Samsung Electronics today announced it will showcase new projects that, with the support of its C-Lab program, are innovating in a wide range of fields, including AI, robotics and digital health, at CES 2026, the world’s largest consumer electronics and IT exhibition, running Jan. 6-9.

At CES, Samsung will operate a dedicated C-Lab exhibition area to support the startups’ expansion into the global market. It will be located in Eureka Park at the Venetian Expo, the designated startup zone of CES, where participating startups will showcase innovative technologies.

“Samsung supports C-Lab startups through CES as a platform to validate innovative technologies and build momentum for global growth,” said Byoung Chul Lee, Vice President and Head of the Creativity & Innovation Center at Samsung Electronics. “This year, expanded participation from regional startups highlights the continued evolution of the C-Lab ecosystem.”

C-Lab Outside: 15 Startups That Include AI, Robotics and Digital Health

This year, C-Lab will feature 15 startups, including eight startups directly incubated by Samsung Electronics through the C-Lab Outside program, four from the Samsung Financial Networks-operated Samsung Financial C-Lab Outside, two from Samsung Electronics’ internal venture program, C-Lab Inside and one that was jointly incubated by Samsung Electronics and the Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center.

Record Participation of Regional Startups

Since 2023, Samsung has expanded C-Lab Outside to the Korean cities of Daegu and Gwangju, as well as the Gyeongbuk province. The program identifies and supports promising startups to strengthen regional startup ecosystems, then provides workspace, stage-based consulting and opportunities to collaborate with Samsung and its affiliates. This allows startups to grow without relocating to the much larger city of Seoul and fosters a sustainable local innovation cycle.

To date, 40 regional startups have been incubated through this initiative, contributing to the revitalization of regional ecosystems and laying the groundwork for future global unicorns.

At CES 2026, seven startups from Daegu, Gwangju and Gyeongbuk will participate, marking the largest-ever presence of regional C-Lab startups at CES.

Regional Startup Achievements Continue to Grow

Repla, a plastic recycling startup from C-Lab Outside Gyeongbuk, received a CES 2026 Innovation Award for its Puri-Checker, a device that analyzes plastic composition ratios.

“For a regional startup, collaborating with a global company like Samsung has been a valuable opportunity,” said Dong-eun Seo, CEO of Repla. “Plastic recycling is a global challenge and CES provides an important platform to explore international market opportunities.”

The seven participating regional C-Lab startups are as follows:

• Stress Solution (Gyeongbuk): An AI-based personalized mental care sound creation solution
• Deepscent (Gwangju): An AI-powered digital scent solution tailored to every space
• Elevenliter (Daegu): AI-powered diagnostics for progressive diseases in pets
• AunionAI (Gwangju): A web-based AI solution for automated multilingual dubbing and subtitles with expressive voices and sound effects
• Repla (Gyeongbuk): Enzyme-purified recycled plastic, free of impurities
• Univa (Daegu): An on-device multimodal large language model solution
• 10kM.ai (Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center): An enterprise AI video production solution that can generate, edit and monetize videos

C-Lab Inside Showcases AI-Driven Internal Ventures

Every year since 2016, Samsung has used CES to showcase projects from C-Lab Inside, gauging global market response and validating business potential.

This year, two AI-driven projects evaluated highly for their innovation, global scalability and completeness will be exhibited:

• ChronoMix: An AI solution for object-centric video composition
• EZ Reco: A generative AI platform that makes electronics recommendations based on expert knowledge

Expansion of C-Lab to Affiliates, Including Financial Startups

Reflecting the expansion of Samsung’s open innovation model across its affiliates, four startups from Samsung Financial C-Lab Outside will participate in CES for the first time. This participation enables startups across various industries to seek new global collaboration opportunities by leveraging Samsung’s incubation experience. The Samsung Financial C-Lab Outside startups are as follows:

• Selectstar (Samsung Life Insurance): Copyright-cleared datasets and an all-in-one AI evaluation platform
• Datumo (Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance): Cyber risk modeling to quantify and reduce the financial impact of cyberattacks
• WINNING.I (Samsung Card): Next-gen identity verification (eKYC) powered by simultaneous fingerprint and face biometrics
• Pillsang (Samsung Securities): Real-time phishing (scam/fraud) detection solution using on-device AI

C-Lab Startups Win 17 CES 2026 Innovation Awards

C-Lab startups have received a total of 17 CES 2026 Innovation Awards, including two Best of Innovation Awards, as announced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA).

Both Best of Innovation Award recipients — MangoSlab and StudioLab — originated from C-Lab Inside and later spun off as independent startups, reaffirming the technological excellence and growth potential of Samsung’s internal ventures.

The C-Lab exhibition at CES 2025 featured 15 startups and projects, including 12 from C-Lab Outside, Samsung’s program for external startups; two projects from C-Lab Inside, which is an in-house idea incubation program for Samsung employees; and one C-Lab Spin-Off startup, which was founded following its success within C-Lab Inside.

Many of these startups were recognized with CES Innovation Awards from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) for their technological innovation and creativity. Samsung Newsroom met with three CES Innovation Award winners, Pinpoint (smart city technology), Quester (XR technology) and GhostPass (security/fintech technology), at the C-Lab exhibition to learn more about their groundbreaking work.

▲ The C-Lab exhibition at CES 2025

Pinpoint: First Step Toward Global Recognition With C-Lab

▲ Pinpoint employees full of spirit as they vow to expand their business globally

Samsung’s C-Lab is helping innovative startups make their mark on the global stage. Through the C-Lab Outside program, Samsung provides opportunities for outstanding startups to participate in world-class exhibitions such as CES while offering support for exhibition preparation and customized consulting for the CES Innovation Award application process.

Pinpoint, a 2024 participant in C-Lab Outside, made its global debut at the C-Lab exhibition at CES 2025. The startup won an Innovation Award in the Smart Cities category for its IoT-integrated management solution for building operations.

▲ Pinpoint’s CES 2025 Innovation Award trophy along with pamphlets on smart building operation systems for next-generation buildings

Pinpoint’s building solution is a smart management system that increases operational efficiency for building operators while delivering a personalized user experience. Operators benefit from integrated control over all resources within the building, while users can easily access various services such as reservations, parking, robot delivery and more via a mobile app.

▲ A Pinpoint representative explains the startup’s IoT-integrated management solution for building operations to a visitor.

At the exhibition, Pinpoint focused on demonstrating its cloud-based optimized building solutions in action. “I think Pinpoint’s smart building solutions can be very useful in Korea considering the buildings there are probably built quite vertically, instead of horizontally like they generally are here in the United States, where I’m living,” said one visitor.

“We aim to gauge the response of the global market and actively seek opportunities for collaboration through participation in CES,” said Jin Hyuk Ahn, CEO of Pinpoint. “Thanks to C-Lab’s structured support, we are excited and proud to be able to present our solutions on a global stage, where many consumer-oriented products and services compete with each other,” he added. “It was challenging to fully understand the judging criteria and convey our core strengths, but the case studies and data preparation guides provided by C-Lab were invaluable.”

▲ Pinpoint CEO Jin Hyuk Ahn

Pinpoint is enhancing its technology by piloting its solutions in conjunction with SmartThings Pro, an advanced enterprise version of Samsung’s SmartThings platform, and b.IoT, Samsung’s integrated building management solution. After sharing its vision with the world at CES 2025, Pinpoint plans to continue further enhancing user experience-driven space planning and design toward becoming the gold standard in the industry.”

Quester: Locally Discovered by C-Lab, Globally Recognized at CES

▲ Quester employees expressing how excited they are to be part of CES for their first time

Samsung’s C-Lab serves as a platform to help regional startups grow as well. In addition to Seoul, C-Lab Outside programs operate in Daegu, Gwangju and Gyeongbuk (Gyeongsan) to nurture and promote outstanding startups.

Quester, which grew through C-Lab Outside Daegu in 2024, showcased its innovative hand-tracking glove technology at CES 2025 — a debut made more special by winning an Innovation Award in the XR Technologies & Accessories category.

▲ A demonstration of how Quester’s hand-tracking glove technology utilizes motion data

Quester’s hand-tracking glove technology precisely identifies and tracks the way a hand moves to implement such movements. To overcome the limitations of existing technologies, which are often sensitive to external factors that limit the usage environment, Quester has adopted an approach called sensor fusion. This approach delivers stable performance by combining the advantages of multiple sensors and will be applied in various fields, including immersive content, robotics and motion capture.

At its booth at CES 2025, Quester focused on demonstrating its technological strengths and development direction through prototypes. These demonstrations allowed Quester to not only test their technology but also attract crucial feedback from potential clients, which the startup plans to incorporate into its research on new functions to satisfy various client needs.

▲ Quester CEO Jeongwu Lee explains her startup’s high-performance hand-tracking glove technology to a visitor.

“By researching hand-tracking technology starting with virtual experimental content, we were able to develop an innovative solution with universal applicability,” said Jeongwu Lee, CEO of Quester. “Through the infrastructure of C-Lab Outside Daegu, along with various consulting opportunities and the experience acquired from promoting our technology at domestic technology fairs, we were able to grow further.”

At CES 2025, Quester aims to connect with various industry stakeholders to identify collaboration opportunities and gain insights for enhancing its products.

GhostPass: Expanding Beyond Korea With C-Lab’s Support

▲ GhostPass employees posing for a photo with their CES 2025 Best of Innovation Award trophy

Samsung continues to support the growth of C-Lab graduates. Even after graduation, these startups benefit from industry partnerships, investments and opportunities for synergies with Samsung, helping them become more competitive in the global market.

GhostPass, part of C-Lab Outside in 2023, showcases its biometric authentication technology at the C-Lab exhibition for the second consecutive year. GhostPass’ CES achievements include winning an Innovation Award in the Smart Cities category last year and the Best of Innovation Award in the FinTech category this year.

▲ GhostPass’ CES 2025 Best of Innovation Award (FinTech category) next to a video demonstrating how the startup’s biometric authentication solution can be used for in-store payment

GhostPass’ biometric authentication solution is characterized by its two-factor authentication technology. The technology stores biometric information, such as facial and iris data, only on the user’s smartphone rather than on a server or separate device and supports remote authentication from other devices. This increases security and allows users to manage their biometric information directly on their devices. The solution is also expected to help businesses reduce operational costs by eliminating the need for server-based storage.

▲ A visitor from Türkiye having fun trying out GhostPass’ biometric authentication technology

At CES 2025, GhostPass expanded its application to the fintech sector, demonstrating an unmanned store concept where visitors experienced biometric authentication from entry to payment. “What’s most impressive is the fact that no third party is collecting the biometric data. It’s an innovative solution that I think will have many applications,” said Huseyin Ada,  a visitor from Türkiye after trying out the technology.

