“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.

The ceremonial event to present the donation was attended by Van Son Nguyen, the Deputy Minister of Public Security, Joo Ho Choi, Head of Vietnam Manufacturing Complex of Samsung Electronics, and other senior leaders of Samsung Vietnam. Also in attendance were representatives from departments and agencies under the Ministry of Public Security and the Management Boards of the Public Security Departments from the 11 beneficiary provinces.

Tran Trung Tranh (left), Deputy Chief of Vietnam Fire and Rescue Department, shakes hands with Joo Ho Choi (right), Head of Vietnam Manufacturing Complex of Samsung Electronics at the ceremony to hand over the donation of 300 IGNIS thermal imaging cameras.

Samsung’s IGNIS thermal imaging cameras are able to detect ignition points, locate victims, identify terrain, determine time and indicate paths to be avoided, helping firefighters to both rescue those in danger and keep themselves safe during a rescue operation. The cameras were designed for high resistance to water, dust and heat, with outstanding durability in a compact, wearable size (106*95*64mm, 350g).

“Fire prevention and rescue activities are pivotal in every nation for saving lives and assets of citizens. We are pleased to know that local firefighters will be equipped with our cameras, which will help them fulfill their duties and protect public safety,” said Choi.

After receiving the 300 IGNIS thermal imaging cameras, the Vietnam Fire and Rescue Police Department will organize a training course for officers and firefighters on how to utilize the devices. Deployment of these cameras will help improve firefighting capacities and minimize the damage caused by fires, explosions, or accidents in 11 provinces including Hanoi, HCMC, Hai Phong, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Da Nang, Can Tho, Bac Ninh, Ninh Binh, Phu Tho, and Thai Nguyen.

How One Firefighter’s Experiences Sparked Inspiration

The IGNIS Thermal imaging camera is a product originating from Samsung Tomorrow Solutions, a social contribution project and open idea contest that began in 2013. Samsung Tomorrow Solutions invites people to produce and submit ideas that can change society for the better.

Finding that conventional thermal observation devices (TOD) for firefighters are too heavy and expensive to be provided to each firefighter, Gyeong-Seung Han, a firefighter from South Korea, was prompted to devise a thermal imaging camera based on his firefighting experiences. Han submitted his idea to the 2016 event and his entry was awarded IDEA Grand Prize (2016) and IMPACT Grand Prize (2017).

Not only was Han provided with prize money and additional funds to help further develop his idea, he was also provided with a team of support from engineers from C-Lab – Samsung’s idea generation and entrepreneurship program – to help bring his ideas to life. The IGNIS team worked through many versions of the device to realize Han’s vision for a more compact, easier-to-use, cost-effective thermal imaging camera that can withstand extreme conditions. As a result, Samsung Electronics has provided 1,000 IGNIS thermal imaging cameras to firefighting units in South Korea to put into practice. There have been numerous real-life testimonies from firefighters that they were able to save more lives through the use of IGNIS thermal cameras.

Summary

• In-sung Lee is a Project Partner in Samsung’s Center for Creativity Development who’s tasked with selecting and managing C-Lab projects.
• Created in December of 2012, C-Lab (Creative Lab) is an in-house idea incubation program that was started to help Samsung employees turn their innovative ideas into reality.
• Lee strongly believes that good ideas come in all shapes and forms.
• To help ensure that the best of the best projects get made, Lee has developed his own unique criteria for evaluating C-Lab submissions.

For some, good ideas are hard to come by.

That, however, is not the case for In-sung Lee. As a Project Planner in Samsung’s Center for Creativity Development, Lee comes across great ideas every day. It’s his job to select the best of the best out of Samsung employees’ C-Lab submissions. The innovative ideas that receive his seal of approval take one big step closer to becoming reality.

But what exactly is Samsung’s C-Lab program, and how does Lee select which projects will be developed? Read on to find out.

Creativity Is Key

C-Lab is Samsung Electronics’ in-house startup incubation program that was created to bring its employees’ most innovative ideas to life.

Lee is not only in charge of selecting C-Lab submissions, he’s also in charge of incubation, as well as analyzing selected ideas’ marketability, making sure that the development process remains on track, and identifying the most desirable path for each project.

