Cheonan City’s startup incubation project, 'C-STAR,' is leading the popularly elected 9th term’s "industrial transformation" by achieving tangible results such as large-scale private investment attraction, proof of concept (PoC), and entry into space.

As the leap of C-STAR companies accelerates across overall future industries including aerospace, artificial intelligence (AI), future mobility, advanced defense, and smart agriculture, local startups are emerging as a core driving force drawing Cheonan’s new industrial map.

'Insera Solution Co., Ltd.', a C-STAR 2nd-generation company, saw its core space optical communication component, the 'Fast Steering Mirror (FSM)', loaded onto the 5th launch of the Korean space launch vehicle Nuri launched on the 7th, initiating performance verification in actual space environments.

The FSM is a core component in the fields of space optical communication and advanced defense that controls the direction of laser beams with ultra-precision and high speed. The company has also secured a Series A investment worth 13.5 billion won last month, accelerating its entry into the global market and the establishment of an FSM mass production system.

Expanding Technological Territory: Future Aviation, Smart Farms, AI

The leaps of other C-STAR companies are also continuing. 'Airbility Co., Ltd.' was recognized for its technological prowess in personal electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and counter-drone advanced defense, securing a Series A investment worth 6.5 billion won last month and achieving cumulative investments of 10.5 billion won.

In the smart agriculture sector, 'Rowane Co., Ltd.' won the Grand Prize at the '2026 Agri-Food Startup Contest' hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, beating out 521 teams with its robot- and AI-based automated vertical farm 'Intellifarm'. It is currently conducting technology demonstration and commercialization by establishing its own robotic vertical farm spanning approximately 1,220 square meters (around 370 pyeong) in Jiksan-eup, Dongnam-gu.

Achievements in manufacturing AI and AX (digital transformation) are also following. 'Inkle Co., Ltd.' is boosting productivity at manufacturing sites with industrial data-based equipment failure prediction technology, while 'Green AI' has been selected consecutively for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s GovTech demonstration project and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s incubation project with its 3D LiDAR spatial intelligence technology.

'Mithril Co., Ltd.' is also expanding its territory into manufacturing AX and physical AI by introducing a vision AI-based operation optimization solution.

Nurturing 29 Companies: Beyond 'Startup Incubation' to Restructuring Industrial Ecosystems

Cheonan City is nurturing a total of 29 companies selected through the C-STAR project so far into future unicorns.

C-STAR is Cheonan City's representative startup incubation platform that discovers promising startups and supports them through each stage of growth, ranging from private investment linkage, proof of concept (PoC), open innovation, TIPS recommendations, to overseas expansion.

Going beyond simple startup support, the city is building a virtuous industrial ecosystem that grafts new industries such as AI, aerospace, and mobility onto traditional regional manufacturing industries. To this end, it plans to increase the supply of growth funds and special guarantees, while providing full support for sales linkages with large and medium-sized enterprises and industry-academia-research joint research and development (R&D).

"The technologies of Cheonan's startups are transforming the industrial landscape across cutting-edge fields such as space, robotics, and AI," said Cheonan Mayor Chang Kang-soo. "We will actively back the growth of C-STAR companies so that it leads to the structural improvement of the entire regional industry, fostering Cheonan into a future industrial city leading South Korea's industrial transformation."

[Copyright (c) Global Economic Times. All Rights Reserved.]