“As a member of the C-Lab Family, we’ve had the opportunity to participate in global exhibitions and receive valuable feedback from industry stakeholders worldwide,” said Seongwan Lee, CEO of GhostPass. “All of our brochures are gone already! Our booth’s popularity this year is definitely exceeding last year’s. With this momentum, we hope to establish global collaboration partnerships at CES 2025 and achieve tangible results,” he added. “Advice from Samsung employees was instrumental in preparing for the exhibition and showcasing our technology effectively.”

▲ GhostPass CEO Seongwan Lee

GhostPass, which has successfully attracted investment through C-Lab, continues to grow by leveraging C-Lab Outside’s networking opportunities and participating in exhibitions around the world. The startup plans to pursue partnerships in diverse fields, including identity verification, access security and payment, while expanding overseas.

▲ The C-Lab exhibition at CES 2025, filled with guests eager to learn more about Korea’s vibrant startup scene

The C-Lab exhibition at CES 2025 has served as a platform for Samsung C-Lab startups to make a huge leap onto the world stage. As these budding companies grow from the experience, so will Korea’s startup scene as a whole. Samsung Electronics and the C-Lab Family remain committed to strengthening that ecosystem, from discovering extraordinary startups to propelling those startups to previously unimaginable heights.

At CES 2025, the C-Lab companies consist of 12 startups from the C-Lab Outside program, which incubates external startups; two startups from C-Lab Inside, which is an internal venture program for employees; and one startup that was spun-off from Samsung. At the event, Samsung expects C-Lab startups to assess global market response, strengthen business feasibility and meet with investors.

“CES is an important opportunity for Korean startups to gain a foothold in the global market and increase brand awareness,” said Pilgyu Jeon, Executive Vice President and Head of the Creativity & Innovation Center at Samsung Electronics. “C-Lab will continue to support startups on the journey to becoming internationally recognized global innovators.”

C-Lab Outside: Twelve Startups That Include AI, IoT and Digital Health

This year, C-Lab will feature 12 startups, including 11 startups directly incubated by Samsung Electronics through the C-Lab Outside program and one startup jointly incubated by Samsung Electronics and the Daegu Center for Creative Economy & Innovation. The 12 startups are as follows:

AI

• DEEP.FINE: An XR solution using Vision-AI and Visual Localization (VL) for precise digital space creation
• Mainspace: An online shopping service based on automated 3D interior design technology
• ENERZAi: A next-generation AI inference optimization engine
• Cochl: An AI-based sound technology that can understand any sound like a human
• Korea Greendata: Revolutionizing energy data analytic platform with AI-driven chatbot integration
• 10kM.ai: An enterprise AI video production solution that can generate, edit, and distribute at scale

 Digital Health

• Riduck: An AI-based aerobic exercise coaching solution based on data from a wearable device
• LabSD: A digital ophthalmoscope manufactured with upcycled smartphones and a teleophthalmology system
• Meditrix: A VR-based neuro-biofeedback motion chair and mobile digital therapeutics

 IoT

• Ghostpass: A remote hands-free authentication solution by storing user biometrics on smartphones
• Pinpoint: Smart building OS that integrates operations and user experiences into a unified solution

 Robot

• Quester: A high-performance hand tracking glove with sensor fusion technology

C-Lab will showcase four local startups from Daegu and Gwangju, Korea, which is a new record achieved through Samsung Electronics’ efforts to promote the local startup ecosystem. Since 2023, Samsung Electronics has expanded the C-Lab Outside program to discover and nurture innovative startups in these regions. The immense potential of these startups has been demonstrated by GhostPass, a startup from C-Lab Outside Gwangju that has won the Best of Innovation Award in Fintech at CES 2025.

“Thanks to the support and coaching of C-Lab Outside, we were able to grow our company in a short period of time,” said Sunkwan Lee, CEO and founder of GhostPass. “We are excited to attend CES 2025 with C-Lab and showcase our solution, which won the CES Best of Innovation Award.”

C-Lab Outside was created in October 2018, and startups selected for the program receive full support — including a business support fund, office workspaces and customized development programs — along with business cooperation from Samsung Electronics.

Two C-Lab Inside Projects From Samsung Employees; One C-Lab Spin-off That Began at Samsung

Since 2016, Samsung has been exhibiting its C-Lab Inside projects at CES to see how the global market responds and to test their business viability.

The C-Lab Inside projects that Samsung Electronics is showcasing at CES have been widely recognized for their innovation, global marketability and completeness — including IoT solutions that provide differentiated experiences in conjunction with Samsung Electronics products, as well as a new conceptual robotics platform. This year’s projects are as follows:

• GreenFollow: Galaxy-enabled autonomous driving solution for electric golf trolley
• Modulero: A modular platform for robotics development

In 2015, Samsung Electronics introduced its C-Lab spin-off program, which allows C-Lab Inside projects with high market potential to be launched as fully-fledged startups. At CES 2025, C-Lab spin-off Edint will showcase its mobile-based AI online exam proctoring service.

C-Lab Startups Win 12 CES 2025 Innovation Awards

In November 2024, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced the winners of the CES 2025 Innovation Awards, including the award for Best of Innovation. C-Lab startups received one Best of Innovation Award and 11 Innovation Award Honorees.

C-Lab’s products and services that received honors include GhostPass, DEEP.Fine, Mainspace, ENERZAi, Quester and others. The CES 2025 Innovation Award-winning products and services will be displayed separately at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas.

The C-Lab program was created in 2012, and since it was established, Samsung has nurtured a total of 912 startups and projects (506 through C-Lab Outside and 406 through C-Lab Inside) so far. Through “C-Lab Family” program, a unique professional network, all startups of C-Lab can also continue to co-operate with Samsung even after graduating from the C-Lab Outside or spinning off from C-Lab.

¹ Started in December 2012, C-Lab Inside nurtures employees’ innovative ideas while instilling a corporate culture in which creativity is at the fore. Since 2015, Samsung has been supporting successful C-Lab projects that demonstrate great market potential and facilitating their launch as startups under the C-Lab spin-off policy.

The spotlight of this year’s convention was on AI. Samsung Newsroom sat down with the leaders behind these cutting-edge companies, from RebuilderAI, offering an AI solution for 3D content creation on smartphones, to Goose Labs, operating a home fitness platform in the metaverse.

▲ Samsung C-Lab startups took part in CES 2024 in Las Vegas, U.S. on January 9

Goose Labs – Transforming Home Fitness in the Metaverse

In today’s fast-paced world, many struggle with the lack of physical activity. While everyone recognizes the importance of exercise, gym memberships can be costly and at-home workouts often feel tedious.

▲ At CES 2024, Goose Labs presented an AI-based metaverse fitness service that aims to make exercising at home more enjoyable.

Goose Labs, a C-Lab spin-off leader, aims to change this with “FIVA,” an AI-powered metaverse home fitness app. “FIVA was born from a desire to make exercise an enjoyable part of daily life, not a daunting task,” explained Seo-Hee Lee, a representative at Goose Labs. “We use AI motion capture in the app to mirror users’ movements with avatars, and we added a community feature so that people could support each other in the metaverse.” What sets “FIVA” apart is its live classes led by expert trainers in various fitness domains, from traditional weight training to dance fitness and ballet workouts.

▲ In “FIVA,” Goose Labs’ AI-based home fitness app in the metaverse, users can exercise with avatars that mirror their exact movements.

At CES, Goose Labs showcased how users can seamlessly start a workout using only a smartphone to access the metaverse. “You don’t need extra sensors or devices,” said Lee. “And you can exercise comfortably at home without worrying about a tidy house or special clothes.”

CES 2024 marks Goose Labs’ first exhibition event following its establishment under the C-Lab program, making the event more meaningful. “I think our presence here was possible thanks to the various mentoring and growth opportunities we received through the Samsung C-Lab network following our spin-off,” said Lee. “Being part of the ‘C-Lab family,’ I’m hopeful that this event will be even more impactful.”

▲ Goose Labs presented its AI-based metaverse home fitness app “FIVA”

Looking ahead, Lee shared her curiosity about attendees’ reactions to Goose Labs’ technology. “At this exhibition, we’re unveiling our new avatars, gaming features and our Android app,” said Lee. “We’re eager for feedback that can help us improve our services going forward.”

RebuilderAI – Bringing the Real World Into Virtual Spaces

Samsung actively nurtures external startups through its C-Lab Outside program, aiming to share its expertise and bolster the Korean startup scene. Handpicked for this program, startups like RebuilderAI received full support, including financial backing and customized development programs.

RebuilderAI, a 3D technology startup chosen for Samsung’s C-Lab Outside program in 2023, showcased its specialized AI technology at CES 2024. The company received a CES 2024 Innovation Award for its AI solution “VRIN 3D,” which enables users to create high-quality 3D content simply by using a smartphone camera to capture surroundings — eliminating the need for studios or costly equipment. This breakthrough marked a shift toward a future where anyone can easily create a 3D model using a single smartphone through AI technology.

▲ Visitors explored the RebuilderAI booth at Samsung C-Lab’s exhibition during CES 2024.

When Junghyun Kim founded RebuilderAI, metaverse and spatial computing were still emerging at the forefront of next-generation content technologies. “While there was a lot of interest in 3D technology, it still required a lot of time and resources. It also often resulted in large file sizes, making the technology less usable. That’s when I started to wonder how technology could be used to streamline the creation of 3D assets at a desired scale,” he said.

This led to the development of “VRIN 3D,” an AI-driven solution allowing anyone to generate 3D content using just a smartphone and conveniently edit their texture or background online. Visitors at RebuilderAI’s booth were able to see their selfies transformed into 3D product models using the user-friendly VRIN 3D app.

▲ Visitors learned more about “VRIN 3D,” RebuilderAI’s app that uses AI to generate 3D assets with a single smartphone.

RebuilderAI’s solution is used in product manufacturing, training data production, simulations, production inspections and more. Its impact spans multiple industries, including marketing, manufacturing, design, construction and real estate. Currently, the solution is only available to businesses, but the company plans to gradually expand its services, empowering anyone to create 3D models quickly and effortlessly.

▲ RebuilderAI, a 3D technology startup, presented “VRIN 3D” at CES 2024. This innovative AI solution uses smartphone cameras to capture surrounding objects and spaces, generating high-quality 3D content.

“The C-Lab Outside program supported us while we were preparing for our exhibition for CES 2024, where we were able to meet many customers from around the world. Thanks to that crucial support, we could focus all our attention on preparation,” said Kim. “We are in the process of establishing partnerships with domestic and international companies, so I hope people will stay tuned.”

Paving the Way for the Future of AI

Under the spotlight at CES 2024, Samsung C-Lab startups showcased their groundbreaking AI technologies, advancements and vision for the future on a global scale. At the event, these startups earned one Best of Innovation Award along with 22 Innovation Awards.

This year’s C-Lab participants received positive responses for offering diverse AI technologies designed for everyday use. Notable examples included “StyleBot,” a customizable AI fashion recommendation service, and “Yellosis,” an AI healthcare solution based on smart toilet technology for urine analysis.

▲ Samsung presented “Stylebot,” a customized fashion recommendation AI service, at CES 2024.

