Global Health Leaders to Discuss “From Innovation to Access: Health Innovation for Everyone Everywhere” in Korea

- World Bio Summit 2025 to Be Held on September 17, 2025 -

The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW, Minister Jeong Eun Kyeong) announced that the World Bio Summit 2025, held in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), will take place on Wednesday, September 17, at The Shilla Seoul under the theme “From Innovation to Access: Health Innovation for Everyone Everywhere.”

Founded on a shared recognition of the need for international cooperation in responding to health crises and promoting human health, the World Bio Summit was first held in 2022. Hosted by the Korean government and the World Health Organization (WHO), the summit has become a key platform where global leaders in the bio sector—including ministers and vice ministers of health, heads of international organizations, executives of vaccine and biotech companies, and experts—gather to discuss pressing global healthcare agendas.

This year’s fourth World Bio Summit will be held in conjunction with the APEC High-Level Meeting on Health and the Economy (September 15–16) and will focus on three main topics: the Future of Health AI, Aging & Health Tech, and Bio-Cluster Innovation, in pursuit of the overarching goal of advancing health innovation for all.

The program will open with a welcome dinner on September 16, followed by the opening ceremony, Session 1 (The Future of Health AI), Session 2 (Aging & Health Tech), Session 3 (Bio-Cluster Innovation), and the closing ceremony. Approximately 1,000 participants, including officials from international organizations and governments, representatives of biotechnology companies, and academic experts are expected to attend the Summit. Side events and a business lounge will also be organized.

At the opening ceremony, MOHW Minister Jeong Eun Kyeong and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will deliver opening remarks, followed by congratulatory addresses from Mustapha Ferjani, Minister of Health of Tunisia; Eduardo Pedrosa, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat; and other international leaders.

A Leaders’ Dialogue will then be chaired by Brandon Suh, CEO of Lunit, with participants including Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid; Penny Shakespeare, Deputy Secretary, Health Resourcing Group, Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing; Kei Cho, Professor of Neuroscience at King’s College London; and Christian Rodseth, Managing Director of North Asia Area at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. They will explore pathways to accelerate and scale up health innovation globally.

* Lunit is a pioneering Korean AI cancer diagnostics company, the first SME in Korea—as well as the first healthcare AI company globally—to be granted permanent membership in the World Economic Forum.

Under the theme “The Future of Health AI: Global Collaboration and Sustainable Innovation,” Session 1 will examine AI governance and policy in healthcare as well as the current and future landscape of medical AI services. AI is emerging as a potential solution to shortages of essential health personnel and the growing burden of severe chronic diseases. Participants include Park Kidong, Director of Data, Strategy and Innovation at the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO WPRO); Cha Wonchul, Director of the Digital Innovation Center at Samsung Medical Center; and Ran Balicer, Chief Innovation Officer of Clalit Health Services in Israel. They will present international governance approaches and clinical use cases of healthcare AI and discuss the international community’s role in building a sustainable global AI ecosystem for healthcare.

Session 2, “Aging & Health Tech: Longevity With Dignity Through Innovation,” will discuss strategies to maintain the quality of life and cognitive and physical function of older adults. The session will review trends and prospects in AgeTech integrating AI and robotics. Speakers include Lee Yunhwan, Professor at Ajou University School of Medicine; Emiko Masaki, Principal Health Specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB); Park Hyungsoon, Professor at KAIST; Tobita Morikuni, Professor at Juntendo University in Japan; and Kim Minyoung, Professor at CHA University School of Medicine. Building on these discussions, the session will review international standards and policy environments for healthy aging and explore innovation models for aging societies that integrate biotechnology and digital technologies.

Session 3, “Bio-Cluster Innovations: Advancing Innovation in the Bio Ecosystem Beyond Regions and Borders,” will discuss how bio-clusters can evolve from simple geographic concentrations into collaborative networks that organically connect research and technology with talent and enterprises. Participants include Choi Younhee, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade; Stephen Cho, former Senior Vice President at Novartis; Han Namshik, Head of AI and Computational Research at the Milner Therapeutics Institute and Cambridge Centre for AI; and Shin Kawamata, Professor at the Kobe University Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation. These global bio-cluster experts will discuss strategies for sustainable cluster development, international cooperation, and country-specific approaches to cluster advancement.

At the closing ceremony, session chairs will provide brief summaries of the discussions, followed by closing remarks from Lee Hyung-hoon, Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, marking the conclusion of the fourth World Bio Summit.

During the conference, 13 side events in seminar format will be hosted by public institutions and international organizations, including the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Unitaid, the Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing (GTH-B), and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI). In addition, 11 business booths will be operated by international non-profit organizations and biotechnology companies.

Minister Jeong Eun Kyeong stated, “Today, the world faces the critical challenge of pursuing both innovation and equity in healthcare amid rapid advances in AI and biotechnology. Together with the WHO, the Korean government will continue to advance health innovation for all, ensuring that people everywhere can benefit from progress in health technologies beyond geographic or socioeconomic barriers.”

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