For marine and fisheries startups to commercialize their technology, they need opportunities to identify and verify actual needs in fishing villages. This is because issues regarding fisheries, aquaculture, seafood distribution, and living environments vary by region, making it difficult to design field applications based solely on technology. This is why a connection structure that conveys field needs to startups and links the results of these demonstrations to policy and business cooperation is crucial. Early-stage investment accelerator CNT Tech is partnering with the Smart Fisheries and Fishing Village Forum to create a point of contact between marine and fisheries startups and fishing villages.
CNT Tech signed a business agreement with the Smart Fisheries and Fishing Village Forum to discover innovative companies possessing smart marine and fisheries technologies and to support the digital transformation of fishing villages. The signing ceremony took place on the 4th at the ‘2026 Unicorn Bay Blue Market Connect Day,’ attended by Choi Hyun-soon, Head of CNT Tech, and Lim Jung-soo, Standing Representative of the Smart Fisheries and Fishing Village Forum.
Based on this agreement, the two organizations will jointly identify innovative startups in the marine and fisheries sector and link startup support programs with networking events. They will appoint experts to participate in fostering startups and providing policy advice, and also share information related to the marine and fisheries venture ecosystem.
The core of the agreement is not merely to identify companies, but to connect the needs of fishing villages where technology will be applied with policy directions. Both organizations will publicize outstanding marine and fisheries startup cases to the outside world and establish a foundation for continuous exchange between startups, demand agencies, and experts.
Connecting fishing village demand to startup demonstration projects
The Smart Fisheries and Fishing Village Forum identifies regional needs based on policy and industry expertise accumulated in the field. CNT Tech leverages its experience in acceleration and early-stage investment to find startups capable of solving these problems and refines their business models and investment strategies.
Through this process, the two organizations establish a model that supports the technology demonstration of marine and fisheries startups and leads to actual business cooperation. The approach involves connecting technologies needed in fishing villages with solutions developed by startups to verify their feasibility for field application, and incorporating identified challenges during the demonstration process into policy consultations and follow-up projects.
This collaboration is also linked to the ‘2026 Marine and Fisheries Accelerator Program Unicorn Bay,’ operated by CNT Tech. Unicorn Bay is a program hosted by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and organized by the Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion (KIMST) to support the commercialization, investment attraction, and scale-up of promising marine and fisheries startups.
CNT Tech can identify companies among the Unicorn Bay incubated enterprises that possess technologies applicable to smart fisheries and aquaculture, seafood distribution, and the improvement of living environments in fishing villages, and connect them with the forum’s field network. The Smart Fisheries and Fishing Village Forum helps companies concretize the problems they need to solve in the field and provides industrial and policy advice necessary for the demonstration process.
“Through this agreement, a foundation has been laid for marine and fisheries venture companies to commercialize effective smart technologies by directly reflecting the demands of fishing villages,” said Jeon Hwa-seong, CEO of CNT Tech. “By combining CNT Tech’s acceleration know-how with the forum’s policy and field expertise, we will foster marine and fisheries companies capable of competing in the global market.”
CNT Tech is an early-stage investment accelerator that has recorded the highest investment performance in Korea for six consecutive years. This year, it took charge of operating Unicorn Bay to support the growth and investment attraction of marine and fisheries startups. The success of this agreement depends not on networking events or the number of companies discovered, but on how many instances are created where startup technologies are demonstrated in fishing villages and connected to actual businesses and policies.
