Wando Fisheries High School Students Make Waves… Stand Out in Startup Competitions with Discarded Kelp Ideas – The Asia Business Daily

The marine bio industry, which Wando County in South Jeolla Province has identified as a future growth engine, is shining even brighter thanks to the creative ideas of local high school students.

As Wando County’s multi-stage startup support program produces tangible results—such as local high school students sweeping national competitions—the region is rapidly emerging as a cradle for marine bio startups.

According to Wando County on June 15, students from Wando Fisheries High School who are participating in the “Entrepreneurship Class Curriculum” are demonstrating their capabilities by progressing through idea meetings, business model refinement, prototype development, and mock presentations. As a result, they have been selected in a series of nationwide startup competitions, standing out among their peers.

The first good news came from the “Vocational High School Youth Entrepreneurship Idea Contest” hosted by the Korea Student Aid Foundation.

The “NuclearSea” team from Wando Fisheries High School (team leader Jung Hyunseung, members Park Seungmin, Cho Yongchan, and Choi Minseo) proposed an “All-in-One Wash Product” using kelp scrap—kelp that would otherwise be discarded due to low commercial value—and won the Excellence Award. This idea was highly praised by the judges for its potential to add high value to locally discarded seaweed and for its practical application in commercialization.

The success continued at the “Student Startup Promising Team 300+ Competition” organized by the Ministry of Education. The “SeaGreenLab” team (team leader Cho Hyunseo, members Bang Jaei, Jung Binyoung, and Choi Yejin) proposed a “Flounder Feed Additive Using Kelp Scrap” and was proudly selected for the specialized education course for student startup teams.

The SeaGreenLab team will complete the growth education program, including entrepreneurship capacity building, by November, and plans to begin full-scale activities with the goal of winning the Minister of Education Award through the upcoming Student Startup Festival and the pan-ministerial startup competition.

Both inside and outside the local government, this achievement is being cited as a representative example of field-oriented collaboration, where Wando County, Chosun University, local industries, and aspiring young entrepreneurs worked in close partnership within the “Educational Advancement Special Zone Project.”

Notably, it was instrumental that CEOs of marine bio companies from the joint cooperation center, who are actively engaged in the field, participated as instructors. They broke away from textbook-based lessons to share hands-on practical know-how, candidly discussed their own successes and failures, and provided intensive mentoring—playing a decisive role in rapidly strengthening students’ real-world capabilities.

The members of the NuclearSea team, who won the Excellence Award, stated, “Thanks to the full support from Wando County and Chosun University, we were able to turn our idea into a concrete startup product,” adding, “After graduation, we want to establish a startup in Wando and widely promote the county’s outstanding marine resources.”

Building on this achievement, Wando County plans to further strengthen the foundation so that local youth can grow without leaving their hometown.

An official from the county stated, “We will systematically continue our current multi-stage, customized startup support programs to turn Wando County into the cradle of marine bio startups specializing in seaweed.”

Meanwhile, Wando County and Chosun University plan to focus their administrative resources on establishing a “virtuous startup ecosystem” that connects talent development with entrepreneurship and settlement, so that young people can put down roots in the region and grow together with local companies, leveraging the area’s unique marine bio infrastructure.

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