When I started my career at Samsung 25 years ago, I was a young engineer with a passion for technology and all it could do. Over the years, the capacity of mobile innovation has exceeded even my ambitious expectations. It has brought us conveniences and capabilities that make our lives better, but it has also given us the opportunity to be better. The ability to connect without proximity empowers us to break down barriers and work together to make progress. And with humanity facing some of its most complex challenges yet, we need to collaborate and innovate solutions more than ever before. That’s why I believe mobile technology has a vital role to play in helping us protect our planet.

Samsung has always challenged what’s possible with technology. And now, we are taking our next step towards putting sustainability at the center of our innovations. From eco-conscious materials to global partnerships, we are exploring every opportunity to help power the world with mobile technology that serves as a tool for positive change.

Innovation With Impact

We’ve been on a journey for years at Samsung, marrying sustainability and innovation by using recycled materials in our smartphones, wearables and accessories. In addition to our ongoing effort to use more eco-conscious materials including recycled PCM (post-consumer materials), the new Galaxy smartphones and tablets that were unveiled at our latest Unpacked used select components containing 20% recycled ocean-bound plastic from discarded fishing nets.

We focused our innovation efforts on a pervasive and especially hazardous type of plastic waste that is harming marine life and our natural ecosystems — discarded fishing nets. Every year, 640,000 tons of fishing nets are abandoned in and around our oceans. With help from like-minded partners, we found a way to repurpose them into a new, high-performance material that can be incorporated into critical components of the Galaxy S22 series. From now on, more and more Galaxy devices will play a small part in reducing plastic waste in our oceans.

I know we still have a long way to go. And at Mobile World Congress 2022, we will share our next wave of innovations that incorporate recycled ocean-bound plastics.

Using Technology as a Force for Good

At Samsung, we believe in making mobile technology that has positive environmental impact and putting the power of our Galaxy ecosystem into the hands of passionate change makers.

I’ve seen this firsthand with our growing Generation17 initiative, which Samsung leads in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme. Generation17 empowers young activists to take on pressing issues like climate change, education and more, so the world can make headway towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals, by 2030. And with the recent addition of six new Young Leaders, the program now spans countries in Africa, Asia & The Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Middle East and supports work across all 17 Global Goals.

That’s how mobile innovation fuels transformation. It amplifies simple actions and individual voices and brings them together to amount to big, global change.

We Need Collective Action

I am in awe of the impactful ways people are helping to change the world with Galaxy, and I promise our work does not end here. Samsung will continue developing innovative technology that bridges barriers, connects communities and addresses the climate crisis.

Samsung is ready to do more. We will take real action, hold ourselves accountable and share our journey — from our successes to our challenges and lessons learned. We will act with our industry peers, with developers, with the Galaxy community, with everyone, to strengthen technology as a force for good.

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and the Samsung Innovation Campus not only help students across the world – including in the U.K., Vietnam and Turkey – gain more advantages in terms of job opportunities and career paths, but they also combine the efforts of participants in order to harness their skills and solve social issues. Samsung Newsroom heard from some of the young people who are creating a better future through Samsung’s programs.

Alec Conway’s Project Dignity Digital Lockers Help the Homeless Reintegrate Into Society

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is an education program in which young people utilize their knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math to solve regional issues and further develop their problem-solving skills. The program, which began in the U.S. in 2010, is now present in more than 30 countries. It is comprised of three steps: identifying an issue, coming up with a solution and making that idea a reality. Samsung employees act as mentors for participating teams, providing them with support throughout the process. The winning team is chosen based on contestants’ presentations and the final products.

Through Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, Alec Conway from the U.K. not only developed a novel idea, but also grew his idea into a business proposition. While traveling around Europe, he observed many homeless people carrying their possessions around. He realized that having a place to store their possessions would offer them more independence and opportunities. With this idea, he created Project Dignity and entered the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow program.

Alec designed a type of digital locker that not only offers a secure storage solution for homeless people, but also provides them with vital information such as maps, accommodations and details on food accessibility through a digital screen that’s built into the locker. Each locker also works as a PO box, providing the user with a permanent address with which they can receive support regarding employment, healthcare and tasks like opening a bank account. While participating in Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, Alec received advice from Samsung employee mentors, and eventually took home the top prize. Alec is now working closely with Digital Catapult, a technology innovation center in the U.K., and is exploring partnerships to develop a functioning prototype of his digital locker.

