The ‘2023 Agricultural Food Tech Startup Entrepreneurship Fair (AFRO 2023)’ kicked off on July 7 (Wednesday) at COEX Hall A in Seoul.
Hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and organized by the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency, NH Nonghyup, COEX, and the Korea Food Tech Council, this expo was prepared to support promising companies in the field of ag tech and food tech to leap beyond unicorns to decacons. . It was planned as an agri-food tech expo specialized in the startup ecosystem, such as investment, market, technology, and networking, beyond simply displaying and selling products on site.
This expo, held for the first time in Korea in the field of agri-food tech and the largest in scale, will be held on the 250th, with a total of 28 organizations participating, including promising start-ups in the agri-food field such as Agtech, Foodtech, and Green Bio, as well as large companies, investment companies, and public institutions. It runs for 3 days until (Fri). The exhibition hall consists of exhibition booths for each future agricultural theme, such as Agtech, Foodtech, and Green Bio, and various side events using a special stage and conference hall are also held.
Vice Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Han Hoon, who attended the opening ceremony on the 26th, said, “Our agriculture is transforming into future growth industries such as smart agriculture, food tech, and green bio by combining cutting-edge technologies such as IT, BT, and AI, and innovation is at the center of the change. “There are venture start-ups with a challenging spirit,” he said. It is progressing,” he began his congratulatory speech.
However, on the other hand, venture startups are struggling due to the contraction of the investment market following the global economic slowdown after the corona pandemic. Regarding this, Vice Minister Han Hoon said, “The government is strengthening policies for each sector, such as funds, systems, and infrastructure, to overcome these difficulties and strengthen the growth and competitiveness of venture start-ups in the agri-food sector.”
In addition, Vice Minister Han said, “We select about 370 companies with high growth potential each year and support their commercialization so that excellent technologies and ideas can be turned into startups. In addition, we are attracting private investment by creating an agri-food fund, and we plan to create an additional policy fund of more than 2027 trillion won by 1 to focus on agro-food startups.”
Vice Minister Han Hoon, who announced that he is also promoting related system improvements to foster new growth industries, said, “Following the Smart Agriculture Fostering Act passed by the National Assembly in June, the Food Tech Industry Fostering Act and the Green Bio Industry Fostering Act were additionally enacted to establish a systematic system to support the growth of new industries. I will arrange it,” he said.
It is also noteworthy that the infrastructure for supporting venture start-ups is being expanded. Vice Minister Han said, “We are building four green bio venture campuses for comprehensive support such as prototype development, marketing, and research facilities for startups, and they are scheduled to be completed by 4. In addition, we are building an agri-food investment information sharing platform for information exchange and efficient matching between startups and private investors.”
“The government will continue to support agro-food venture start-ups for the future growth and industrialization of agriculture,” he said. expect to do In addition, I hope that this start-up fair will be a meaningful place of communication that will help innovate our agri-food venture start-up ecosystem.”
Meanwhile, at AFRO 2023, the largest Agtech & Foodtech event in Korea, domestic startups with global growth potential in Agtech, Foodtech, and Green Bio will exhibit products and services to solve various problems in the agriculture and food industries, Various programs such as conferences discussing the present and future of Agtech and Foodtech and investment briefings (IR competitions) are held. This exhibition is hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and supervised by the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency, NH Nonghyup, COEX, and the Korea Food Tech Council.