Park Young-sun "Active Support for Advanced Smart Farms"... Investment Attraction Meeting

Meeting with the Minister of SMEs and Startups
Visit to Smart Farm Company 'Farmate'
The Power of Agriculture and Connectivity

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups visited 'Farmate,' a smart farm company located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on the 15th, and inspected the plant factory equipped with advanced facilities.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] "I believe agriculture is a promising industry where big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and information and communication technology (ICT) can combine to create a synergy effect."

On the 15th, Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, visited 'Farmate,' a smart farm company located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, and said, "To advance smart farms, it is necessary to expand investment, establish automated facilities, and develop non-face-to-face sales channels. For this, the connecting power of venture capital, distribution companies, and smart factory suppliers must be leveraged."

Minister Park toured a salad vegetable processing and manufacturing factory equipped with advanced smart factory facilities and a high-tech plant factory that automatically controls the growth environment of agricultural products using ICT. She also held a meeting on-site with about 20 representatives from smart farm ventures and startups, related organizations, and others to listen to difficulties and explore support directions.

The companies attending the meeting emphasized the need for active investment attraction from the venture capital industry. They also requested the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to select and support prospective unicorn companies, expand smart factory support, and promote overseas export activation.

At the meeting, Lee Young-min, CEO of Korea Venture Investment Corp., and Kim Soon-chul, Secretary-General of the Foundation for Cooperation between Large, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Agriculture and Fisheries, expressed their willingness to actively support the revitalization of smart farms.

According to the Korea Institute for Advancement of Science and Technology Jobs, the domestic smart farm market size was about 4.4 trillion won in 2017 but was expected to grow to approximately 6 trillion won by 2022.

Minister Park said, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will also spare no effort in active support, such as expanding the smart factory dissemination project to enhance the competitiveness of smart farms and creating the Smart Korea Fund to attract investment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.