Vietnamese Students’ IoT Device Trap Pests Using Solar Energy

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow offers an opportunity for students like Le Hang, Tuong Vy and Tuyet Nhi of Vietnam to unleash their potential and creativity using science and technology. The trio won Vietnam’s second edition of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow by developing equipment that allows local farmers to enhance productivity by streamlining how they trap pests.

The idea came to the students after they noticed just how often farmers have to enter hazardous zones to eliminate pests. They thought that if a device could take over pest control, the farmers would be able to work under much safer conditions. This led the students to start developing an IoT device that could trap pests in organic vegetable fields using solar energy.

Receiving robust mentoring and support from Samsung Solve for Tomorrow’s online sessions, they designed what they called “Equipment for trapping pests in organic vegetable fields using solar energy.” The team integrated IoT to ensure that the device would operate seamlessly even when it was far away. They credit Samsung Solve for Tomorrow for helping them overcome various obstacles and for teaching them a lot about the importance of teamwork during the problem-solving process, and about thinking critically.

Meet Batuhan, Who Grew Thanks to the Samsung Innovation Campus While Also Participating in the UN Sustainable Development Goals Project

The Samsung Innovation Campus offers various types of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) education to help unemployed young people competitiveness in the job market. The program offers a total of 240 hours of education in key ICT areas. Students can not only learn about technologies such as AI and IoT, but they can also develop crucial employability skills to help create better opportunities for themselves. As of 2020, approximately 160,000 students have graduated from the Samsung Innovation Campus, and the program is available in 20 regions around the world.

In the face of a job crisis that has left 25 percent of Turkish youth unemployed, Batuhan successfully landed a job in the IT industry after finding his dream at the Samsung Innovation Campus. A 2019 graduate of Istanbul Technical University, Batuhan had been interested in IT, but didn’t stand out in the field. Participating in the Samsung Innovation Campus program offered an opportunity for him to learn practical skills and know-how from field experts, and receive helpful career advice from his mentors.

In particular, Batuhan worked with other participants to plan and execute an environmental project in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He utilized everything he had learned in the program, which ultimately helped him broaden his perspective. “The Samsung Innovation Campus was an opportunity for me to challenge myself in a new way,” said Batuhan. “I learned that the hours of learning and hard work were all worth it in the end. If you wish to work in this field, I recommend the Samsung Innovation Campus.”

‘I Should Pay Forward What I’ve Learned’: Meet Passakorn, the Mentee Who Became a Mentor

Graduates of Samsung Innovation Campus often return to the program as mentors in order to pay forward the help they had received. Passakorn is one of those students. Having participated in SIC during its first year in Thailand, he has returned to serve as a mentor. He first got into programming to develop computer games, and received systematic education at the Samsung Innovation Campus. He and his teammates successfully completed the SIC program with their AI-based smart home solutions project.

By utilizing what he learned at the Samsung Innovation Campus, Passakorn was accepted into the robotics and AI engineering program at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. He became a mentor himself to share the special experience that he enjoyed at the Samsung Innovation Campus with more people. He wants students to go through education and training just like he did, and create solutions by collaborating with one another. “Thank you, Samsung Innovation Campus, for opening the door for me to come with my own innovative smart home solutions,” said Passakorn. “I hope to become a driving force for the new generation – the leaders of the future – to achieve innovative and creative feats.”

Technology for All: Meet Carmen, Who’s Lowering Barriers to Medical Support

Technology can create something novel that didn’t exist before, but it can also lower barriers for marginalized communities to access essential services. The idea of helping communities in need is what inspired Carmen, from Italy, to harness technology to make medical support accessible to all.

While in high school, Carmen spent some time teaching English at a rural primary school in Thailand. While there, she noticed that some people with disabilities were not able to receive the medical care that they required. This sparked an interest in robotic medical technology and in building prosthetic limbs and artificial organs.

Carmen joined the Samsung Innovation Campus while majoring in electronic engineering in college. SIC has not only allowed Carmen to acquire technical skills in areas such as AI, IoT and machine learning, but has also helped her strengthen her resilience and emotional intelligence, which are attributes that can separate an extraordinary engineer from the pack.

