Pohang to Host POBATT 2026 Battery Conference on March 18

Pohang will host POBATT 2026, an international secondary battery conference, on the 18th at the POSCO International Center's first-floor international conference hall. The city frames the event around a hard question for the Korean battery sector: where does K-Battery competitiveness stand as EV demand slows and supply chains reorganize? The official theme is "Changes in the Global Battery Market and New Opportunities for Cooperation."

The guest list signals intent. Major institutions from Norway, Finland and Sweden will attend alongside core domestic and foreign companies. Pohang has positioned itself as a hub for Korea's battery materials industry, and the conference agenda leans on that base.

LG Energy Solution's Managing Director Park Cheol-hee delivers the keynote. The program then runs three sessions.

• Session 1: global battery policy shifts and the direction of R&D support.
• Session 2: Nordic institutions and companies discuss building value chains plus cooperation on battery systems for defense and infrastructure applications.
• Session 3: POSCO Future M and EcoPro BM — two of the region's flagship materials suppliers — present future strategies and technology innovation plans for global competition.

POSCO Future M supplies cathode and anode materials; EcoPro BM specializes in cathodes. Both anchor Pohang's materials cluster.

What does this change for the supply chain?

Pohang City says it intends to use the event to drive diversification of global supply chains and secure policy support. That's an intention, not a confirmed outcome — but the Nordic presence matters. European buyers and institutions are actively courting non-Chinese battery materials suppliers, and Session 2's defense and infrastructure battery systems agenda suggests the talks go beyond EV cells.

The conference lands at a sensitive moment. Slowing EV demand has squeezed Korean battery makers' order books, and materials firms are under margin pressure. A venue that puts Nordic procurement-side institutions in the same room as POSCO Future M and EcoPro BM is, at minimum, a business-development play.

City runs parallel welfare training

Separately, Pohang is training frontline staff for its integrated care program. From the 11th through the 13th — three days — the city will run practical training at City Hall's Dream Start conference room and other venues, targeting dedicated personnel from town, township and neighborhood offices plus public health centers.

The curriculum covers:

• integrated care policy direction and how to use the relevant system;
• linkage methods with visiting medical centers;
• case-based practical exercises running from identifying eligible recipients, through drafting individual support plans, to operating integrated support meetings.

The city says the hands-on format should sharply lift field application capability. The stated goal: a "Pohang-style" integrated care system in which any citizen can receive systematic, customized care services matched to their situation.

What to watch next

Watch the March 18 conference outcomes — specifically whether any Nordic-Korean cooperation agreements or materials supply arrangements emerge from Session 2. Also track whether the city's push translates into concrete policy support or R&D funding for the Pohang materials cluster. On the welfare side, the marker is how quickly trained staff begin identifying recipients and running integrated support meetings across Pohang's districts.