced 2017) and a third phase under construction (2025-2029) to extend capacity

Common failure modes

  • By 2019, office rents had risen to match Seoul's Gangnam district, prompting notable departures (Sodacrew, Daangn Market) citing rent, venture-capital access and talent proximity; 2025 reporting describes early-stage founders increasingly choosing Gangnam over Pangyo, and registered company counts fell from 1,622 to 1,196 between 2022 and 2025 even as reported sales rose

Where it fits

Governance type
state-developed, provincially-operated industrial cluster
Scale
city-region (Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province)
Income level
high-income (South Korea)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

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