Samsung Electronics Collaborates with External Startups to Drive Innovation

'C Lab Outside Startup Fair' Held
Seeking Opportunities for Competitiveness Enhancement and Business Collaboration

Samsung Electronics, C-Lab Outside Startup Fair Poster

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Samsung Electronics announced on the 27th that it will hold the 'C-Lab Outside Startup Fair' to enhance the competitiveness of external startups it is nurturing and to explore business opportunities.

The event will be held until the 31st on 'Mosaic,' an internal collective intelligence system where all employees can freely discuss ideas. Nineteen startups conducting businesses in fields such as AI (artificial intelligence), education, and lifestyle, supported by Samsung Electronics' Seoul R&D (Research and Development) Campus, are participating.

Specifically, the participants include ▲ 'Medipresso,' researching a 'coffee and tea simultaneous extraction machine,' ▲ 'Bitbyte,' which developed an application that allows users to decorate their smartphone keyboards with favorite characters and designs, ▲ 'Jakdangmoi,' providing beauty video curation services for Generation Z, ▲ 'DeepingSource,' developing AI-based technology to safely handle personal information during data collection, and ▲ 'QMIT,' a customized training service for preventing sports activity injuries.

Samsung Electronics employees from various departments such as development, marketing, sales, and design propose ideas and engage in discussions to enhance the competitiveness of the startups' businesses, products, and services. The startups, in turn, receive feedback from employees to improve their overall business and management competitiveness and seek opportunities for business collaboration with Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Electronics employees provided various opinions on Medipresso's development of a 'coffee and tea simultaneous extraction machine' suitable for office use. Suggestions included ensuring that coffee and tea aromas do not mix and the need for compatibility with existing coffee extraction machine capsules. Additionally, for QMIT's 'coaching service for athletes,' expansions into rehabilitation exercises and diet services were proposed.

In-Kook Han, Executive Director of Samsung Electronics' Creative Development Center, said, "Employees are offering a wide range of opinions, from supportive messages for startups to advice on development," adding, "We hope this non-face-to-face event becomes a platform where startups can enhance their competitiveness and explore various collaborations with Samsung Electronics."

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics has annually held small-scale exhibitions at the Suwon 'Samsung Digital City' where external startups participate, providing business opportunities. Starting this year, the event has been expanded to include all employees through 'Mosaic.'

The company plans to nurture 300 external startups by 2022. So far, 124 have been nurtured and 40 supported. Currently, 297 projects have been selected with 1,194 employees participating; among the selected projects, 101 are utilized internally, and 45 have become independent startups.

As part of the 'Economic Revitalization and Job Creation Plan' announced in August 2018, Samsung Electronics operates 'C-Lab Outside,' an external startup nurturing program supporting promising domestic startups.

A Samsung Electronics official stated, "'C-Lab Outside' provides comprehensive support from technology assistance to investment attraction to help innovative startups grow successfully and offers business collaboration opportunities with Samsung Electronics," adding, "Under the CSR vision 'Together for the Future! Enabling People,' we are conducting win-win activities such as C-Lab Outside, Samsung Future Technology Development Project, smart factories, and partner company mutual growth funds, as well as social contribution activities for youth education."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.