Science ministry to host deep-tech commercialization festival in Daejeon

The science ministry said it will hold a two-day festival in Daejeon to showcase startups built on public research, with 11 agencies that support company formation and commercialization as co-hosts.

The "2026 Korea Deep Tech Commercialization Festival" will run Nov. 12-13 at the second exhibition hall of the Daejeon Convention Center, organized around the seven future strategic technology fields, known as the 7 SEED project, that the government has identified as engines of future growth.

A pitching program will feature deep-tech startups selected in advance by technology and investment experts, with investors announcing their evaluations and the size of their intended investments on site. Thirteen deep-tech startups will also present their technologies to domestic and foreign investors at a "NEST demonstration session."

Fourteen exhibition and consultation booths will be grouped under three themes — "Imagination in the lab," "Deep-tech startups" and "Businesses of the world" — where visitors can see prototypes and receive advice on building a company around research results.

A "one-minute startup investment pitching studio" will let participants present an idea for 60 seconds and receive expert feedback. Talks and performances are scheduled on a central stage, including a science communicator known as "1 Minute Science" speaking on how science and human life will change in the age of artificial intelligence.

"This event is a place where visitors can experience the entire process of public technology commercialization, from research results in the laboratory through startup and investment to the market," First Vice Minister Koo Hyuk-chae of the Ministry of Science and ICT said. "I hope young people in science and engineering and researchers challenging deep-tech startups, as well as any citizen interested in science and technology, will visit and together feel the future that research results will create."

Admission is free. Visitors can check the program and register in advance on the festival website through Nov. 10, with on-site registration available during the event.