Samsung Electronics Launches C-Lab Outside Contest to Discover and Support Innovative Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Samsung Electronics is conducting the C-Lab Outside contest to discover and support innovative startups from the 1st of this month until the 13th of next month.

This contest, under the theme "Create, Great Startup, the Beginning of Great Innovation," is recruiting startups with innovative technologies in nine fields including ▲AI ▲AR·VR·XR ▲Education ▲Environment ▲Digital Health ▲Robotics. Any startup registered as a corporation in Korea and established within the last five years is eligible to apply.

Startups selected for C-Lab Outside will receive ▲up to 100 million KRW in business support funds ▲a dedicated office space within Samsung Electronics’ Seoul R&D Campus ▲customized programs tailored to growth stages ▲participation in domestic and international IT exhibitions ▲and support for market expansion for one year. In particular, growth-stage tailored programs such as in-depth customer research, data-driven marketing, and financial capability consulting are provided to help startups translate these into business competitiveness like increased sales and user growth.

For startups seeking business cooperation with Samsung Electronics, business meetings with relevant business divisions are arranged, and to help open sales channels, the startups’ products are sold on Samsung Electronics employees’ welfare sites. At the end of the nurturing period, a "C-Lab Outside Demo Day" is held to invite investors and corporate officials to showcase the startups’ achievements and provide opportunities for business cooperation and investment attraction.

2021 C-Lab Outside Contest Poster / Photo by Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics has been operating the in-house venture nurturing program "C-Lab Inside" since December 2012 to spread a creative organizational culture within the company. Outstanding in-house venture projects can spin off as startups through a spin-off system.

In August 2018, as part of economic revitalization and job creation measures, the startup nurturing program "C-Lab Outside" was newly established to expand the operational know-how of "C-Lab Inside" externally and contribute to revitalizing the domestic startup ecosystem.

Since 2018, Samsung Electronics announced plans to nurture 300 external startups through C-Lab Outside and support 200 in-house venture projects through C-Lab Inside over the next five years, aiming to nurture a total of 500 startups. From 2018 to the present, a total of 338 have been supported: 202 through "C-Lab Outside" and 136 in-house venture projects through "C-Lab Inside."

The 202 startups nurtured through C-Lab Outside have attracted a total of 200 billion KRW in follow-up investments. Among them, 10 companies have surpassed 10 billion KRW in sales, and 7 companies have won CES Innovation Awards.

Choi Yoon-ho, President of Samsung Electronics’ Management Support Office, said, "Through C-Lab, we will strive to spread a culture where young people with entrepreneurial spirit can continuously challenge and innovate," adding, "We will wholeheartedly support C-Lab startups so that they can grow beyond unicorns to become companies representing Korea."

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