Carmen is especially interested in IoT, and was thrilled to study applications for IoT in the medical field and learn about the latest smart biosensors. Coming from an engineering background, understanding computer science topics was sometimes a challenge for Carmen. SIC participants, however, tend to come from a diverse range of academic fields and routinely help one another out when it comes to their area of expertise.

“The Samsung Innovation Campus has empowered the world’s youth by providing them with education and technical skills to develop capabilities that will be needed to solve important social issues,” said Carmen. “What I’ve learned here is helping me achieve my goal of creating prosthetic limbs and artificial organs for the disadvantaged. I will keep pushing myself forward to realize my dream and apply my skills and knowledge to make an impact.”

Guided by its CSR vision, “Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People,” Samsung Electronics provides educational opportunities to nurture the talent that will be needed to create a brighter future. Head to Samsung’s corporate citizenship website for more stories on how the company’s programs are helping bright young minds build a better tomorrow.

But what exactly does this look like? In order to provide a sneak peek into these global citizenship efforts, Samsung has recently released its ‘Journey to a Better Future’ video series, which features the stories of Samsung employees across the globe in charge of the company’s corporate citizenship programs that focus on providing education for future generations.

Turning Dreams Into Reality to Find Solutions for Society

The Journey to a Better Future series presents experiences from Samsung’s corporate citizenship managers around the world, as well as real testimonies from the students who have participated in their programs.

From Samsung Russia, Sergey Pevnev and Anna Kolganova share their favorite memories from throughout their citizenship careers; Pevnev reminisces about the amazement in the young students’ eyes during the live-streamed lesson he organized featuring Russian astronauts in space, while Kolganova shares her story of launching Samsung Innovation Campus with the same determined mindset of the athletes competing in the Sochi Winter Olympics being held at the same time.

Additionally, students from Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) in Italy share how much closer they are to realizing their dreams of becoming tech experts following the Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and programming education they received through the program, and students from the U.K. who participated in Samsung Solve for Tomorrow discuss with their mentors how they developed creative problem-solving skills in the process of realizing their solutions for society during the program.

The stories of the students of Samsung’s education-focused corporate citizenship programs around the world, as well as the managers and mentors who are helping them realize their dreams, will continue to be shared on Samsung’s corporate citizenship website, Samsung Global Newsroom and across social media.

Take a look at some of those stories in the video below.

Enabling People for a Better Future

Under the CSR vision “Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People”, Samsung operates a range of educational programs around the world to create more inclusive, quality learning experiences for young people from all walks of life and to empower future generations to achieve their full potential.

Samsung’s leading global corporate citizenship programs for youth education include Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung Innovation Campus. Samsung Solve for Tomorrow encourages students to use their STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) knowledge to create solutions that can solve societal problems and fosters their creative problem-solving skills.

Furthermore, Samsung Innovation Campus concentrates on developing the young generation’s employment capabilities through ICT education. From 2012 through 2020, Samsung’s global employees have devoted a total of 9.07 million hours to corporate citizenship activities, and around 21.5 million people have participated in Samsung’s youth education programs.

Samsung’s corporate citizenship programs are aligned with Goal 4 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. Samsung cooperates closely with the world’s governments, policy makers and institutions to provide diverse and equal opportunities for young people. Samsung will continue to devote both the technologies and the resources in order to bring high-quality educational experiences to young people in every corner of the world.

Today marks the one year anniversary of a significant partnership between Samsung and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Together, we transformed the Galaxy smartphone into a powerful platform for consumers to take small actions that can add up to incredible change for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals – also known as the Global Goals – by 2030.

Installed on over 45 million Galaxy smartphones worldwide, the Samsung Global Goals app offers simple ways for our extensive Galaxy community of users to learn about the Global Goals, spread awareness to their friends and family and generate funding for UNDP’s global work to develop sustainable policies and build resilient institutions in more than 170 countries.

Our Contribution to the Global Goals

Activities on the Samsung Global Goal app show that the Galaxy community is most interested in supporting Goal 2: Zero Hunger, followed by Goal 1: No Poverty and Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. Galaxy users routinely interacted with educational content for these specific Goals to better understand our global challenges and find new ways to support the Goals in their daily lives. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Galaxy users demonstrated increased interest in Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing, rising to the third most engaged Goal in March and April.

