SUNCHEON — Suncheon in Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City has demonstrated the potential of a local green bio industry that combines regional biological resources with biotechnology, using its ecological assets as a competitive edge.
The Suncheon Bio Healthcare Research Center has developed a bio material that supports hair health by applying bioconversion technology to kelp, and has taken it all the way to commercialization, the city said on the 14th. The achievement turns clean marine biological resources held by the ecological city into a high-value industrial material. It is seen as a working model of a local green bio ecosystem that links regional resources, research institutions and startups.
The research center carried out a project to develop hair health cosmetic ingredients and products using fermented kelp culture fluid, together with Badapoomae, a local beauty and marine bio startup.
The research found that active compounds in kelp, after undergoing yeast fermentation, showed positive effects in improving the scalp environment and activating hair follicle cells.
The study was published in the international journal Cosmetics under the title on enhancing kelp's hair-loss-relieving activity through yeast fermentation. A research result rooted in the region won recognition for its technology and potential on an international academic stage.
The findings moved directly into commercial use.
Badapoomae launched a scalp-care shampoo based on the patented technology it secured and the results of human application tests. The case shows how bioconversion technology added to local biological resources can be extended into functional cosmetic ingredients and finished products.
It is significant in that Suncheon's ecological resources have led, through research and development, to a product with competitiveness in the market.
The city views the achievement not simply as product development but from the perspective of industrializing ecological resources. It says it has built a green bio cycle connecting clean nature, bio research and local companies.
"This achievement shows that fusing biotechnology with Suncheon's abundant biological resources can expand into high-value industries such as functional foods and customized cosmetics," a Suncheon city official said. "We will work to build a Suncheon-style green bio industrial ecosystem that runs from research and development to academic validation and corporate product launches."
The city plans to expand its search for bio materials using local biological resources and to strengthen support for commercialization in partnership with local companies. Through this, it aims to grow the ecological city of Suncheon into a hub for the green bio industry.