▲ Samsung showcased its C-Lab startup program at CES 2024, the world’s largest IT and electronics exhibition, in Las Vegas on January 9.

Learn more about StyleBot and Yellowsis in the videos below.

Samsung Electronics today announced it will be showcasing new innovative projects developed from its C-Lab program at CES® 2024, which runs from January 9 through 12. During the showcase, Samsung will highlight 15 startups and projects — the highest number the company has ever featured — at Eureka Park at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas, the main exhibition space for startups at the world’s biggest tech show.

This year’s CES is expected to feature more than 1,000 startups and attract more than 130,000 visitors from around the world, including business executives, investors and media. At the event, Samsung expects startups from C-Lab to assess global market responses, strengthen their business feasibility and meet with investors.

“The goal of the C-Lab program is to elevate a platform for startups to grow and flourish,” said Pilgyu Jeon, Executive Vice President and Head of the Creativity & Innovation Center at Samsung Electronics. “CES is the perfect venue for these exciting companies and projects to show major tech players that they belong on the global stage.”

The C-Lab program was created in 2012, and since it was established, Samsung has nurtured a total of 872 startups and projects. This includes 475 through C-Lab Outside and 397 through C-Lab Inside. In particular, 537 C-Lab startups (62 from C-Lab Spin-off and 475 from C-Lab Outside) have raised a cumulative total of $1 billion in investment.

C-Lab Outside: Ten Startups That Include AI, Energy and Healthcare Products

C-Lab Outside was created in October 2018, and startups selected for the program receive full support — including office workspaces, customized development programs and investment — along with business cooperation from Samsung Electronics. Dr.Tail, an online veterinary consultation service, has collaborated with Samsung Electronics to bring its services to Samsung Smart TVs¹ and will be exhibited at the C-Lab booths at CES.

In addition to Dr.Tail, Samsung Electronics will exhibit nine other startups selected and supported by the C-Lab Outside program:

• RebuilderAI: AI solutions for fast and easy 3D content creation on smartphones
• Ghost Pass: Decentralized remote biometric authentication solutions
• DEEPX: An NPU-based² AI semiconductor
• Style Bot: A fashion recommendation service based on user-owned clothing data
• Vsion: A smart window with adjustable transparency
• DolbomDream: A smart, inflatable jacket designed to monitor the health of senior citizens
• 60Hertz: An AI-powered virtual power plant (VPP) solution
• Wrtn Technologies: A generative AI portal service
• NdotLight: A web-based collaborative 3D design platform

“We are excited to be part of C-Lab’s high-profile startup booth at Eureka Park,” said Sunkwan Lee, CEO of Ghost Pass. “Thanks to the support of Samsung C-Lab, we won the CES Innovation Award this year, which I think makes this year’s CES a good opportunity for us to take a step toward going global.”

Two C-Lab Inside Projects From Samsung Employees and Three C-Lab Spin-off Startups That Started at Samsung

Samsung has been exhibiting its C-Lab Inside projects at CES since 2016 and this year’s CES exhibit will feature two projects that are currently being fostered in-house. These projects are from the healthcare and pet-tech sectors and have been highly regarded for their innovation, marketability and completeness:

• ID.EARS: A healthcare platform that analyzes brain waves captured by earbuds
• DumboCam: A pet training platform that utilizes Vision AI

In 2016, Samsung Electronics introduced its C-Lab spin-off program, which allows C-Lab Inside projects with high market potential to be launched as fully-fledged startups. At CES 2024, three C-Lab spin-off startups — which initially started as C-Lab Inside projects — will showcase their innovative products in C-Lab booths:

• Yellosis: Smart toilets and AI healthcare solutions based on measurement of liquid body waste
• Becon: AI-powered hair loss management solutions
• Goose Labs: Metaverse home workout app with real-time motion-sensing avatars

C-Lab Startups Win 23 CES 2024 Innovation Awards

In November 2023, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced the winners of the CES 2024 Innovation Awards, including the award for Best of Innovation. Projects from the C-Lab program received one Best of Innovation Award and 22 Innovation Award Honorees.

Samsung is sharing its knowledge of winning CES Innovation Awards and entering the global market with C-Lab startups, which has allowed them to find success. At CES 2024, 16 C-Lab Outside startups were named as Innovation Award Honorees. As for C-Lab Spin-off startups, one project received a Best of Innovation Award and four were named Innovation Award Honorees.

Specifically, STUDIO LAB — a startup spun off in 2021 — won the CES Best of Innovation Award in the Artificial Intelligence category. The company’s products include Seller Canvas, an AI-based commerce detail page automation service, and Photo-bot, an automated commerce photography robot that combines AI and robotics.

Yellosis and DEEPX — two of the startups being exhibited at the C-Lab booths — were named CES Innovation Awards Honorees in three categories. Yellosis is a digital health startup spun off in 2020 that developed Cym702 Seat, a smart toilet that automatically measures liquid body waste and provides health management solutions. The company also developed Cym702 Circle, a smart toilet that simply measures glucose in liquid body waste in public restrooms. Yellosis was named a CES Innovation Award Honoree in three categories, including Digital Health, Smart Cities and Human Security for All.

DEEPX was founded in 2018 and develops edge AI chips for computational processing of AI algorithms such as deep learning-based object recognition, face/voice recognition, image classification and image quality improvement. DEEPX is the first AI semiconductor company to win CES Innovation Awards Honorees in three categories, including Embedded Technologies, Robotics and Computer Hardware & Components.

¹ Services will be available on Samsung Smart TVs released in the U.S. starting in 2024.
² A neural processing unit (NPU) is a microprocessor specialized for AI workloads and simultaneous operations.

▲ Samsung Electronics’ C-Lab exhibit at VivaTech 2023 in Paris, France.

Samsung Electronics today announced it will be showcasing innovative projects developed through its C-Lab program at VivaTech 2023. VivaTech, Europe’s largest startup and tech event, will take place from June 14 to 17 at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles exhibition and conference center.

Samsung will set up a C-Lab exhibition space in the “K-Startup Hall”¹ to display one project from C-Lab Inside, an internal venture program for employees, and four startups fostered by C-Lab Outside, a program for external startups.

C-Lab projects and startups will be able to gauge the global market response and strengthen their business case in front of a large number of visitors at VivaTech. They can also take part in investment and business cooperation consultations on site.

Global Launch of Relumino Glass Brings Significant Improvements in Usability and Convenience

▲ C-Lab Inside “Relumino”

Relumino, a visual aid solution for people with low vision, was selected as a C-Lab Inside project in 2016 and has since been further developed and perfected by Samsung Research.

The solution, whose name means “to give light back,” consists of the Relumino app, a smartphone image processing application that utilizes the residual vision of people with low vision to improve object recognition, and Relumino Glasses, a glasses-type wearable device.

Having previously showcased its Relumino solution at MWC 2017 and CES 2018, Samsung will introduce Relumino Glasses to the global market at VivaTech 2023 and demonstrate how it enhanced the technology’s user experience to provide greater comfort and prevent fatigue.

“As the 2024 Paralympic Games will be held in Paris, France next year, there will be a lot of interest in apps and services for people with disabilities,” said Junghoon Cho, one of the Samsung researchers who developed Relumino. “This exhibition will be an opportunity for Relumino to take another step forward.”

Showcasing C-Lab Outside Startups in the Fields of AI, the Metaverse and More

Created in October 2018, C-Lab Outside is a startup acceleration program launched to invigorate the startup ecosystem in Korea. Startups enrolled in the C-Lab Outside program are provided with office workspaces, expert mentoring from Samsung employees, digital marketing and financial consulting. Additional support includes potential partnerships with Samsung and opportunities to participate in IT exhibitions such as CES, VivaTech and KES (Korea Electronics Show).

Since the beginning of this year, Samsung has been accelerating the expansion of the domestic startup ecosystem by introducing a series of C-Lab Outside programs. Through these efforts, the program is expected to revitalize the local economy, create high-quality jobs and further contribute to the balanced development of Korea.

At VivaTech 2023, Samsung will support the exhibition of selected companies not only from C-Lab Outside Seoul, but also Daegu and Gwangju, giving local startups a chance to expand into the global market.

“Thanks to Samsung Electronics’ support for VivaTech, we are one step closer to entering Europe,” said Nayul Kim, CEO of CLIKA, a startup that was selected for C-Lab Outside Gwangju. “We will continue to promote the excellence of Korean startups.”

The companies participating in VivaTech were selected from a pool of C-Lab Outside startups that are aiming to enter the European market. The four chosen startups include:

• NdotLight — creator of a web-based 3D design solution
• Vsion — maker of super clear PDLC film and reverse mode PDLC film
• QuantumCat — the first company to commercialize gold nanocatalyst technology
• CLIKA — provider of an all-in-one Auto-TinyAI platform that helps companies commercialize AI models quickly and reliably

Fostering 866 Startups and Projects Over the Last 10 Years

Samsung operates C-Lab to create sustainable innovations and contribute to the revitalization of Korea’s domestic startup ecosystem.

Launched in December 2012, C-Lab Inside nurtures employees’ innovative ideas while instilling a corporate culture that puts creativity at the fore. The program supports the development of ideas from all areas of business. Leveraging the success of the C-Lab Inside initiative, C-Lab Outside has been expanding Samsung’s support for new ventures to startups and innovations outside of the Samsung network since 2018.

The company has nurtured a total of 866 startups and projects to date, including 475 through C-Lab Outside and 391 through C-Lab Inside.

▲ C-Lab Outside “CLIKA”

▲ C-Lab Outside “NdotLight”

¹ South Korea has been named “Country of the Year” by VivaTech and is promoting Korean startups at the event. This partnership is entered into with only one country in the world. A “K-Startup Hall” will also feature in the center of the event’s main hall.

Eco-conscious startups believe that groundbreaking, innovative technologies and solutions have the power to combat climate change and create positive outcomes.

Samsung Electronics announced a new environmental strategy in September 2022 to contribute to tackling climate change in partnership with the startup community, which includes identifying and supporting startups that have innovative eco-conscious technologies. As such, Samsung expanded the scope of its environmental support in the fifth C-Lab Outside, the company’s external startup acceleration program, to continue fostering and discovering excellent companies creating sustainable technologies.

In celebration of World Environment Day on June 5, Samsung Newsroom spoke with two startups from the fifth C-Lab Outside program that showcased meaningful technological climate solutions: QuantumCat and 60 Hertz.

The World’s First Organization To Succeed in Commercialization of Gold Nanocatalyst

QuantumCat was established in August 2019 with the vision of “ensuring a sustainable future for Earth and mankind.” The company became the first in the world to successfully commercialize the gold nanocatalyst with its unique, innovative technology. This raises the question — how are catalysts¹ related to the climate crisis?

