A New Standard for Incheon: Achieving a 5% Growth Rate Through 'ABC+E'

Incheon Metropolitan City, the gateway to the Republic of Korea and its second-largest economic hub, has unveiled a new industrial restructuring strategy marking the start of its ninth elected administration. Through the "ABC+E" strategy—combining Artificial Intelligence (AI), Biotech, Contents, and Clean Energy—the city aims to achieve a regional growth rate of 5% and secure hosting rights for the 2028 G20 Summit. Incheon is actively building a new industry ecosystem by designating Songdo as a global hub for novel drug development, transforming the Namdong Industrial Complex into a supply base for biotech materials, parts, and equipment (MPE), and establishing energy hubs utilizing offshore wind and hydrogen. This article examines the direction of Incheon’s industrial restructuring and its specific implementation plans.

The Blueprint and Organizational Will of Incheon’s Ninth Elected Administration

Incheon’s administration for its ninth elected term places a strong emphasis on nurturing new industries. Mayor Park Chan-dae has established "ABC+E (Artificial Intelligence, Biotech, Contents, Energy)" as his core strategy, reviewing the execution capability of related policies through the first administrative review held in July 2026, shortly after the administration’s inauguration ¹, ². To advance this strategy, the city carried out an organizational restructuring. It reorganized the Economic and Industrial Headquarters into the Economic Bureau, upgraded the Future Industry Bureau to the Future Industry Headquarters, and established the new Climate and Energy Bureau to strengthen policy execution capabilities ².

Incheon Metropolitan City has proposed the candidate slogan for its administration, "A New Standard: Now is Incheon’s Era," signaling its drive to advance toward new industries centered on AI, biotech, contents, and energy ³.

The Evolution of the Bio Cluster: A Symbiotic Model for Songdo and the Namdong Industrial Complex

Biotechnology is one of the areas where Incheon’s industrial restructuring has taken concrete shape. The city is strengthening the competitiveness of its bio cluster through a structure that divides industries by region ⁴. Under this structure, Songdo is specialized as a hub for global novel drug development and pharmaceutical production, while the Namdong Industrial Complex is specialized as a base for supplying biotech MPE ⁴.

Corporate movements also align with this vision. Samsung Biologics has finalized a plan to expand its Songdo production facilities, currently with a capacity of 780,000 liters, to 1.32 million liters by 2032 ⁴. This expansion of production capacity will lead to increased demand for raw materials and secondary materials such as culture media, filters, and process equipment, creating opportunities for MPE companies within the Namdong Industrial Complex ⁴. The Namdong Industrial Complex aims to transform its structure into a central hub of the supply chain and build a metropolitan-scale bio ecosystem by linking with research infrastructure in Siheung Baegok ⁴.

Securing Incheon’s Future Growth Engines with AI and Clean Energy

Beyond biotechnology, Incheon is focusing its administrative efforts on AI and clean energy. In the AI sector, the city plans to concentrate on nurturing strategic technologies such as "Physical AI" and "Manufacturing AI" to reinforce its status as the second economic hub city ⁵. In particular, it is holding consultations with the government and political circles to designate Songdo as a global AI hub ⁶.

In the clean energy sector, offshore wind and hydrogen are the main pillars. While maintaining its position with the country’s third-largest offshore wind projects, Incheon Metropolitan City is advancing a new 2GW-scale public-led offshore wind project ⁵. Additionally, it is concurrently pursuing plans to establish a hydrogen energy hub based on the world’s largest liquid hydrogen production facility ⁵. This strategy aims to prepare for the carbon-neutral era and induce the clustering of related industries.

Strengthening Execution Momentum Through Securing National Funds and Party-Government Cooperation

Concrete industrial restructuring requires budgetary and institutional support. On August 31, 2026, Incheon Metropolitan City held its first party-government consultative meeting of the ninth elected administration with the Democratic Party’s Incheon Metropolitan City Party Committee, requesting a total of 210.7 billion won in support for 2027 national fund projects ⁶. Among these, it proposed a 10 billion won national fund support for the establishment of the "K-Quantum Bio Mega Cluster" related to industrial restructuring ⁶.

Furthermore, 18 pending issues crucial for building industrial infrastructure, including designating Songdo as a global AI hub, establishing the Incheon Institute of Bio-Science and Technology, and launching a medical graduate school at Incheon National University, were discussed at the party level ⁶. Mayor Park Chan-dae promised communication with the central government and the National Assembly to resolve the "double marginalization" faced despite being in the metropolitan area and to realize the ABC+E strategy ⁶.

Improving the Local Economy’s Structure and the Ripple Effects of Growth

Incheon’s industrial restructuring strategy also holds significance in improving the structure of the existing industrial base. The Namdong Industrial Complex had faced structural issues of "jobless growth," characterized by a decline in the number of workers and falling manufacturing utilization rates despite an increase in the number of tenant companies ⁴. The transition to a biotech MPE base is expected to create high-value-added jobs and boost productivity at the Namdong Industrial Complex ⁴.

The convergence of AI, biotech, and energy pursued by Incheon Metropolitan City can generate synergies across industries. A representative model involves AI technologies accelerating the speed of biotech novel drug development, while clean energy supplies the power required for operating large-capacity data centers. Such linkages can serve as a driving force for Incheon to leap forward as a "Global Top Ten City."

Will Industrial Restructuring Lead to Changes Directly Linked to Citizens’ Lives?

Incheon’s industrial restructuring strategy for its ninth elected administration features future-oriented vision, secured budgets, and organizational capabilities. The bio value chain linking Songdo and Namdong, AI technologies to be introduced in manufacturing sites, and a clean energy ecosystem based on offshore wind and hydrogen hold the potential to bring new changes to Incheon’s economy. The remainder of the ninth elected term will be a critical period to gauge whether Incheon can establish itself as a central axis of industry. It remains to be seen how these efforts will translate into actual job stability and improved convenience in daily life for citizens.