KHIDI Health Industry R&D Promotion (seed)
Funds South Korea innovation teams building health-device and drug pipelines from proof to commercialization.
The Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) administers Health Industry R&D Promotion funding on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), operating as Korea's specialist agency for planning, evaluation, and management of domestic healthcare R&D. The programme targets promising next-generation technologies across four primary verticals: innovative new drugs, medical devices, regenerative medicine, and digital health technologies including AI and medical big data. KHIDI's track record spans more than 30 new drug approvals, 213 medical device developments, and 79 international technology transfers since its R&D support mandate was formalised, with landmark outcomes including the first Korean drug to reach USD 100 million in exports and multiple multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical licensing deals.
Annual calls are structured as MOHW budget cycles, with KHIDI running proposal selection, progress inspection, and final evaluation through its Electronic Proposal System (EPS) portal. Eligible applicants include Korean-registered for-profit companies, universities, hospitals, and research institutes, with most calls requiring consortium structures pairing academic and industry partners. Applications and programme documentation are primarily in Korean, meaning non-Korean entities typically need a domestic partner to participate. Specific award sizes and sub-call themes vary by annual cycle and require verification against current Korean-language announcements.
Competitive positioning in this programme depends on demonstrating clear alignment with KHIDI's stated priority areas — innovative biopharmaceuticals, advanced medical devices, and 4th Industrial Revolution health applications — and the ability to assemble a consortium that spans the discovery-to-commercialisation pipeline. Projects addressing public-health challenges such as infectious disease, dementia, or mental health benefit from expanded MOHW public-investment rationale. Proposals should also account for KHIDI's four-stage R&D process: planning, proposal selection, proposal management, and performance management, each with distinct evaluation criteria.
Funds Korean healthcare R&D across innovative new drugs, medical devices, regenerative medicine, and AI-enabled digital health through annual MOHW-budget calls managed by KHIDI.
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