When exhaust gases from sources such as cars and factory smokestacks cause incomplete combustion to occur, toxic substances including carbon monoxide are produced. For spontaneous oxidation of carbon monoxide to occur, a high temperature of over 600 degrees Celsius (1112 degrees Fahrenheit) is necessary. However, the temperature for oxidation can be brought down to 250 degrees Celsius (482 degrees Fahrenheit) when platinum catalysts, such as rhodium, palladium and platinum, are used. In short, using catalysts reduces energy consumption for the complete oxidation of toxic substances such as carbon monoxide while also effectively preventing the release of harmful gases.

More than 90% of the world’s chemical processes are controlled by catalysts which are also used to purify exhaust gases emitted from cars and at worksites. In addition, more catalysts are expected to be used as carbon neutrality legislation continues to be enacted and environmental regulations become stricter around the world. As such, catalysts have emerged as a crucial material necessary in responding to climate change.

QuantumCat’s gold nanocatalyst is even more groundbreaking than platinum catalysts. While platinum catalysts can accomplish the complete oxidation of toxic substances such as carbon monoxide at 250 degrees Celsius (482 degrees Fahrenheit), the gold nanocatalyst can enable the complete oxidation of carbon monoxide at room temperature (25 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit). QuantumCat’s technology has significantly reduced energy consumption by lowering the combustion temperature and reducing carbon emissions. As a result, the company has earned cumulative investments of KRW 6 billion (about USD 4.5 million) and widespread recognition from various organizations, including the Ministry of Science and ICT’s commendation, Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute’s Presidential Award, the Innovation Start-up Korea Award and more.

▲ Shinhyun Kang, CEO of QuantumCat from Samsung C-Lab Outside

“Using the gold nanocatalyst means lower energy consumption, making it an economically viable and environmentally friendly solution,” said CEO Shinhyun Kang of QuantumCat.

Developing the Revolutionary Gold Nanocatalyst

Kang developed the gold nanocatalyst technology while researching nanomaterials as a doctoral student at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). While gold is an excellent catalyst, the element has not been commercialized until now because it is less stable, as the catalyst particles tend to clump together. To prevent this from occurring, Kang successfully developed the “nanocage,” in which gold is broken down into nanoparticles and locked in.

▲ Nanocage with a special structure ensures the stability of the gold nanocatalyst

QuantumCat’s gold nanocatalyst can also be used for air purifier products as it can remove harmful substances such as carbon monoxide at room temperature or purify the air through selective oxidation.

Recently, the company established a process for mass production of the gold nanocatalyst, along with continuous efforts to improve the quality.

“The gold nanocatalyst will stand out in the global market when production technology is expanded,” said Kang. “Through Samsung C-Lab Outside, we hope our technology will evolve to be applied in diverse use cases and contribute to solving environmental issues.”

QuantumCat’s mission is to ensure a sustainable future for Earth through innovative technologies that address climate change. Samsung eagerly awaits continued advancements surrounding the commercialization of the gold nanocatalyst and how QuantumCat will benefit the Earth’s health in the long run.

Innovative Technology for Predicting Renewable Energy Generation

More organizations and governments have set their sights on the transition to renewable energy.² However, the amount of renewable energy generated from sources such as solar and wind is highly variable since weather conditions are difficult to predict. As such, determining the exact amount of energy supply is critical in operating a stable power grid.

▲ Jongkyu Kim, CEO of 60 Hertz from Samsung C-Lab Outside

60 Hertz is actively researching ways to solve climate issues and protect the Earth with software based on renewable energy generation prediction technology. “Our power grid can operate securely when the supply and demand of electricity are balanced,” said CEO Jongkyu Kim of 60 Hertz. “If it’s unbalanced, it can lead to problems with home appliances and to more severe disasters such as blackouts. So, technology to predict the energy produced from small-scale distributed generation, such as renewable energy, is critical.” When the supply and demand of electricity are in equilibrium, Korea’s power grid maintains a stable frequency of 60 hertz (Hz) — finding this balance is also the mission of the eponymous startup.

▲ The Sunlight Wind Map predicts the amount of renewable energy generated.

The transition to renewable energy is vital to solving the climate crisis. For renewable energy to become a primary energy source, a virtual power plant software that uses IT to connect and manage small-scale distributed generation can serve as an important tool in accurately predicting the current and future amount of renewable energy. Currently, renewable energy in Korea is generated across the nation in the form of tens of thousands of small-scale distributed generation power plants. Since the amount of power generated is dependent on weather, renewable energy plant management software with virtual power plant technology is required to operate stable power grids. With such technology, 60 Hertz operates the Sunlight Wind Map service, forecasting the amount of energy generated from renewable energy power plants throughout Korea for free. In 2021, the Sunlight Wind Map demonstrated its high value as a climate crisis tool through numerous awards, including the Presidential Award, the Prime Minister Award, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Award as well as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups Award.

Pushing the Transition to Renewable Energy Further

60 Hertz’s innovative business strategy has proven that this model can be easily adopted by any company seeking to implement distributed generation, such as renewable energy, into its operations.

▲ EnergyScrum

One such company utilizing this business model is 60 Hertz’s EnergyScrum — an energy management platform that comprehensively manages various distributed generation modes, such as photo voltaic and electric vehicle (EV) chargers and energy storage systems (ESS). In recognition of this innovative software, the company was named a CES 2023 Innovation Award honoree in the Sustainability, Eco-Design & Smart Energy category. “EnergyScrum provides various management features, including the prediction of energy supply and demand using AI technology,” explained Kim. “For example, it predicts the amount of energy generated from a solar voltaic power generator installed at a gas station as well as the amount of demand at an EV charging station to help with comprehensive supply and demand management.”

“60 Hertz will efficiently expand renewable energy implementation and usage with our technology,” said Kim. “Through Samsung C-Lab Outside, we will continue to take on challenges and be a leader in solving the global climate crisis with our technology in Korea and abroad.”

With 60 Hertz’s advancements to save the Earth, Samsung looks forward to the day when everyone can easily contribute to the transition to renewable energy.

¹ A material that catalyzes reactions by lowering the activation energy of other materials.
² The shift from utilizing fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, to renewable sources, such as wind and solar.

Samsung Electronics has announced that it ranked seventh out of 200 companies in the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA)’s 2023 Digital Inclusion Benchmark.

The WBA represents an alliance forged among more than 200 global, regional and local organizations to shape the private sector’s contributions to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The WBA examines companies with a focus on seven key categories, including human rights, the environment and digital inclusion. The WBA launched its first Digital Inclusion Benchmark in 2020, which evaluated companies’ progress in improving access to technology, enhancing digital skills, fostering trustworthy use and innovating both openly and ethically.

Samsung was recognized, in part, for its ongoing efforts to promote access. The company follows leading practice for supporting accessibility by incorporating accessibility features into its products. Samsung’s latest TVs also include an avatar-based Sign Language Guide¹ that provides sign language-based descriptions of menus for greater accessibility. The company also discloses data on how the economic value it generates is distributed among stakeholders and calculates its sustainable value creation.

Samsung also provides support to various programs that are advancing digital skills at all levels and increasing school connectivity. The company demonstrates best practices by administering its programs through its local offices, often in partnership with local governments and non-governmental organizations. It also reports participation metrics for its programs. The company’s flagship programs, the “Samsung Innovation Campus,” which has provided technological training programs for adolescents and unemployed youth since 2013, and the “Samsung SW Academy for Youth,” a yearlong, Korea-based program that has been providing theoretical and practical training to help youth nurture their capabilities and competitiveness as professional software developers since 2018, offer support in the form of job opportunities in future technology fields.

Samsung has continued its commitment to open innovation by participating in several standards organizations and having open-source projects. The company contributes to the tech innovation ecosystem through its Samsung NEXT and C-Lab Outside programs in Korea, which help foster the startup ecosystem through accelerators and incubators. The company also has an AI ethics council and commits to ethical AI principles.

Samsung is committed to promoting digital responsibility as a company that develops products and technologies that enhance users’ lives. Going forward, the company will continue to explore ways to make it easier for people to access and utilize a wide range of convenient and meaningful digital technologies.

¹ Features provided may vary by model and country.

At this exhibition, a range of future-forward solutions across various fields, including health care and education, are on display for visitors to explore. At this year’s CES alone, startups fostered by C-Lab have been awarded a total of 29 CES 2023 Innovation Awards, cementing their technological capabilities on the global stage.

Read on to learn more about the projects and startups by Samsung’s C-Lab programs on display at CES this year.

▲ Samsung’s C-Lab exhibition showcased a number of its in-house ventures (C-Lab Inside) and supported startups (C-Lab Outside) at Eureka Park in Las Vegas. Startups at C-Lab have taken home a whopping 29 CES 2023 Innovation Awards this year.

C-Lab Inside: Four In-House Projects Taking on Lifestyle, the Metaverse and More

Samsung has been operating its in-house startup fostering program C-Lab Inside since 2012 in order to lead the development of innovative technologies based on creative ideas and the spirit of stepping up to challenges. Out of the projects being fostered within the company, the ones on show at CES this year have been particularly recognized for their innovation, global marketability and overall completeness.

▲ Meta-Running, a coaching platform on the metaverse that helps users run with proper posture, displays the user’s running position in real-time alongside footage of a professional runner adopting the correct posture, helping users prevent injury.

“Most injuries sustained while running come from incorrect posture,” said Donghoon Kang, Creative Leader of Meta-Running, one of the in-house startups on show garnering a lot of attention from visitors to the exhibition. “We feel that harnessing the metaverse and AI technologies can help people run in a healthier and safer manner,” elaborated Kang on where the inspiration came from for this metaverse-powered running project.

Meta-Running can be used with just a mobile device, removing the need for an additional sensor. When a user actually runs, AI technologies will utilize the mobile device’s camera to recognize the user’s body, representing their movements via an avatar in the metaverse. The technologies then analyze their posture and immediately inform them of any changes they should make. Following their run, the user is then provided with a summary of their running postures across each part of their body, as well as a guide on how to correct any wrong posture. As a result, users can work on addressing their posture, muscle strength and any over-pacing issues — three of the main causes of injuries in running.

“We’ve been working day and night to participate in CES, and have also achieved the great accomplishment of applying for a Class A-level patent,” said Kang. “We’ve earned the confidence to say that our efforts have not been in vain and that our ideas are competitive enough.”

▲ Soom, a meditation solution that helps users enjoy more relaxing meditation through real-time feedback

▲ Polkamix, a metaverse concert platform that allows users to enjoy and react to concerts in real-time from the comfort of their home

▲ Falette, an interior service that provides users with 3D visualizations of fabric products, helping them choose the best product before purchasing

C-Lab Outside: Eight Startups Pioneering the Future of Robotics, AI, Digital Healthcare and Beyond

C-Lab Outside is a startup incubating program that was launched following the success of the C-Lab Inside program in order to expand the operational knowledge gained to those outside of the company and to vitalize the startup ecosystem. The startups chosen for the C-Lab Outside program receive a customized incubation program which includes project support funds, digital marketing assistance, financial consulting and more.

