FLY ASIA 2026 startup expo opens in Busan

FLY ASIA 2026, an Asia-wide startup expo, opened Wednesday at BEXCO Exhibition Hall 1 in Busan for a two-day run.

Now in its fifth year, the expo has overhauled its programming around maritime industries and AI — Busan's two strategic sectors under the city's ninth-term mayoral campaign pledges. A total of 49 organizations from 18 countries are taking part in the Global Pavilion and Maritime Special Hall, and the venue footprint has expanded to 1.5 times the size of last year's event.

The opening ceremony Wednesday morning featured a keynote address by maritime investment specialist Mark Hwang and a presentation by Said Al-Madani, commercial attaché at the Saudi Arabian Embassy, sharing trends and outlooks in the maritime industry and global startup investment.

Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo said at the ceremony that the city would "support domestic and international companies and investors in creating new business and investment opportunities in Busan and growing through the city's maritime industry and startup ecosystem."

The event is organized around several programs — a Maritime Special Hall, conferences, a limited partners forum, a Global Pavilion and one-on-one consultations. On the maritime side, the expo is running a Maritime Special Hall in partnership with Korea Maritime and Ocean University, where affiliated organizations and companies can showcase their technology and products and explore opportunities for technology and business collaboration through open-innovation consultations. A "Maritime OI Reverse Pitching" session is also being held, in which large and mid-sized maritime companies present their technology needs and business demands first, then are matched with relevant startups.

Investment consultations and matchmaking between domestic and international startups and investors have been expanded beyond investment alone to cover three tracks: investment, open innovation and buyer matching. An LP/VC Forum bringing together limited partners and venture capital firms is being held to share the latest investment trends and create networking opportunities among investors.

An LED Digital Exhibition — introduced for the first time this year — allows companies to promote themselves and their products without a physical booth. Participating companies' information, gathered through advance registration, is displayed across four LED screens on the exhibition floor, with QR codes on each screen linking directly to company representatives to facilitate free networking with investors and buyers.

Meanwhile, last year's FLY ASIA 2025 drew participants from more than 40 countries across the startup ecosystem, hosted more than 52 programs and 1,271 one-on-one consultations, and welcomed 19,235 visitors to the venue.