October the 25th, 2025 – There is plenty of potential for further and closer Croatia-South Korea cooperation, spanning digitalisation, the medical field and of course – tourism.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, digitalisation, the development of all sorts of medical devices and medical tourism could be areas for intensified Croatia-South Korea cooperation. That’s particularly the case for the healthcare industry. This was emphasised at the recently held Croatian-Korean business forum, which was dedicated to the healthcare sector this year and held under the organisation of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Croatia.
Outbound Pharma’s Sales Director and Senior Consultant for Central and Eastern Europe, Gordan Vidović, pointed out that huge amounts of money are currently being invested in healthcare across Europe and the world. He added that on average across the European Union (EU), ten percent of GDP is spent on healthcare. European healthcare systems are facing the challenges of an ageing population, growing pressures on infrastructure and the need for new models of financing and organising healthcare services.
Vidović emphasised that post-pandemic resilience, the digitalisation of services, telemedicine and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine are at the centre of current European trends. “Healthcare needs digital transformation, stronger public-private partnership in innovation, and a green transition – both in the work of healthcare institutions and in pharmaceutical production,” he explained.
He estimates that Central and Eastern European countries will increase investments in healthcare to an average of 12 percent of GDP in the coming years, from the current five to ten percent, while the European Union allocates 10.4 percent. He cited the fragility of supply chains, the fragmentation of regulations, and the outflow of skilled labour as the main challenges, which hinder the sustainable development of the entire sector.
Speaking about the future of the healthcare industry, Vidović predicted an increase in the use of artificial intelligence in diagnostics and personalised medicine, as well as cross-border integration of health data. He also believes there will be far greater emphasis placed on preventive healthcare and monitoring of patients at home. It’s precisely in these segments that he sees room for further Croatia-South Korea cooperation, especially through joint projects in the field of digital therapy, the development of medical devices, and medical tourism.
The representative of the Korean company Kist, Young Jun Kim, emphasised the importance of changing lifestyle habits in preserving health. “Only about 25 percent of our lifespan is genetically determined – the rest depends more or less entirely on our chosen lifestyles,” he said, adding that the need to use animals in drug development is decreasing, and he sees the future in high-quality AI predictive models based on large data sets.
At the end of the meeting, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Croatia, Seung-buhm Lee, said that the Korean Embassy would actively help connect Croatian and Korean healthcare companies.
“Our goal is to create a bridge between our industries and enable real partnerships based on innovation and knowledge,” said the Ambassador. The forum otherwise solidly confirmed that there is significant potential for cooperation between the two countries, especially in segments where technology, medicine and tourism intersect, with a common interest in the sustainable and innovative development of the healthcare industry.