▲ NEUBILITY, an urban delivery service using self-driving robots, that redefines on-demand home delivery by providing autonomous home delivery in densely populated areas

▲ NdotLight, a web-based 3D design solution, that allows designers to collaborate on projects even when working remotely

▲ Wrtn Technologies, an AI-based writing practice software, that enables model and language swapping services for businesses looking to expand to global markets

Wrtn Technologies is an education-tech startup that harnesses natural language processing (NLP). At CES 2023, the company has been drawing visitors’ attention with its presentations of its AI writing practicing software, Wrtn Training, which lets users transform their thoughts into writing. “I witnessed many students struggle with expressing their thoughts in writing while I and my team members were participating in an education volunteering program at Korea Scholar’s Conference for Youth (KSCY),” said Seyoung Lee, Co-Founder of Wrtn Technologies. “We developed this AI-based writing practice software after much consideration into how we can make it easier for such individuals to improve their writing skills with the help of technology.”

One of the key factors that inspired the development of Wrtn Technologies has been the emergence of AI and the shift in the definition of creativity that has accompanied it. “Confluent services that combine AI with education are set to become even more important,” noted Lee. “What makes me happy is that Wrtn Technologies has been the first in the Generative AI field following these recent technological changes to receive a CES Innovation Award. Ever since we were selected by C-Lab Outside, we have been able to grow fast, thanks in particular to the commercialization support and marketing assistance we received from the program.”

▲ (from left to right, top to bottom) 40FY, a customizable online mental health care app that provides services from examination to treatment; Plask, a browser-based AI motion capture and animation editing tool that helps designers animate easier; Catius, an AI character capable of realistic conversations with children to help them develop their language skills; and Erangtek, an ultra-small micro repeater that helps enhance call quality

The electronic eye being displayed by startup CELLICO is another highlight of the exhibition. An electronic eye is a device that helps patients suffering from visual impairment to recover their vision across all stages of retinal disease. “In the case of those who have lost their vision due to retinal disease, the movement of their iris, which can be likened to the aperture in cameras, does not function properly,” explained Jeongseok Kim, CEO of CELLICO. “With our augmented reality (AR) glasses, equipped with a camera capable of capturing images and then projecting them to the user through video processing with a consistent amount of light for optimal reception, users get the most out of their time spent both indoors and outdoors.”

▲ CELLICO, the first high-tech healthcare company in Korea to develop a micro-bionic eye for patients with retinal disease

CELLICO’s CES Innovation Award-winning electronic eye technology has already registered a U.S. patent and is currently awaiting the results of review applications to China and Europe. “Honestly, I just about screamed with joy when we were notified that we had won our first CES Innovation Award,” said Kim. “We would like to make the AR-based electronic eye device that we are developing now into a true success in order to help even more visually-impaired people.”

▲The team members of CELLICO, one of Samsung’s C-Lab Outside startups

To learn more about the products and services of C-Lab, which works towards sustainable innovation, visit the CES 2023 C-Lab Exhibition website, and stay tuned to Samsung Newsroom for all the latest news about Samsung at CES 2023.

C-Lab Inside: Metaverse and Lifestyle Projects From Samsung Employees Go on Show

Since 2016, Samsung has been exhibiting its C-Lab Inside projects at CES, and the upcoming projects for 2023 have been highly evaluated in terms of innovation, marketability and completeness among those currently being fostered in-house. And they are as follows:

• Meta-Running, a metaverse platform to learn proper running form
• Polkamix, a metaverse platform that provides an interactive concert experience
• Soom, a new meditation experience with real-time feedback
• Falette, a 3D digital transformation for home fabric products

C-Lab Outside: Startups Showcasing Robots, AI and More To Receive CES Spotlight

Created in October 2018, C-Lab Outside is a startup acceleration program launched to invigorate the startup ecosystem in Korea. Startups enrolled in the C-Lab Outside program are provided with office workspaces, expert mentoring from Samsung employees and digital marketing & financial consulting. Additional support includes potential partnerships with Samsung Electronics and opportunities to participate in influential IT exhibitions such as CES and KES (Korea Electronics Show).

For the past year, Samsung, the Daegu Center and the Gyeong-buk Center for Creative Economy & Innovation, which are parts of C-Lab Outside, have been incubating these startups to develop their technology and be ready to meet the world at CES 2023. The eight chosen startups are:

• NdotLight, a web-based 3D design solution
• NEUBILITY, an urban delivery service through self-driving robots
• 40FY, a digital mental health care app service from examination to treatment,
• CELLICO, a micro-bionic eye for patients with retinal disease
• Plask, an AI and browser-based motion capture and animation editing tool
• Wrtn Technologies, writing training and content creation services using Generative AI
• Catius, a multi-turn conversational AI companion for children
• Erangtek, an IoT micro repeater for home users to improve call quality

C-Lab Startups Bring Record-Breaking 29 Wins of the CES 2023 Innovation Awards

In November 2022, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced the winners of the CES 2023 Innovation Awards across 28 product categories, including Best of Innovation. Projects from the C-Lab startups received two Best of Innovation Awards, and 27 were named Innovation Awards Honorees. As a result, C-Lab took home 22 Innovation Awards in 2022 and seven more in 2023 for their standout technologies.

Samsung Electronics is sharing its knowledge of how to win the CES Innovation Award and enter the global market.

“It is a great pleasure to see that C-Lab startups have proven their technological prowess on the global stage, as evidenced by the most Innovation Awards ever at CES,” said Hark Kyu Park, President and Chief Financial Officer at Samsung Electronics. “We hope that C-Lab startups will be able to more actively target the global market and show the excellence of Korean startups.”

Notably, Dot Inc., which develops devices and software for the visually impaired, was named a CES 2023 Best of Innovation Award winner in the Accessibility category and also named two CES Innovation Awards Honorees. Verses, which developed the Meta Music System for streaming, was named a CES 2023 Best of Innovation Award winner in the Streaming category.

Seven of the eight startups to exhibit in the C-Lab booth — NEUBILITY, 40FY, NdotLight, CELLICO, Plask, Catius, Wrtn Technologies — won Innovation Awards.

Additionally, seven spun-off startups from C-Lab Inside and 11 former C-Lab Outside startups won two Best of Innovation Awards and 20 Innovation Awards.

Samsung Has Achieved Its Goal of Nurturing 500 Startups and Projects Over Five Years

In 2018, Samsung Electronics announced that it would accelerate 300 Korean startups through C-Lab Outside and 200 projects through C-Lab Inside over a five-year period. The company has nurtured a total of 506 startups and projects (304 from C-Lab Outside and 202 from C-Lab Inside) so far.

Samsung recently established C-Lab Family, a unique professional network through which alumni startups can continue to co-operate with Samsung even after graduating from C-Lab Outside or spun-off from C-Lab. It also created C-Lab Scale-Up Committee and plans to gradually expand partnerships and investments for C-Lab Family in the future.

¹ Starting in December 2012, Samsung C-Lab Inside was established to encourage Samsung employees to discover new ideas and foster a culture of creativity. Those that have proven marketability will either transfer to an in-house division of Samsung or become spin-off projects the company supports.

C-Lab Inside: Four Projects From Samsung Employees To Debut

Since 2016, Samsung has been exhibiting its C-Lab Inside projects at Eureka Park, the main exhibition space for startups from around the world at CES. During the exhibition, the marketability and customer response will be gauged to enhance and further advance the startups’ projects. Those that have proven marketability will either transfer to an in-house division of Samsung or become spin-off projects that will be supported by the company.

The four C-Lab Inside projects that will be exhibited are:

• Piloto, an AI solution that helps children develop proper smartphone usage habits
• PROBA, an AI-based online exam service for administrators, test-takers and supervisors
• innovision, a nursery mobile for early detection of infant strabismus
• ZamStar, a smart electric guitar that makes learning guitar easy with LED guides

C-Lab Outside: Nine Startups That Are Ready for the Global Market

Created in October 2018, C-Lab Outside is a startup acceleration program that was launched to invigorate the startup ecosystem in South Korea. Startups enrolled in the C-Lab Outside program are provided with office workspaces, expert mentoring from Samsung employees, participation in global IT exhibitions, and financial and investor relations support.

Five startups that have been incubated directly by Samsung over the past year and four startups from the Daegu Center and the Gyeong-buk Center for Creative Economy & Innovation that are part of C-Lab Outside will also participate in CES 2022. They include:

• Petnow, an AI-based pet biometric recognition solution
• Digisonic, a 3D immersive audio solution for mobile devices
• Verses, an interactive metaverse music app
• bitsensing, an array of imaging radar technology solutions for autonomous driving and smart cities
• SELECTSTAR, an AI-based data collection and labelling platform
• RGT Inc., a multifunctional modular serving robot
• MoreDream Inc., an input system to improve accessibility and productivity for the visually impaired
• Yellowknife, a vehicle display customization platform
• MONIT, a smart diaper care solution for elderly patients

Furthermore, nine startups that have been spun off from C-Lab Inside also plan to set up their own exhibition booths at CES 2022. The spun-off startups that will exhibit include EVAR, Prinker Korea Inc., lululab and Linkface.

C-Lab Startups Recognized as Honorees and Best of Innovation at CES 2022

In November of 2021, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced CES 2022 Innovation Awards across 27 product categories, including those recognized as Best of Innovation. Projects from the C-Lab startups received one Best of Innovation award and 21 Innovation Awards Honoree nods for their standout technologies.

Notably, Petnow, which developed an AI-based biometric recognition solution for pets, was named a CES 2022 Best of Innovation award winner in the Software & Mobile Apps category. The Petnow app uses a camera to automatically detect, photograph and register a dog’s nose print, making it easier to find lost dogs.

C-Lab’s other award-winning products and services include: Digisonic, EVAR, lululab, Verses, bitsensing, Linkface, LUPLE, BLUEFEEL, Prinker Korea Inc, etc. The CES 2022 Innovation Award-winning products will be displayed separately at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas.

“With the support of the C-Lab program, these startups have proven their technological prowess on the global stage, as evidenced by the most Innovation Awards ever at CES,” said Hark Kyu Park, President and Chief Financial Officer at Samsung Electronics. “We hope the startups that had difficulty expanding their businesses due to the pandemic will be able to target the global market more actively, starting with CES 2022.”

Samsung Plans To Have Nurtured 500 Startups by Next Year

Started in December 2012, C-Lab Inside nurtures employees’ innovative ideas while instilling a corporate culture in which creativity is at the fore. The program supports the development of ideas from all areas of the business. Since 2015, Samsung has been supporting successful C-Lab projects that demonstrate great market potential, and facilitating their launch as startups under the C-Lab spin-off policy. Leveraging the success of the C-Lab Inside initiative, C-Lab Outside has been expanding Samsung’s support for new ventures to startups and innovations outside of the Samsung network since 2018.

Samsung Electronics had previously announced that it would accelerate 300 Korean startups through C-Lab Outside and 200 projects through C-Lab Inside over a five-year period. The company has nurtured a total of 406 startups (244 from C-Lab Outside and 162 from C-Lab Inside) so far, and plans to reach 500 by next year.

