Building upon the spirit of Faraday, Edison, Bell and more

Since the invention of electricity, the human lifestyle has changed drastically and the continuous innovation in the electronics industry had enhanced our lives. Samsung Innovation Museum (S/I/M), located in Samsung Digital City in Suwon, Korea, is a five-story 10,950 m2 museum with more than 150 historical items, consisted of three exhibition halls to mark the past, present and future of the electronics industry. Not only is it designed to let visitors experience the evolving history of the electronics industry all in one place, but S/I/M also means ‘heart’ for its abbreviation ‘SIM’ in Korean. Samsung not only hopes to connect with the hearts of people through its life-changing creations, but also hopes to subtly affirm its role in the industry and its history of innovation.

Seeds of Innovation

The first of three exhibition hall introduces one of the most influential of past inventions – electricity. It is no secret that the discovery of electricity contributed significantly to establishing the foundation of modern society. This enabled break-through inventions such as lighting, telecommunications, home appliances and radio.

The inventions of lighting allowed humans to be productive at night, while the inventions of telecommunication allowed us to communicate our emotion and thought regardless of the physical proximity. The inventions of home appliances encouraged women’s participation in the society and possibly extended the life expectancy of mankind, and the invention of radio established the role of mass media.

There is a distinctive characteristic in the invention and discoveries here. For example, Michael Faraday first produced electricity, Thomas Edison invented light bulbs and Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, inventions were mainly led by ‘scientists’ and ‘inventors’ and eventually became the seeds of innovation.

▲ Take a Virtual Photo Tour of the Samsung Innovation Museum 

Core of Innovation

After some of these core inventions, industrialization happened and changed everything. As industrialization began, establishments of corporations gave opportunities for various professionals with different backgrounds but similar minds to work together. Building upon the inventions and discoveries of the ‘scientists’ and ‘inventors’ such as Faraday, Edison and Bell, ‘corporations’ started to develop and accelerate innovations in the electronics industry. This is well represented in the Hall 2, ‘age of industry innovation‘, which outlines the key pillars of the electronics industry: semiconductor, display and mobile.

Semiconductors, which are essentially tiny chips with a huge amount of information, are a key component of the electronics industry. Before the advent of semiconductors, the early electronic products used the vacuum-tubes that are slow and large in size. However, thanks to the semiconductors, the size and weight of electronics were significantly reduced while the speed highly increased. After launching 64K DRAM in 1983, Samsung continued to make rapid progress in the semiconductors and developed 64M DRAM for the first time in the world. Succeedingly, 256M, 1G and 4G DRAM were other world’s firsts of Samsung. Samsung developed semiconductors for various other electronic devices, such as mobile devices. In 2012, it launched the Exynos 4 Quad, the world’s first Quad core AP, which now has evolved up to Exynos 5 Octa, the world’s first ARM® based Octa-core mobile CPU. Currently, Exynos AP has been widely installed in various products such as Samsung Galaxy devices, Chromebook and more. This commercialization of highly advanced semiconductor transistor opened the age of portable devices and high-resolution displays.

Since the early days of TV, the quality of mass media has considerably increased. From black-and-white TVs to color TVs, flat displays and smart displays, the development of displays helped bring information to the public and establish pop culture. In particular, when it comes to TVs, Samsung has evolved rapidly in its technology that brought about the world’s first AMOLED display. Also, Samsung TV design goes beyond technology and creates an emotional connection between the product and consumer. The Bordeaux TV in 2006 used technology to reflect the beauty of a crystal wine glass and sunset. Furthermore, the most recent UHD Curved TV that offers the optimal immersion to the screen with its curve ‘4200R’ is not the end of its advancement. Samsung Smart TV has the voice interaction feature and motion control by the finger gesture. Looking to the (near) future of transparent or flexible displays, it is hard to expect where the end of the evolution of display really will be.

Now we live in an era where it is common for people to have at least one mobile device on demand. As the ‘Mobile Zone’ of the Samsung Innovation Museum suggests, innovation of mobile communication has been contributing to making information accessible and ubiquitous. The Mobile Zone features the history of development of mobile devices.

Here are some facts of Samsung’s leading role in mobile phone development. Samsung produced SCH-V200, the first mobile phone with camera. And in 2010, when thirty two Chilean miners were trapped in a San Jose mine for 69 days, it was GALAXY Beam, Samsung’s Mobile Projector phone that gave them strength and hope to endure by enabling them to watch family photos and soccer videos. In addition, the first Galaxy Note not only introduced a new category to the market of smart devices, it also introduced S Pen, which not only works as a ‘portable mouse,’ but it also allows far more precise input than fingers alone. Coming back up to present day, we have to mention the latest Galaxy S5 featuring a 16MP camera and 5.1″ FHD Super AMOLED display, fingerprint scanner and a built-in heart rate monitor. This exhibit shows that Samsung’s smartphones have been continuously evolving while opening new prospects in the mobile devices. Thanks to such progress of innovation, now Samsung users can not only access an infinite amount of content at the tip of their fingers, but they can also create and distribute content as well. If you like to get more information, feel free to check out our own infographics on the history of Samsung mobile phones (display, sound and 10 million sellers).

Corporations such as Samsung are at the core of innovation, and thanks to the electronics industry, the quality of life is continuously improving during this age known as the “information revolution.” We ask ourselves, what can we expect from the future?

The Age of Creation

It is hard to guarantee anything about the future, especially in a world where everything is evolving so quickly. However, one thing we know is Samsung’s vision and the philosophy for the future. The final hall consisted of 3 areas – the S/I/M Theater, the Product Gallery and the Nanum (Sharing) Gallery – showcasing Samsung Electronics’ vision and promise for the future.

With a 180-degree UHD panorama screen, the S/I/M Theater shows Samsung’s commitment to innovation, creating value for mankind and building a better future. The Product Gallery displays the future of society that Samsung envisions through its products in 7 business areas – Retail, Healthcare, Hospitality, Government, Finance, Enterprise Mobility and Education – based on its belief that innovation is the driving force behind a promising future. Lastly, the Nanum Gallery displayed Samsung’s commitment to society and social responsibility with Samsung’s social contribution projects that support and fund on-going social contribution activities.

Light bulbs light up darkness, TVs and radios broadcast culture, and phones connect people – through innovations from the discovery of electricity to the latest smartphones, the electronics industry has added new value to our lives. To discover and share this meaning and value of ‘innovation‘, Samsung Innovation Museum (S/I/M) delivers not only the history of Samsung’s products but also the precious moments of the electronics industry alongside with how our lives have been changed.