- A total of 250 startups in the agri-food sector participated, covering all promising technologies –
- A line of visitors, including private investors… 1 people go –
The Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency (President Ahn Ho-geun, hereinafter referred to as the Rural Development Institute),
It was announced on the 7nd that the ’26 Agricultural Food Tech Startup Fair (AFRO 28)’ held at COEX (Hall A) in Samseong-dong, Seoul from July 2023th to 2023th was successfully completed.
○ Hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and co-hosted by the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency, NH Nonghyup, COEX, and the Korea Food Tech Council, this expo was attended by agri-food tech companies in the fields of Ag Tech, Food Tech, and Green Bio, as well as large corporations, investment companies, and public institutions. It was operated as a venue for 250 companies including XNUMX companies to gather in one place to showcase their technologies and services, and seek investment attraction, market development, and consumer response surveys.
□ From the first day of the fair, a large number of domestic and foreign visitors visited the exhibition booths for each future agriculture theme, such as Agtech, Foodtech, and Greenbio. It was estimated that about 1 people visited during the expo, taking interest in investment institution experts such as venture capital and accelerators, agri-food companies, and ordinary people who dream of starting a business or returning to farming.
□ The fair participants showcased the technologies of various companies that introduced cutting-edge ICT technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) to crop cultivation, such as smart agricultural solution company ‘Avalve’, agricultural machine self-driving company ‘Gint’, and AI agricultural product sorting system company ‘AOPharm’. I continued to ask questions while looking at the company and services, and actively received counseling on introduction.
○ Lee Bong-hak, CEO of ‘Bandal Soft’, which develops insect breeding smart farms through an automation system grafted with IoT IoT technology, said, “Conglomerates related to food and university research institutes have shown a lot of interest in edible insects, which are future food resources.” It has been a great help in networking between large corporations and agri-food tech startups.”
□ The booths of companies such as ‘We Meat’ and ‘Hunic’, which produce eco-friendly meat alternatives using mushrooms and beans, drew attention from the general public.
□ In addition, corporate booths such as ‘Camelotech’, which introduced an automated system for herbal medicines through standardization of herbal medicines, and ‘Green Continue’, which exhibited vegetable leather based on agricultural by-products such as cactus leaves and tangerine peels, also attracted the attention of participants. .
○ Camelotech CEO Jeong Won-cheol said, “Through this expo, more than 100 in-depth supply contract meetings were held with Japanese pharmaceutical companies and domestic and foreign companies. could,” he said.
□ Side events aimed at strengthening networks with domestic and foreign private investors were also popular. On the first day of the event, the ‘KOAT Demo Day’ was successfully held to promote agri-food startups fostered by the Rural Development Institute and expand investment attraction opportunities, and an agri-food venture startup nurturing company fair, global accelerating IR, and meet-up were held.
○ The global food tech conference to review the current status of the agri-food investment ecosystem and discuss development directions, state-owned patent technology briefings, technology transfer consultations, and the ‘Startup Open Antenna’ talk show to vitalize open innovation (OI) also received attention.
□ Ahn Ho-geun, president of the Rural Development Institute, said, “While the agri-food venture start-up ecosystem is rapidly evolving, agri-food start-ups are attracting attention as an attractive investment destination by combining ICT and BT.” We will actively support them so that they can expand into global unicorn companies.”