Samsung Electronics will demonstrate its C-Lab products and services from January 5th through the 8th at the C-Lab exhibition booth on the first floor of Hall G at Venetian Expo (formerly Sands Expo), Eureka Park. Visitors who are unable to visit the site in person will be able to watch product videos online from today until January 30th on the C-Lab website (https://www.claboutside.com/ces2022), and will also be offered chances to communicate with the startups.

[C-Lab Spin-Offs Participating in CES 2022]

*The above images are not the actual ID but a design draft.

Through C-Lab, Samsung Electronics provides opportunities for select projects and start-ups, with the final list of selected companies being announced at international events such as CES 2021. Through not only C-Lab Inside¹ and C-Lab Outside,² but also the C-Lab Outside companies that are selected in affiliation with the Daegu & Gyeongbuk Centers for Creative Economy & Innovation (CCEI), Samsung secures chances for companies to join the international stage. These efforts allow the stepping stones of growth to be broadened for an increasing number of start-ups.

So exactly which start-ups were chosen to take the stage at the CES 2021 digital exhibition? Samsung Newsroom met with two start-ups and one in-house venture from C-Lab to find out more about them as they prepare for the upcoming CES exhibition.

■ Tell us about Food & Sommelier.

We are one of the teams selected as an in-house venture within C-Lab Inside. We provide a service that recommends the best food and wine combinations according to users’ preferences. While collaborating on R&D with the Korea International Sommelier Association (KISA), we selected elements that affect the suitability of food-wine combinations. The elements concerning food consisted of 28 ingredients, 12 cooking methods, and 47 sauces. For wine, the important factors included body, acidity, aroma, and sweetness. After converting these elements into numerical figures, we developed the capability to recommend the food and wine combinations that would prove most attractive to our users. For example, the classifications of foods include beef, chicken, pork, oily fish, and mushrooms, while some examples of the cooking methods are blanching, steaming, boiling, and grilling. With proven recommendations from Korea’s major sommeliers, Food & Sommelier is striving to create a service that is reliable for customers.

■ What compelled the company to provide food and wine combination recommendations?

We have often witnessed situations where waiters and waitresses were confused about what wine they should recommend when helping customers. As we learned more about wine, we realized that the field of wine is somewhat influenced by IT. The global wine market is expected to continue to grow in the coming years. As wine becomes more and more popular, there will be more demand for our service. Once our service is combined with IT, anyone will be able to enjoy dishes with the appropriate wine to match.

■ How do I use the service?

First, start your app on your smartphone and take a picture of the food. Once the program recognizes the dish, the matching algorithm will recommend some wines with high match rates.

■ How will Food & Sommelier change our day-to-day lives in the future?

In the past, customers had to rely on the recommendations of store clerks or price ranges to pick a wine. In the future, however, Food & Sommelier will help them conveniently select a wine or dish based on their preferences by providing information via kiosks, a smartphone app, and tablet PCs. Wherever there is an establishment that serves wine, Food & Sommelier will provide a gourmet restaurant experience with sommelier-quality recommendations.

■ What are your goals?

South Korea is on the fringes when it comes to the wine market. By incorporating the market with the world’s best IT, however, we are sure that the Korean market can come to be a leader in the ‘food tech’ market. Food & Sommelier would also like to go beyond the wine market, and hopes to widen its scope of pairing solutions to include a range of other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

■ Tell us about Counter Culture Company.

We are one of the start-ups selected from C-Lab Outside. We operate a global K-pop online home training service called ED Online K-pop Training Agency. Instructors who have experience nurturing famous K-pop stars provide comprehensive lectures on not only dancing, but also vocal training, fitness, makeup, and styling. This service provides international fans with the actual training that K-pop singers receive.

■ What motivated you to provide this service?

As K-pop gains international popularity, people are increasingly interested in finding out how Korea’s K-pop singers are fostered. Chinese and European singers-to-be are already spending tens of thousands of dollars per year to receive K-pop training in Korea.

We have paid close attention to providing world-class online lectures, and other services that deliver the know-how of international millionaires, at reasonable prices without any time or space restrictions for use. Accordingly, we wondered if we could incorporate this into online services that teach dance or deliver vocal training. Once the future K-pop trainees learn basic moves and receive vocal training online before starting their official training in Korea, the entertainment management companies that deliver the in-person training may be able to reduce their costs as well.

■ How do users utilize the service?

With our service, users can basically take online K-pop classes. By syncing their smartphone cameras, users can use ‘mirror studio’ to compare their moves with those of the instructor and ‘live class’ to experience real-time interactive training. To truly improve, trainees require monitoring and professional feedback. Thus, ED provides assignments for practice every week and professional feedback regarding the submitted performances. Moreover, users can check their progress by going through monthly evaluations along with Korean K-pop trainees.

■ How will Counter Culture Company change our day-to-day lives in the future?

Our service will allow any K-pop trainee to take high-quality lessons regardless of space and time, even if they live far away from Korea. ED is also planning to launch an online audition service in collaboration with some entertainment management companies. In the past, those companies had to travel overseas to find talent, which required a lot of effort and expense. If ED can develop online audition capabilities for those qualified trainees, however, those management companies will be able to find more talent, regardless of recruiting restrictions.

■ What are your goals?

It has been about seven months since the official launch of the service. So far, we have been enjoying meaningful encounters while providing better user experiences and having our business grow at the same time. K-pop is a music genre that anyone can enjoy. We hope that our service will help global fans of K-pop communicate with one another and see their dreams come true by going beyond time, space, and language barriers.

■ Tell us about Salin.

Salin is a start-up that is supported by C-Lab Outside through the Daegu Center for Creative Economy & Innovation. With Salin, users can create avatars that resemble themselves to share content and communicate in virtual or augmented reality (VR or AR). There are many cooperative platforms in the market, although the purpose of those platforms is generally limited to meetings and training. Salin’s platform can be utilized for various purposes such as virtual concert halls for sharing performance videos, online training venues and virtual meeting rooms. In addition, anyone can easily utilize our technology through their laptops and smartphones, which are easier to access than smart glasses and VR headsets.

■ What made the company want to provide this service?

Up to now, most companies have been focused on applying VR and AR technologies to game services. However, we decided that these technologies were more suitable for services in the areas of media, education and collaboration.

■ How do users utilize the service?

First, users activate the Salin app with a laptop, smartphone or VR/AR headset. Once they have uploaded a selfie, they can create avatars that look like themselves and act in response to their movement. After that, all they have to do is use functions such as 3D writing and multi-video sharing to invite others into 3D spaces and enjoy talking with them.

■ How will Salin change our day-to-day lives in the future?

Imagine 50 avatars talking to each other on Salin’s platform – that would constitute a remarkable experience. This is a whole other level compared to 50 people exchanging messages online. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, college students have started using more virtual meeting services for not only studying but also social gatherings. By utilizing Salin, users will not only do better work but also enjoy a variety of daily activities in VR and AR environments.

■ What are your goals?

Last year, Salin’s platform was used to view sports events and performances, for remote collaboration work and for docent services. This year, we plan to launch more services to support large-scale exhibitions and conferences with hundreds of remote users. At Salin, we hope to provide unique services in such a way that more users and companies can combine their businesses with our platform.

¹ ‘C-Lab Inside’ is Samsung’s in-house idea incubation program that has been looking to instill a creative corporate culture throughout the company and nurture its employees’ ideas into meaningful offerings since December 2012.

² ‘C-Lab Outside’ is a start-up acceleration program for entrepreneurs outside of Samsung Electronics that has been seeking to invigorate the start-up ecosystem since 2018.

Given the lack of opportunities startups have had in participating in in-person industry exhibitions amid the pandemic in 2020, Samsung is supporting the virtual participation of the startups at this year’s CES to help them attract potential investors and buyers. Also exhibiting at CES for the first time this year are local startups incubated by Samsung in collaboration with Daegu Center for Creative Economy & Innovation and Gyeong-buk Center for Creative Economy & Innovation.

C-Lab Inside: Four Projects Catering to Unique Consumer Lifestyles to be Exhibited

C-Lab Inside, which began in 2012, is an in-house idea incubation program that encourages and nurtures innovative ideas from Samsung employees. This will be the sixth consecutive year C-Lab is participating in CES. The C-Lab Inside projects to be unveiled this year focuses on personalized products and services catering to diverse lifestyles. Product marketability and customer responses will be gauged during the exhibition to enhance and further advance the projects.

The four C-Lab Inside projects are:

• EZCal, automated TV picture quality calibration application for cinema-level viewing quality;
• Air Pocket, portable oxygen storage device;
• Scan&Dive, IoT device & solution for fabric classification and optimal care recommendation;
• And Food&Sommelier, a service for finding optimal food & wine pairing.

C-Lab Outside: From AI to Healthcare and Entertainment, Seventeen Startups Ready for the Global Market

Created in October 2018, C-Lab Outside is a startup acceleration program to vitalize the startup ecosystem in South Korea. Local startup incubation programs by Daegu Center and Gyeong-buk Center for Creative Economy & Innovation are also run as part of C-Lab Outside.

Startups enrolled in the C-Lab Outside programs are provided with office workspace, expert mentoring by Samsung employees, opportunities to participate in global IT exhibitions, investor relations and financial support.

Seventeen startups incubated in the past year will participate in CES 2021. The innovations exhibited by the companies include:

• AI-based personal information anonymization by Deeping Source,
• Real-life avatar creation through 3D scanning and VR/AR content creation solution by Flux Planet,
• Growth management device for children by Magpie Tech,
• Fashion design creation using image AI by Designovel.

C-Lab Outside startups plan to target the global market starting with CES 2021, meeting worldwide investors and buyers for potential new business opportunities.

Three Startups Spun Off from C-Lab Inside Recognized as Innovation Honorees at CES 2021

Samsung Electronics has been supporting high-potential C-Lab Inside projects to spin off as fully fledged startups since 2015. Three startups from C-Lab Inside—Luple, Bluefeel and Pixelro—await global partners and consumers at CES 2021.

CTA (The Consumer Technology Association) has also recognized the efforts from the Samsung startup incubation program and has chosen three startups from C-Lab Inside as innovation honorees of CES 2021 in the area of health and wellness.

The awardees are:

• Luple, which has developed a portable and artificial sunlight device;
• Breathings, a maker of an IoT device that easily manages respiratory health,
• Linkface, which has received the award for two consecutive years now with its neckband device that monitors breath and heart related bio signals.

“We hope that the startups from C-Lab Outside successfully prove their technological competencies and competitive edge on the global stage at CES and will find new business opportunities,” Inkuk Hahn, Corporate VP and Head of Creativity & Innovation Center at Samsung Electronics. “We are also excited about bringing C-Lab Inside projects to a wider audience. Encouraging forward-thinking innovations both inside and outside the company and providing opportunities for collaboration is crucial successful synergy in technology, which in the end will benefit everyone.”

