Healthcare and Medical Equipment Korea 2025

Thanks to Healthcare and Medical Equipment Korea 2025, 50 European SMEs including start-ups will visit the Republic of Korea and kick-start their internationalisation path in the Healthcare and Medical Equipment sector.

This business mission presents a unique opportunity for EU SMEs to establish valuable contacts, showcase their solutions, build long-lasting relationships with Korean enterprises and explore new business avenues together. The EU Business Hub provides market insights, matchmaking services, financial and tailored support to companies.
 

Target audience

European SMEs including start-ups and South Korean enterprises involved in the Healthcare and Medical Equipment sector, such as: Assistive technologies, Medical equipment, ICT for healthcare, Telemedicine and remote health monitoring, Nanotechnology in healthcare, AI applications in healthcare, Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering.

South Korean Business Operators, notably buyers, distributors and R&D partners in public and private sectors, and investors.

Overview of the business mission

The business mission to Seoul will last five days in total, including three days of dedicated business matchmaking and networking; a visit to KIMES 2025 for networking opportunities, and a study tour.

The business mission agenda is as follows:

• Day 1: Arrival in Seoul, welcome & networking gathering.
• Day 2: Industry intelligence, sector briefs and study tour.
• Day 3: Business matchmaking sessions.
• Day 4: Business matchmaking sessions and networking at KIMES.
• Day 5: Last day of business matchmaking sessions, debriefing session.
   

Services/benefits the EU participants will be receiving

• Business matchmaking resulting in pre-arranged in-person meetings with carefully selected South Korean enterprises.
• Market intelligence information including sectoral briefings providing insights on market structure and opportunities.
• Cultural and linguistic support such as briefings on doing business in Korea, and support for interpretation and translation.
• Financial support up to €1000 to benefit from a menu of additional customised services co-funded by the project (e.g. translation, printing, legal advice).
• Hotel accommodation (Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas) for four nights – in total, up to €1000 for accommodation is covered by the programme.
• Coverage of the visitor fee at KIMES 2025.
  
   

Key market insights

Participating to Healthcare and Medical Equipment Korea 2025 represents a unique opportunity for European SMEs because:

• The Republic of Korea is Asia’s 4th and the World’s 13th largest economy¹. 
• EU exports to the Republic of Korea in 2022 amounted to €60.1 billion in goods and €19.6 billion in service². 
• After becoming an aged society in 2018, South Korea will transition to a super-aged society in 2025 with 20.6% of its population over 65³. 
• The Republic of Korea ranks 11th in the global Medical Devices Market with a market share of 1.9%⁴. 
• The Republic of Korea in 2023 has established the Strategies for Creating Bio-Health and Digital Healthcare Markets and is advancing the Development of Data-Driven and AI-Based Healthcare Technologies⁵. 
• South Korea scores 10th worldwide for digitisation of healthcare with growing adoption of electronical and digital solutions in the field of health⁶. 
• As per the World Bank, the country’s health expenditure represented 9.72% of the GDP in 2022⁷.  
• The Republic of Korea’s pharmaceutical market is expected to continue growing until 2027 with a growth outlook of 4.5~7.5%⁸.
   

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 1. Source: 2024 EU-ROK trade and investment relations, European Union. (Internal document)
 2. Source: 2024 EU-ROK trade and investment relations, European Union. (Internal document)
 3. Source: 2023 Statistics on the Aged, Statistics Korea. 
 4. Source: Health Industry Statistics, KHIDI (Korea Health Industry Development Institute).
 5. Source: Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea
 6. Source: “South Korea’s single-payer health system has kept costs down, but it relies on foreign medical advances for patient care”,
The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity.
7. Source: Current Health Expenditure, World Bank.
8. Source: Investment Opportunities/Pharma & Bio, Invest Korea