Creativity is key when it comes to C-Lab submissions. To help get their creative juices flowing, Samsung regularly hosts interactive employee events like the recent Idea Mix Hackathon, pictured above.

Part of the process of assessing C-Lab projects’ commercial potential involves presenting the innovations at relevant exhibitions. Here we see a showcase for IGNIS, a thermal imaging camera that helps firefighters locate people who need to be rescued.

Lee regularly organizes interactive exhibitions and hackathons that nurture employees’ creativity and encourage them to come up with the sort of dynamic ideas that would be perfect for C-Lab. As he notes, Samsung employees represent a wide range of backgrounds and expertise, and the ideas that they dream up are just as interesting and diverse.

Evaluating ‘Big Picture’ Potential

Lee studied mechanical engineering at university, and began his career at Samsung Electronics as a developer. Since joining the Center for Creativity Development, he’s continuously wrestled with the question of how to define an unequivocally good idea. The answer, he’s found, is not so cut and dry.

“There are generally two types of ideas that get submitted to C-Lab,” says Lee. “The first are ideas that address existing pain points, while the second are ideas that uncover potential needs or address new trends. While good ideas can come from anywhere, in my experience I’ve found that there is no absolutely good idea.”

Lee believes that it’s nearly impossible to effectively judge C-Lab submissions by relying solely on his background as an engineer. This makes it important to evaluate each potential project through a much wider lens. “Each idea has its own extraordinary story,” Lee explains. “Not only do they have the power to add more convenience to people’s daily lives; they also have the potential to transform the world.”

Selecting the Best of the Best

Since he became in charge of selecting ideas for C-Lab projects, Lee has created his own criteria for picking the best of the best.

“Whenever I review a proposal, I utilize the so-called 2W1H (What, Why, How) interview technique to try to get a sense of the idea’s true value,” says Lee. “I ask questions like, ‘What is the idea at its core?’, ‘Why is it important or necessary now?’, and ‘How do you plan to make your idea a reality?’”

According to Lee, the ideas that tend to catch his eye are those that came about as solutions for frustrating problems. These are ideas in which Samsung employees apply their on-the-job experience developing innovative technologies to identify entirely new ways to utilize those technologies to streamline daily life. As Lee notes, “These types of ideas clearly answer [the 2W1H’s] ‘how to implement the idea’ question.”

Lee takes great joy in his work, and is always looking forward to hearing Samsung employees’ next innovative C-Lab proposal.

“I love watching their eyes light up when they present their ideas,” says Lee. “We’re currently in the process of selecting next year’s projects, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.”

It’s hot. Scorching hot. And it’s dark. The thick smoke threatens to penetrate his air-tight mask – it won’t, but it’s still effectively blocking his sight.

‘What would I do if my kids were left in a blaze like this? Heck, what if I don’t make it back?’

No. Not the time to let thoughts wander. Focus. Let the training kick back in. Floor, left, ceiling, right, clear; left foot. Floor, left, ceiling, right, clear, right foot. The firefighter continues to search the burning building, knowing he has mere minutes, maybe seconds, left to find the victims.

While the account above is fictitious, real-life emergency responder Han Gyeong-Seung of the Dongducheon Fire Department had been in a similar situation; only to face the tragedy of finding a victim after the fire was fully extinguished. Realizing there had to be a better way to navigate through a fire scene, Han reached out to Samsung Tomorrow Solutions in May, 2016.

Continue to read the full story (1,215 words) below, or jump to the summary (83 words) here.

A fireman demonstrates IGNIS in a simulated fire

The Blazing Contradiction

Fire is supposed to give light, not take it. The contradiction is almost funny – would have been if not for the scarring aftermath fires tend to leave behind. Of the many difficulties firefighters wrestle with, securing clear sight amidst blackouts and smoke-filled rooms is one of the deadliest. Insufficient vision not only makes it difficult for emergency responders to navigate the smoky labyrinth of live fire scenes but can also prevent them from spotting victims or locating the source of the fire in time.

A Solution… Which Is Also a Problem

One solution is to arm firefighters with thermal observation devices (TODs) which use thermal imaging cameras to highlight heat sources – usually survivors’ body heat or the origin of fire – against the rest of the scene. The problem? They’re difficult to use, heavy and expensive.