Samsung Electronics has previously announced in 2018 that it would accelerate 300 Korean startups through C-Lab Outside and 200 projects through C-Lab Inside for the next 5 years.

Appendix 1. C-Lab Inside Projects

Appendix 2. C-Lab Outside Startups

C-Lab Outside is a startup acceleration program that supports new businesses by harnessing the know-how of C-Lab Inside – an in-house venture initiative that Samsung Electronics has been running for more than seven years. The C-Lab Outside program seeks to encourage the domestic startup ecosystem by offering new companies up to 100 million KRW in financial support, as well as free office space and expert mentoring for one year.

Meet ‘Dobrain’, a startup that provides a mobile service that assesses children’s cognitive development and helps facilitate treatment if needed. Another venture company, ‘Pixel Display’, has developed an eye exam service that is available on smartphones. Watch the video clip below to see how these two startups are making dreams come true with the help of C-Lab Outside.

2020 marks the first year that the start-ups accepted to participate in C-Lab outside will be featured at CES. Leveraging the success of the C-Lab Inside initiative, C-Lab Outside has been expanding Samsung’s support for new ventures to start ups and innovations outside of the Samsung network since 2018. The program provides financial support, business collaboration and chances to participate in global exhibitions for new entities with the goal of energizing the start-up ecosystem and creating more IT and technology-driven jobs.

The number of homes populated by just one person is expected to skyrocket in the near-future, with more than 120 million new single-person households expected to be added globally between 2016 and 2030. This demographic will be created by young singles prioritizing their careers over relationships, as well as by the expanding widowed and divorced elderly group, which is especially significant in developed countries. From these shifting demographics emerge pressing concerns regarding loneliness, isolation and a host of other social problems. Thus, team Circulus has introduced its household pet robot ‘pibo’ to try and help address this issue. Asked about the meaning of their team name, team Circulus related that “Circulus is Latin for circle. The word also contains ‘us’, which stands for ‘let us help each other.’”

Pibo balances people’s emotions via communication. It is versatile, offering basic conversation, guidance services including news and weather information, and a voice search function. The humanoid robot analyzes the user’s facial expressions and dialogue in order to best interact with them, delivering conversation, well-known sayings, turning on music or starting to dance depending on how the user is perceived to be feeling. Unlike a smart speaker, pibo doesn’t wait for you to speak up first, and will often initiate conversation when you walk past. Users can also share memories with pibo, using it to share memories, photos and voice diary entries. What’s more, users can update their pet robot with new features by downloading them from the robot application store. Pibo can be customized specifically for you as you make use of its advanced capabilities and tailor its functions to your preferences.

“We’d like to introduce pibo to the world at CES 2020,” said a member of Circulus, “As the US, Europe and Japan are all experiencing an uptick in one-person households, pibo can be a great friend to those who are alone.”

Generally, if you want a personalized exercise plan, you must first undergo a medical examination. However, going to the hospital to put on a mask and run on a treadmill represents a daunting task to many. FITT is a PHR (Personal Health Record) healthcare data platform that was created to positively influence people’s health via easy-to-use exercise evaluation software. When asked about the meaning of their team name, team FITT explained that “Our team name is an abbreviation of the four major elements of exercise planning: Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type.”

FITT starts out by measuring your maximum oxygen intake while you complete a 2.4km running exercise through the FITT app. This test allows the program to produce four one-page reports containing professional-level data regarding the user’s body and physical condition, as well as a fitness program that is tailor-made for them. Within the program FITT issues a customized cardiorespiratory exercise plan, recommending how far users should run, how fast and for how long, as well as a customized posture and muscle strength exercise plan. Once users complete the fitness test, FITT can even predict diseases that the user might be susceptible to, including high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, stroke, heart attacks and cardiovascular disease, among others. If the system identifies that a user is at risk for one or more of these conditions, it will recommend further preventative activities for them. FITT is currently being provided as a web service in select fitness centers, but will be made widely available once the FITT app launches in March of 2020.

“Exercise works best when it is customized for the individual and done in a controlled environment,” a member of team FITT commented, “I hope our ‘exercise evaluations’ help users find out which kind of exercise routine is the best fit for them.”

These days, people use a lot of different devices, with a broad range of different features. In light of this, Suk-jung Kim of Vtouch says he feels that “new ways to interact with devices should be emerging as well.” The conventional input methods these days include either using a touchscreen or interacting with a cursor, but these methods can be prohibitive for users with limited mobility or children who cannot always reach up high enough to interact with devices. Asked about the meaning of their team name, team Vtouch reported that “It means ‘virtual touch’, which communicates the fact that our solution can bring about a ‘touch’ input without the need for physical contact.”

Vtouch’s concept focuses on the fact that whenever you point at an object, your eyes, finger and the object you are pointing at are aligned. The technology enables a non-contact touch input by using computer vision and deep-learning technologies to analyze the movement of the eyes and finger through a camera. Vtouch allows for more sanitary use of devices by removing the physical touch element, and maintains a recognition rate of over 99 percent, with an error margin of just 5 percent of the distance between the user’s hand and the display. As the intuitive technology only requires a camera and processor to work, it can be implemented in a wide range of sectors including automotive, IoT (smart home) and digital signage.

“At first, Vtouch was too expensive to mass produce,” a member of the Vtouch team relates, “However, with the help of various researchers and developers we have been able to bring the price down to where it is now cheaper than most touch panels. We are hoping to implement our solution in multiple environments soon in order to provide a convenient, inclusive experience for users.”

We are living in the era of video-first, and video calls are great for allowing you to talk to loved ones face-to-face without actually being in the same place. However, video calls aren’t appropriate for all situations. If someone video calls you in a quiet place like the library or the subway, or if you want to talk about something private, video calls are less than ideal. Thus, the Smoothy team set out to create a video call app that would address these inconveniences. By incorporating text elements into the video calling interface, while also allowing people to incorporate large groups into their video calls, Smoothy has attracted more than 850,000 users already. Commenting on their team name, the members of team Smoothy related that “Our name implies the smooth combination of video, voice and text during video calls. It also means togetherness while expressing yourself, wherever you are.”

When you answer a call on Smoothy, the call is initially launched in silent mode, meaning that you can answer a video call, anytime, anywhere. Smoothy allows for large group video calls as well, enabling up to eight people to participate in a video call at once. From there, you can either talk normally, or chat with real-time texting, with your texts appearing in the call window as you type. Although we are living in the world of video, most people still communicate through text messages, and the world of texting is brought to life when you can see your friend’s reaction in real-time right before your eyes. Smoothy even allows you to quickly and conveniently capture video clips and send them to friends, enabling whole conversations to unfold through snippets of video. Unlike other video call apps, Smoothy enables you to decorate yourself with features such as AR Emoji, allowing for more fun video chats. When you are in a video chat with more than two people, Smoothy even allows you to visualize your reactions with next-level features such as a lightning effect and a function that allows you to cause other participants’ displays to shake.

“Firstly, we would like to provide a video call app that is fun to use,” reported a member of team Smoothy, “And secondly, we want to deliver an app that enables a wide range of effects and interaction styles.”

A total of nine C-Lab teams will exhibit their work at CES 2020 in Las Vegas from January 7 to 10. While showcasing their work the teams will meet with future users from all over the world to discuss their ideas and try to determine how their innovations will be received. The C-Lab categories will be introduced in two installments, with Part 1 highlighting the five teams who were selected by the internal company venture program.

As smartphone performance has come to rival that of laptops, many users have begun using their smartphones to edit documents and write emails. Unfortunately, typing extended texts on a small keyboard proves uncomfortable, while using a portable keyboard requires the user to carry another sizeable piece of hardware around. Thus, the SelfieType team has come up with “the keyboardless keyboard.”

With SelfieType, the only keyboard you need is yourself. You just place your smartphone on any flat surface and hold your hands in the typing position. Then, when you start typing, the proprietary SelfieType AI engine will analyze your finger movements and convert them into QWERTY keyboard inputs on your smartphone. Except for an RGB, front-facing smartphone camera, the technology requires no additional hardware to enable user-friendly typing. Although current testing is based on English-language typing, the developers are planning to test the technology with other languages in the near-future. The team is also focusing on improving accuracy by enabling SelfieType to be customized according to individual users’ typing styles. SelfieType’s technology can also be extended to tablets, laptops and various other mobile devices.

“At CES, we’d like to receive feedback on how to keep improving SelfieType,” a member of the SelfieType team reports, “we want to see SelfieType shock the world!”

It was a love of reading that first compelled the members of team Hyler to find an easier way to clip excerpts from extended texts while reading them. In order to digitize texts, you would ordinarily need to type the information out manually, but Hyler allows you to transfer texts from paper to an app just by highlighting them with a pen.

On the outside, Hyler looks similar to a regular highlighter. But beneath the surface, it is much more. Hyler utilizes an optical module and line scan camera to capture text and send it to an OCR (optical character recognition) engine, which digitizes it. This technology can be seen in use in public parking lots which utilize technology that reads and records vehicle license plates. Handheld text scanning presents new challenges however, because of the margin of error that is introduced by the movement of the user’s hand. To address this, the Hyler team developed their patented “source matching” technology, which reduces both character error rate (CER) and word error rate (WER) by around 50%. This technology also allows the user to quickly and easily search for specific information such as figures, tables and numbers in the digitized text. The device can be turned on and off by simply removing or replacing the cap, and it can be used not only to clip text, but also to look up the meanings of words in a range of connected dictionaries and search engines. With a diameter of just 13mm, the device is slim and portable, and if you prefer to clip text without leaving marks on the page the device’s removable tip can be replaced with an inkless one.

“We imagine that people will use Hyler when they’re reading academic studies or working on long documents,” said a member of team Hyler, “Furthermore, we would like to see the texts that users digitize analyzed in order to gain insights into contemporary trends.”

Minsuk Park, the leader of team Becon, started losing his hair in his 20s. For 10 years every hair loss medicine and special shampoo he tried was ineffective, while seeking professional treatment proved costly and inconvenient. “What if there was a way to get professional-level scalp care from home?” he wondered. This was the beginning of Becon.

To make a precise evaluation of scalp conditions, the Becon hand-held device and app can be used to analyze the 10 different elements of scalp health. These include: hair density, follicle count, texture, sensitivity, temperature, moisture and scent, among others. Becon uses a camera with 80X magnification, a CMOS sensor and a machine leaning-based algorithm to analyze the scalp, before recommending a solution that is tailored to the user’s unique condition. Once the user’s scalp has been analyzed, an AI algorithm selects from a list of more than 60 ingredients to design a customized shampoo that best fits the user’s scalp assessment. As time goes on, Becon collects data to deliver a diagnostic report illustrating the progress that has been made regarding the user’s condition.

“We want to keep improving our scalp diagnostic algorithm to provide accurate information to as many people as possible,” a Becon member commented, “As our goal is to enter the global market, we’re currently working on building a database of hair products from all over the world.”

