The Korea Arboreta and Gardens Institute (KoAGI) is building partnerships with private companies to convert corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments into measurable biodiversity and forest restoration projects. Rather than treating companies purely as financial sponsors, the public institution is pairing their technologies and resources with its own expertise in native plants, seed conservation and ecosystem recovery. The approach comes as companies face growing pressure to demonstrate that ESG commitments produce verifiable environmental outcomes rather than unsupported claims, a scrutiny that has made measurable, independently designed projects increasingly attractive.

"Partnerships with private companies go beyond simple sponsorship," KoAGI President Shim Sang-taek said. "They connect corporate ESG practices with the creation of public ecological value."

A flagship example is the "K-Seed Ball," developed with Hyundai Motor Group and Seoul National University researchers. Seed balls typically consist of seeds wrapped in soil and other materials, allowing them to be dispersed over hard-to-reach areas. KoAGI's version is shaped like a "jegi," a traditional Korean shuttlecock, to improve landing and planting accuracy in mountainous terrain.

Researchers tested the seed balls in June using drones as part of a project to restore 20 hectares of wildfire-damaged forest in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province. The effort follows a 2024 agreement among KoAGI, Hyundai Motor Group and social venture Tree Planet, and field research has also involved Hyundai's Ioniq 9-based Drone Station concept. KoAGI plans further field trials in large wildfire-damaged areas, aiming to overcome the limits of conventional spherical seed balls and develop a model suited to Korea's steep terrain. The focus on wildfire recovery reflects the scale of recent disasters in the region: the March 2022 wildfires that swept the east coast, including Uljin, burned tens of thousands of hectares, making reforestation of steep, hard-to-access slopes a persistent challenge for conventional planting methods.

The institute is also collaborating with the Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association on a three-year restoration project in Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang Province. Under the Green Hope program, 40 university students will receive 80 hours of training between 2026 and 2029 at a 4-hectare wildfire-damaged site and the Baekdudaegan National Arboretum. In the first year, participants will assess the site and design a restoration plan; in the second year they will take part in planting, seeding and fieldwork; and in the final year they will monitor ecological changes and manage the restored site.

"Forest restoration does not end with planting trees," Shim said. "Companies and the public need to participate in the restoration process and be able to see its results."

KoAGI has pursued other corporate partnerships in biodiversity education and garden technology. Last year, it worked with Yuhan-Kimberly to hold a three-day Green Camp for 80 university students, featuring biodiversity lectures, a special exhibition on Korean fir trees, mentoring, team discussions and nature-observation activities. The Green Camp has expanded steadily since its 2022 launch as a one-day program for 20 participants, drawing 42 students in 2023 and 60 in 2024 before shifting to the residential format last year.

With Korean cryptocurrency exchange operator Dunamu, KoAGI developed a digital healing garden for the 2025 Seoul International Garden Show at Boramae Park in southern Seoul. The project combined digital platforms with therapeutic garden programs, and the facility was later relocated to the Korean National Garden Culture Center.

KoAGI is also working with Hyundai Motor Group on monitoring forest restoration, an area Shim views as critical to ensuring corporate biodiversity projects deliver lasting ecological benefits.

Alongside restoration programs, the institute helps companies test and commercialize technologies for forestry and garden management. Through its K-Testbed program, launched in 2021, KoAGI has completed 48 demonstrations involving products such as soil conditioners and autonomous grass-cutting robots. Three technologies, including a cellulose-based soil conditioner, were selected as innovative products by the Public Procurement Service, and two received national excellent-product designations. The commercialization rate for technologies transferred by the institute rose 7.4 percentage points from a year earlier to 56.5 percent.

"Another important role is to take the value of forest biological resources beyond conservation and develop technologies that can be used in the field," Shim said. "By testing and commercializing them with companies, we can create new value from those resources."

KoAGI plans to expand its corporate partnerships across wildfire restoration, biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation while developing a broader model that links public expertise with private-sector innovation. How widely that model is adopted — and whether the drone-dispersed seed balls and multi-year monitoring programs deliver measurable results at larger scales — will indicate whether public-private pairing can become a repeatable template for restoration elsewhere in Korea and beyond.

"When the expertise of public institutions meets the technology and resources of private companies, we can create a sustainable conservation model," Shim said.