The objective of this study is to establish a direction for smart aquaculture technology development in the Republic of Korea through patent analysis and a demand survey of experts and fishermen. The patent analysis was conducted using Wisdomain for patents in the Republic of Korea, the United States of America, Europe, Japan, and China from 2005 to 2016. This study conducted an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) survey of experts in the fields of fishery, marine, and ICT among others. Furthermore, it carried out a demand survey of 85 fishermen in Jeonnam and Jeju. The smart aquaculture technology market has moderately grown in the Republic of Korea until recently, and it is expected to expand further because of the expansion of national investment in the smart aquaculture field. The priority evaluation results for developing smart aquaculture technology show that land-based aquaculture has a higher priority than sea-based aquaculture. Of the fishermen that responded, 84% said that they need to introduce smart aquaculture technology to solve problems in the supply and demand of manpower, labor cost, and maintenance expenses. The direction of development should lie in developing biological and environment-based standard aquaculture models to spread high-tech systems and vitalize the aquaculture industry. This requires continual training of human resources in the smart aquaculture field.