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.
Ahn Ho-geun, director of the Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency, who attended the opening ceremony on the 26th, said, “AFRO 2023, which is debuting today, is the largest agri-food start-up exhibition in Korea where agri-food start-ups, large companies, investors, buyers, and related organizations gather and exchange. The technologies and products of 250 high-tech companies in the agri-food sector, such as smart agriculture, food tech, and green bio, are exhibited, and various stage events for investment attraction, market development, technology introduction, and open innovation are simultaneously operated. In addition, at the Global Food Tech Conference, invited lectures and topical discussions by domestic and foreign experts are prepared.”
Beyond the sale of processed food by traditional technology, startups focused on smart agriculture, food tech, green bio, and cutting-edge technology are appearing one after another, and the agro-food venture startup ecosystem in Korea is rapidly evolving. In particular, start-ups in the agri-food sector are attracting attention as attractive investment destinations in combination with ICT and BT.
Regarding this, Director Ahn Ho-geun said, “In fact, the investment performance of companies fostered by the Agricultural Promotion Agency has increased significantly from 2020 billion won in 494 to 2021 billion won in 1,184. Even last year, when there were many difficulties in the capital market, we achieved a high investment attraction performance of 989 billion won.”
However, it was also pointed out that economic conditions at home and abroad are not favourable. Director Ahn said, “OECD and IMF are forecasting Korea’s economic growth rate this year at 1 to 1.4%, about 1.5% lower than originally expected. I think there are many challenges ahead of us that we must overcome together, such as sluggish investment, slowdown in consumption, inflation due to global supply chain disruption, and a decrease in export demand.” We plan to spare no support so that we can lay the foundation for growth.”
Director Ahn Ho-geun said, “First of all, we will help attract a lot of private investment funds through agri-food accelerators, large companies, and agricultural cooperatives, as well as government policy funding to solve the difficulty in raising funds, which is considered the biggest difficulty for our agri-food startups. . In addition, we will actively promote online and offline market support, customized education consulting, and other various start-up support programs, while listening to the voices of startups in the field and running together through eight agri-food venture start-up centers nationwide.”
In addition, based on these start-up support capabilities, it announced plans to take the lead in creating and operating the Iksan Green Bio Venture Campus as well as creating infrastructure for comprehensive support for green bio startups as a specialized institution for four venture campuses across the country, including Pohang, Pyeongchang, and Jinju. .
Director Ahn Ho-geun said, “The main characters of AFRO 2023 are the people involved in agri-food startups. I hope you will generously show the innovative technology and potential you have accumulated so far on this stage today. And I hope to find collaboration opportunities with large companies, investors, and buyers.”
“As a director who makes the main character stand out, Rural Development Institute will do its best to promote the growth of agri-food startups and the venture startup ecosystem. It is expected that the startups participating in this startup fair will be able to grow into unicorn companies in the near future. To this end, I would like to ask for your interest and support from all of you gathered here. The Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency will also sincerely support agri-food start-ups.”
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.