This infrared image, from the 1st field test, is similar to what firefighters can see using IGNIS

Conventional TODs for firefighters were mainly designed for a team rather than as a personal device for each member. The emergency response unit would have to rely on a designated operator to run to and fro to be the eyes for the whole team, limiting the effectiveness of this equipment.

Moreover, conventional TODs weigh around two kilograms, which is a hefty addition to the 20-to-40 kilograms of gear firefighters already have to bear. As with any physically challenging activity, every gram shed counts in improving performance.

And costing about 20 million Korean Won (roughly 19,000 US dollars) per device, many fire stations aren’t able to secure this equipment with their limited budget. The typical Korean fire station may have one or two of these – or none at all.

In a nutshell, they were oversized, clunky and expensive cameras little different from the ones used in research facilities.

In Search of Tomorrow’s Solutions

Samsung Tomorrow Solutions, the contest Han entered, is a social contribution competition where Samsung Electronics searches for social innovation ideas to fund and co-develop. The idea of a goal-specific TOD, aimed to assist men and women who risk their lives daily to save others, was met with open arms.

IGNIS, a thermal observation device customized for firefighters

This project, dubbed IGNIS, won grand prize in each the two years it took part in Samsung Tomorrow Solutions – IDEA Grand Prize in the first year (2016), winning critical prize money as well as additional funds to help further develop the idea, and IMPACT Grand Prize the following year (2017), providing the team still additional funds as well as support from Samsung Electronics’ engineers to help realize the solution. In 2017, a 5-person C-Lab team was designated to help expedite the IGNIS development process.

Design, Prototype, Test, Repeat

The goal was clear-cut from the beginning: A compact, easier-to-use, cost-effective thermal optical device that can withstand extreme conditions. The requirements for IGNIS were so different from conventional TODs that searching for incremental improvements didn’t make sense. So the team went to the drawing board and started from scratch.

Over the course of three prototypes, three field tests and multiple surveys, the IGNIS team sought advice from 104 real firefighters, whose collective experience added up to roughly 800 years.

The IGNIS team worked with local firefighters to fully understand their needs for a thermal imaging system

First, according to the firefighters’ feedback, the function was narrowed down to a simple, practical real-time viewing option. No screen capture; no multiple viewing modes; no excessively high resolution to burden the image processing unit; no replaceable batteries. Such changes would allow the team to build devices that are much more cost-efficient than previously-available TODs.

Doing away with unnecessary features also helped simplify the user interface down to two buttons, instead of the plethora of buttons and arrow keys.

ARTIK 710 module (left) and developer kit (source: https://www.artik.io/media/)

Second, with a focus on reducing size and weight, the IGNIS team designed the circuit around ARTIK 710, an IoT-ready module with basic processing, memory, and connectivity features in a single package. Leveraging the expertise and experience in creating cutting-edge mobile devices and eliminating unnecessary components, the team was able to reduce the size and weight drastically – down to 350 grams.

Finally, the case too, was reimagined to free up both hands of the firefighter. Taking a precious hand away from a firefighter limits the unit’s fire-fighting and rescuing capacity – that’s a hand that could have been taking down obstacles, holding a hose, carrying a victim, or assisting the other hand in doing more demanding tasks.

After countless designs, mockups and prototypes, IGNIS settled on a compact shell about the size of a hand axe from the Stone Age for ease of use. IGNIS also features a latch – it can be attached to the mask, on shoulders, or other compatible accessories where the user sees fit.

Real firefighters provided continuous insight throughout the IGNIS development process

20 months after the initial idea proposition, IGNIS came to be a compact, stow-almost-anywhere, easily retrievable, easy-to-use, heat-enduring device that’s 70% lighter than conventional TODs.

In November, the team produced 1,000 units and donated them to fire departments, safety centers and National Counter-Terrorism centers throughout Korea.

From idea to reality – the 20-month journey of IGNIS

Real-Life Testimonies

1,000 IGNIS devices have been commissioned for about half a year now, and Han has set up a digital forum to share information about the device. The following are stories from firefighters that have used IGNIS in real life:

Seulchan Jeong (Bucheon Fire Department): Just this February, we received a call reporting smoke but couldn’t find the source in the multi-residence building. Using IGNIS, we were able to spot a sealed room that was 4℃ hotter than the others to find a suicide attempt using charcoal smoke. I’m happy to report that we were able to save another life.