Over the last year, Galaxy users across the United States, South Korea, Brazil, India, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and other countries activated the Samsung Global Goals app to contribute to UNDP’s major achievements in its six Signature Solutions: reduce poverty, strengthen effective, inclusive and accountable governance, enhance national prevention and recovery capacities for resilient societies, promote nature-based solutions for a sustainable planet, close the energy gap and strengthen gender equality.

With the support of Samsung and the Global Goals app, UNDP has promoted lifelong learning opportunities for people around the world, by improving the conditions and skills of young people with intellectual disabilities in Bolivia, expanding educational opportunities for young Afghan women, and also providing training and startup funding for young entrepreneurs focused on online education in Libya. UNDP has also supported more than $14 million in core resources to fight climate change and strengthen women’s leadership in natural resources management in 97 countries.

Mobilizing the Galaxy Community

With just under ten years left to achieve the Global Goals, Samsung and UNDP created the Samsung Global Goals app in August 2019 as a helpful tool to mobilize the Galaxy community to gain a deeper understanding of the Goals and work together for a greater good.

Through educational content and a comprehensive guide to each of the 17 Global Goals, Galaxy users learn about the challenges and interconnectivity across the Goals. They can then transform this knowledge into action by making a big difference with fast and simple solutions. Users can donate directly to UNDP, engage with short ads to generate revenue for UNDP and use wallpapers to increase ad-earnings while the phone is charging. To help maximize the impact of these small acts, Samsung matches¹ all proceeds through in-app advertisements.

Additionally, the Samsung Global Goals app has helped the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNDP’s relief efforts for the immediate crisis and long-term repercussions of COVID-19. Samsung and UNDP worked together to create necessary content to provide Galaxy users with accurate and concise information about the virus and ultimately to counter growing rates of misinformation. The Galaxy community also used the app to direct increased funding to the WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and UNDP’s ongoing effort to build resilience for those deeply affected by the pandemic.

Continued Commitment

In the first year of the Samsung Global Goals app, Samsung and UNDP empowered people around the world to spend their time at home and on the go for social good. We inspired their action to support UNDP’s important work to integrate the Global Goals into policies and initiatives around the world.

As we look to the future, Samsung will continue to expand our partnership with UNDP and seek new ways to motivate the Galaxy community to learn, share and act together to help achieve the Global Goals by 2030.

¹ Samsung has pledged to match donations with ad proceeds generated through the Samsung Global Goals app; up to US$5 million annually.

But now more than ever, the world needs radical change as the societal challenges we face every day have become more urgent and complex. Embracing a spirit of open collaboration, Samsung is answering the call for action by creating a community that believes in working together to achieve a greater good.

Understanding that each region has different needs and priorities, and that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, Samsung saw the need to support a diverse range of goals and partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to tackle 17 Global Goals.

Also referred to as Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Goals were developed by world leaders in 2015 with an eye on making the world a better place by 2030. The Global Goals include those related to inequality, climate and environmental degradation, education, and other ambitious milestones that aim for societal good. With the goals in place, it is up to governments, businesses, and society to work together to create a better future for everyone across the globe. At Samsung, we believe it’s important to step up and use our power as one of the world’s leading technology companies to make change.

It’s a natural evolution for Samsung’s CSR initiatives, as we embrace a spirit of open collaboration. There is an opportunity to work together to address the societal challenges we face every day and make a difference on the issues that matter in our local communities. But it takes more than one company to solve those complex modern problems. That’s why we are expanding our partnership with UNDP to support the Global Goals.

With the Global Goals as a foundation, Samsung is encouraging Galaxy users to make an impact by taking small individual actions that add up to meaningful collective change and achieve greater societal good. To help Galaxy users, Samsung is launching special edition accessories and the Samsung Global Goals application, which offers simple ways to help raise awareness about the Global Goals and enable people to take small actions to create change through direct donations or something as simple as engaging an ad.

Through small individual actions, together we can create exponential good. Check out the infographic below to learn more about the Samsung Global Goals campaign.