Every house has windows that face in different directions, and a room can often end up feeling cold and dark unless it has windows that face south. Because the human body only synthesizes vitamin D when you are exposed to sunlight, a lack of natural light can be bad for your health. What’s more, according to a clinical review published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, around a billion people worldwide may have deficient or insufficient vitamin D levels. “Is there a way we could enjoy healthy sunlight whenever and wherever we want?” This was the question pondered by team Sunnyside, who put their minds to creating a window-like lighting device that would generate artificial sunlight.

SunnySide mimics the full solar spectrum, which makes the light it generates very similar to actual sunlight. The only difference is that it eliminates UVA, which leads to skin aging, while providing the UVB that is conducive to good health, resulting in the production of “healthier sunlight”. Sunnyside windows are easy to install anywhere, meaning that users can sunbathe indoors and in the process elevate their vitamin D levels without having to worry about skin damage. Users can use SunnySide for a more natural morning wake-up that will help alleviate insomnia and seasonal depression, then enjoy watching the device cycle from dawn, to noon, and finally to a red sunset. In cooperation with Samsung C&T, SunnySide was tested at the Raemian Gallery model house in South Korea. SunnySide was installed in the bathroom space, and the test found that synthesis of an appropriate amount of vitamin D – which would have taken around an hour in regular sunlight – was able to occur in only six minutes while the test subject was in the shower.

“Considering how many people buy bottled water and filter their air these days, it seems only natural that they will soon seek out healthier sunlight,” reports a SunnySide team member, “With SunnySide, you no longer have to go up onto the roof or drive to the beach to get some sun.”

Receiving insufficient amounts of ultraviolet (UV) light can lead to increased chances of bone abnormalities and diabetes. However, receiving too much UV light can cause cataracts and skin cancer. Therefore, ensuring that your body receives the right amount of UV light is important. What’s more, the UV sensors currently available have different incidence angles at different solar altitudes, so it is difficult to precisely measure how much ultraviolet light you are being exposed to. The UltraV team was gathered to address this issue.

The UltraV ultraviolet sensor combines a proximity sensor and photochromic materials. The proximity sensor – which is made up of an LED and PD sensor – is mounted on a smartphone to conserve battery. The photochromic material becomes opaque when exposed to ultraviolet rays, changing the amount of LED light entering the PD and allowing the sensor’s firmware to produce UV index readings. Although the issue of sensitivity reduction according to angle is inevitable in this kind of sensor, the UltraV team were able to drastically minimize this effect to the point where the solution maintains 90% accuracy at an incident angle of 60 degrees. When equipped to a wearable device or smartphone, the UltraV sensor allows users to conveniently monitor the condition of their skin and their vitamin D levels and receive guidance if they are under or overexposed. This type of wide-field-of-vision UV sensor is one of the first of its kind, with patents already obtained in the US, EU and China.

“The sensor we have developed is smaller than a fingernail, which means that it can regulate sunlight intake not only through wearable devices, but also in automobiles and on building windows,” a member of UltraV related, “Our product can be used in an unlimited number of ways, so we are looking forward to seeing where it will best be applied.”

“We will actively support C-Lab to create products that reflect the latest market trends and customer demands and will showcase outstanding projects and startups of C-Lab in various global exhibitions,” said Inkuk Hahn, Vice President and Head of the Creativity & Innovation Center at Samsung Electronics.

From C-Lab Inside Projects to Successful Spin-offs

C-Lab Inside is an in-house idea incubation program that encourages and nurtures innovative ideas from Samsung employees, which began in 2012. This will be the fifth year C-Lab is participating in CES.

The new C-Lab Inside projects being unveiled for the first time at this year’s event are focused on a convenient and healthy lifestyle. They include: SelfieType, a virtual keyboard solution using the front-facing camera; Hyler, a smart highlighter pen that digitizes text printed on paper; Becon, a home care solution for scalp treatment & hair loss prevention; SunnySide, window-shaped artificial sunlight; and Ultra V, an ultraviolet monitoring sensor and service.

Since its inception, a total of 40 Samsung C-Lab alumni projects have launched as fully-fledged start-ups, independent from the company. And eight of these will be showcasing their latest innovations and products at CES 2020 at their own booths, seeking new opportunities to expand their reach. These successful spin-offs include Linkflow, Welt, Linkface, Lululab, Mopic, Monit, AnaloguePlus, and Luple.

Linkface is notable in that it has been named as Innovation Honoree of CES 2020 for its ‘Dear’ headphone with a biosignal sensor to reduce the risk of hearing loss in children. Welt, Lululab and Linkflow also have been honored with industry awards for their respective innovations.

Four Start-ups Accelerated Through C-Lab Outside

Four new start-ups from C-Lab Outside will also be featured alongside projects from C-Lab Inside at CES for the first time.

Created in October 2018, C-Lab Outside began as a startup acceleration program to vitalize the start-up ecosystem and create more IT and technology-driven job opportunities in South Korea. Leveraging the successful experience of C-Lab Inside, C-Lab Outside expands the support to include ideas and innovations from outside the Samsung network. The start-ups selected for the C-Lab Outside program are provided with financial support, business collaboration, and opportunities to participate in global IT exhibitions alongside Samsung.

At this year’s event, the following start-up innovations will be featured: Circulus, a companion robot that uses interactive technology; FITT, a healthcare data-based ICT service; Vtouch, a technology that controls objects with gestures using cameras; and Smoothy, a multi-party video call service that supports simultaneous video and voice.

Samsung and the innovators behind these C-Lab Outside start-ups are looking forward to participating in CES 2020 and to have the opportunity to expand the market reach of their innovations. For more information about C-Lab at CES 2020, please visit the booth #51248~#51259 in Sands, Hall G (Eureka Park Marketplace) on January 7 – 10, 2020.

In addition to supporting innovations and entrepreneurship, Samsung is committed to carrying out its vision “Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People” by empowering future generations to achieve their full potential through various education projects.

Appendix 1. C-Lab Inside Projects

1. SelfieType

‘SelfieType’ is a virtual keyboard using the front-facing selfie camera. A proprietary SelfieType AI engine analyzes finger movements coming from the front camera, and converts them into QWERTY keyboard inputs. SelfieType requires no additional hardware and it is highly adaptable to various mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops.

2. Hyler

‘Hyler‘ is a smart highlighter that digitalizes analog texts from paper onto mobile devices. By highlighting with Hyler, users can simply collect the information and manage it with the app. When using ‘search mode’ in Hyler, it prompts the user with extensive search results, depending on various search engines or dictionaries linked to Hyler.

3. Becon

‘Becon’ is a scalp home-care service to prevent hair loss with the recommended solution based on scalp analysis. It consists of a hand-held device and a compatible app. The diagnostic device analyzes in real time ten conditions of the scalp such as hair follicle density, dead skin, sensitivity, temperature and humidity based on machine learning algorithm. It recommends the most suitable solution according to the result of the analysis to remedy the user’s scalp trouble. It also shows the trend of the scalp’s improvement through the app.

4. SunnySide

‘SunnySide’ is a window-shaped lighting device that produces artificial sunlight. It enables the user to enjoy the sunlight that changes by the hour by copying the full spectrum of the actual sunlight. It also helps users synthesize vitamin D from indoors or in places where there isn’t a sufficient amount of sunlight without worrying about skin aging or sunburn. It can be easily installed on the wall like a picture frame.

5. Ultra V

‘Ultra V’ is a new type of sensor and service that records ultraviolet rays daily. The sensor has a wide incident angle which makes it easy to integrate into wearable devices. With Ultra V, users can monitor and manage their skin condition and Vitamin D production which are influenced by accumulated exposure to solar UV rays.

Appendix 2. C-Lab Outside Startups

1. Circulus (http://pibo.circul.us)

Circulus showcases a humanoid robot, ‘piBo’ for single-person households. piBo provides guidance services such as simple conversation and news/weather/search information. It interacts with users based on emotional analysis of facial expressions and contents of conversations and gives appropriate responses with sayings, music and dance. Users are able to add new features and content which can be downloaded from its robot application store.

2. FITT (http://www.fitt.kr)

‘FITT’ is a PHR (Personal Health Record) healthcare data platform based on exercise tests. FITT provides three types of exercise tests; cardiorespiratory, posture and muscle strength. After a test, users receive an optimized and personalized exercise program catered to users’ health status compared to other people of the same age and gender. It also can predict possible diseases that the user may be exposed to such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, stroke, heart attack, cardiovascular disease, etc. and prescribes personalized exercise programs to prevent the risk of getting these diseases.

3. Vtouch (http://vtouch.io/)

‘Vtouch’ enables users to control devices without physically touching them by tracking the user’s eyes and fingertips with its patented computer vision and deep-learning technologies. It can be applied to various industries such as smart cars, smart homes and digital signage to control different devices. It can also keep displays clean and safe from germs or bacteria.

4. Smoothy (https://smoothy.co/)

‘Smoothy’ is a group video chat application that can be accessed by up to 8 people at once. What makes Smoothy more special is that the video chat starts at silent mode when the call is first connected so that it allows users to answer the call anytime and anywhere. It also provides video calls using Samsung AR Emoji. Once users have their avatars, the AR Emoji can mirror facial expressions and motions in real-time which makes video calls more fun.

“The Present” follows Sang-gu (Ha-kyun Shin), a man brought to present-day Seoul via time-travel from 1969. Sang-gu meets young entrepreneurs Ha-neul (Jun-myeon Kim, also known as EXO’s Suho), Bo-ra (Seul-ki Kim) and Young-bok (Su-bin Yoo) and ends up helping them as they work to create a thermal imaging camera to use in fire and rescue operations. “I wanted the film to be entertaining,” noted Director Jin-ho Hur, chiefly known for his work in the melodrama genre, “but I also wanted to accurately capture all the joys and sorrows faced by today’s young people as they go about launching their own business endeavors.”

(From left to right) Bo-ra, Sang-gu and Ha-neul, characters from “The Present”

The film features Samsung’s venture acceleration program C-Lab Outside, which supports young Korean startups by facilitating optimal environments for them to grow and create new value. Samsung’s IGNIS Thermal Imaging Camera, developed by Samsung’s in-house corporate incubation program C-Lab to help firefighters in prevention and rescue activities, also takes a starring role in the short film.

As well as being released on YouTube, Facebook and other portal sites, Samsung is hosting a special screening of “The Present” for 400 people in Seoul, attended by Director Jin-ho Hur, several of the production’s stars and C-Lab officials.

“We hope that ‘The Present’ will encourage young adults who are working hard to keep pursuing their dreams,” said Jae-woong Jeong, Vice President of Samsung Electronics’ Corporate Communications Team, “and that the film will convey to audiences Samsung’s citizenship vision of Enabling People, which itself reflects the company’s commitment to helping fulfill the innate potential of each and every individual.”

“The Present” is the latest in a series of films made by Samsung to entertain, motivate and inspire young people today. The first, “Two Lights”, was released in 2017, followed by “My Dream Class” in 2018 and “Memories” earlier in 2019.

Check out “The Present” in full below.