Anonymous (Daegu Fire Department): We had a motel fire. The building had maze-like corridors and we didn’t have information on which rooms were occupied. We used IGNIS to do quick visual sweeps of each room and were able to save all guests in the establishment.

Anonymous (Dongducheon Fire Department): We thought we had an electric fire – smoke was coming out of a power outlet. But upon double-checking with IGNIS, we learned that the strongest hot spot was in the ceiling. Quickly finding the source of the fire, we were able to eliminate all threats before more serious damages occurred.

Anonymous (Gangwon Fire Department): We had put out the major flames in a recent textile factory fire. Using IGNIS we were able to quickly locate and put out residual fire as well. Otherwise, we would have had to open all the hatches in the pipes and machinery and fully sweep the ceiling to confirm complete extinguishment, which would have been very time-consuming and potentially dangerous.

Changmin Ji (Gimpo Fire Department): In addition to fires, IGNIS has proven useful in marine rescue activities, too. Victims’ body heat stands out in the cold water so TODs become very handy, especially at night.

Anonymous (Incheon Fire Department): IGNIS made me think of my fallen colleagues – many would have survived if we had more TODs in the field.

About Samsung Tomorrow Solutions

Created in 2013, Samsung Tomorrow Solutions is an open social contribution contest that helps people pursue and realize ideas to change society for the better through technical solutions.

Samsung Electronics selects submissions under four categories – Education, Health-Medical, Environment-Safety, and Local Community – and provides support as well as financial prizes to the winners. For ideas that have particularly great potential, the company can invest additional assets including financial, technical and human resources, to further develop the solution.

This year’s Samsung Tomorrow Solutions contest is already underway. For more details, visit: https://www.tomorrowsolutions.org

• Samsung Electronics helped create IGNIS, a personal thermal observation device (TOD) customized for firefighters that is affordable, compact and 70% lighter than conventional TODs
• Project IGNIS was initiated by a firefighter who submitted his idea to Samsung Tomorrow Solutions, an open social contribution contest for ideas to change the world through technical solutions
• A designated C-Lab team helped expedite the development process
• 1,000 IGNIS devices have been donated to fire departments, safety centers and National Counter-Terrorism centers throughout Korea

Submissions are to fall under four categories: Education, Health-Medical, Environment-Safety, and Local Community. First-time entries are eligible for Idea Awards and for solutions that have particularly far-reaching implications for society, Samsung Electronics has the option to provide additional support through their Impact awards. For more information, visit: http://www.tomorrowsolutions.org

Ignis helps Firefighters Spot Victims and Dangers in the Field with Thermal Imaging

The winner of the 2016 Idea Award and the 2017 Impact award was Ignis, a project for an affordable thermal imaging solution customized for firefighters. Inspired by a real-life situation experienced by firefighter Han Gyeong-Seung, Ignis was proposed through Samsung Tomorrow Solution and then further developed by Samsung Electronics Creative Lab (C-Lab).

A fireman demonstrates Ignis in a simulated fire

Conventional thermal cameras are bulky and expensive, which makes them difficult to dispatch in actual firefighting and rescue missions. Working with local firefighters, the Ignis team devised a small, light and easy-to-use thermal camera that can be attached to the firefighters’ masks. Samsung donated 1,000 of these Ignis cameras to fire stations throughout Korea.

About Samsung Tomorrow Solution

Samsung Tomorrow Solution is a social contribution contest that was created in 2013. Over 7,000 teams, consisted of over 30,000 people, have taken part in the contest during the last five years.

To date, Samsung Electronics has awarded a total of one billion Korean Won to 40 winners through Samsung Tomorrow Solution, helping them further pursue and realize their ideas. Samsung has also invested additional assets, including financial, technical and human resources, to further develop and distribute solutions with particularly great potential.

Now in its sixth year and for the first year open as a global initiative, the project’s continuing quest to find and fund ideas that can help the public landscape is still going strong.

Additional Images

Ignis, an affordable thermal imaging camera customized for firefighters

The Ignis team worked with local firefighters to understand the full needs of their thermal imaging system

A local firefighter prepares to test an Ignis prototype

This infrared image, from a prototype test, is similar to what firefighters can see using Ignis’ technology