In today’s rapidly evolving innovation ecosystem, the ability to translate academic research into real-world impact has become a defining need. Recognising this, Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore (SRI-B) launched the Ph.D. Internship Programme for Advanced Industrial Research (PrePARe) in 2022.

The programme is designed to empower India’s brightest Ph.D. scholars with industry exposure, deep tech research opportunities, and mentorship from seasoned experts, enabling them to work on next-generation technologies such as Generative AI, Deep Learning, 6G, MIMO, AI in Wireless, and Computer Vision.

Through PrePARe, Samsung is creating a unique platform where academic brilliance meets industrial scale. Scholars selected for this six-month internship are given the chance to contribute to high-impact projects that align with Samsung’s vision of building a better future through innovation.

“We continue to strengthen our R&D capabilities with next-gen thinking and fresh ideas. PrePARe connects our seasoned experts with the top Ph.D. scholars to co-create impactful technologies. The programme offers interns an unmatched opportunity to tackle real-world challenges while shaping their careers. I wish them a meaningful and purpose-driven journey with us,” said Mohan Rao Goli, Corporate Vice President and Managing Director, SRI-B.

Research scholars for this programme are selected from top-tier institutions including IISc, IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Madras, Hyderabad, Roorkee, BHU, Kharagpur), and IIITs (Hyderabad, Bangalore). They go through a rigorous selection process based on their research track record, relevance of their thesis, and innovation potential.

More than 80 scholars have joined the programme so far, contributing to patents, publications, and future-ready tech solutions. At SRI-B, they are not treated as interns—they are seen as domain experts. Each is entrusted with meaningful projects that push the boundaries of applied research.

For Chaitra D Desai, joining SRI-B as a Ph.D. intern was a turning point.

“Beyond theoretical research, I am gaining robust experience working with large-scale datasets, optimizing models for edge devices, helping me inculcate a product-focused approach. Transitioning from academia to industry was an eye-opening experience,” she said.

Chaitra is currently working on innovations in Robotics, AR/VR, and Autonomous Driving. Meanwhile, Bhogavalli Satwika is tackling a different challenge—integrating Radio Frequency (RF) sensing capabilities into the 5G framework to enhance network efficiency.

The exposure to real-world innovation is what sets PrePARe apart. Interns work closely with SRI-B mentors, contribute to ongoing research projects, and present their findings to SRI-B leadership at the end of the programme—receiving critical insights on how their work fits into Samsung’s broader innovation strategy.

Most of them also speak highly of the collaborative, high-performance culture at SRI-B.

“The hands-on experience I get at Samsung will significantly improve my research,” said Sumit Sharma, while Yamini Shankar said, “I’m loving the collaboration and support my team empowers me with.”

In just three years, PrePARe has emerged as a high-impact initiative one that not only nurtures academic talent but also enables them to contribute meaningfully to industry innovation. As these Ph.D. scholars push the boundaries of what is possible, they are not just gaining experience, together with Samsung, they are helping shape the technologies of tomorrow.

A vision technician from Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, New Delhi using the EYELIKE Fundus Camera

This World Sight Day, Samsung’s Galaxy Upcycling program has set a target of screening 150,000 individuals in India for eye diseases using the unique EYELIKE Fundus Camera by the end of 2023.

As part of the Galaxy Upcycling program, Samsung is giving new life to older Galaxy devices to reduce electronic waste and enable greater access to ophthalmic health care in underserved communities.

Globally, 1.1 billion people suffer from vision loss, 90% of who live in low- and middle-income countries and lack access to affordable and quality eye health care. To address this, Samsung has partnered with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), Yonsei University Health System (YUHS) and LabSD, Inc. to transform old and unused Galaxy technology into medical diagnosis cameras called EYELIKE fundus cameras. This device allows both medical and non-medical professionals to screen patients for conditions that may lead to blindness.

Through programs like Galaxy Upcycling, Samsung is not only providing innovative technologies that reshape our experiences with the world, but is also empowering consumers to adopt more environmentally-conscious lifestyles.

To diagnose patients, the program has partnered with four eye hospitals – Sitapur Eye Hospital in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, Aravind Eye Hospital in Pondicherry, Guruhasti Chikitsalya in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital in New Delhi to set up eye care camps and use the devices in vision centers, vans and base hospitals across the country. So far, Samsung has upcycled nearly 200 units of second hand Galaxy smartphones and distributed EYELIKE Fundus Cameras to partners in India.

An older Galaxy smartphone becomes the brain of the EYELIKE handheld fundus camera, capturing images while connected to a lens attachment for enhanced fundus diagnosis.

The Galaxy device then utilizes an artificial intelligence algorithm to analyze and diagnose the images for ophthalmic diseases. The device connects to an app that accurately captures patient data and suggests a treatment regimen at a fraction of the cost of commercial instruments. The unique and affordable diagnosis camera can screen patients for conditions that may lead to blindness, including diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration.

“At Samsung, we believe in harnessing technology to make a positive impact on society. Programs such as Galaxy Upcycling have helped us in transforming lives through the power of innovation. With the EYELIKE Fundus Camera, our partners have been able to provide quality eye screening to patients across India. We are also proud that engineers at Samsung R&D Institute, Bangalore have worked on the EYELIKE platform alongside IAPB, YUHS and LabSD who have developed the lens attachment,” said Mohan Rao Goli, CTO, Samsung R&D Institute, Bangalore.

Since the start of the program in India, the four partners have screened around 5,000 patients for eye diseases. Partners point out that the EYELIKE device is easy to use, requires less training, is portable and guarantees a high-quality image. It allows for easy identification of the optic nerve, macular and vessels. With these benefits the partners have been able to help patients in rural areas where access to ophthalmic health care is limited.

The unique EYELIKE Fundus Camera

Engineers at the Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore, which is Samsung’s largest R&D centre outside Korea, were involved in developing the Fundus image capture mechanism, the AI-based processing algorithm, the intuitive UI and server-related operations in the EYELIKE application. The EYELIKE platform scans retinal images and uses an accurate AI-based algorithm powered by the computational capabilities of these phones to detect diseases in the retinal images and classify them as normal or abnormal.

“IAPB is proud of our continued partnership with Samsung and LabSD on the EYELIKE fundus camera. Our work highlights the importance of embracing cross-sector collaboration in building a better future for all. As World Sight Day approaches, we are reminded that delivering on the 2030 IN SIGHT strategy means engaging with new technologies to accelerate progress,” said Drew Keys, Western Pacific Regional Manager, IAPB.

“EYELIKE is the result of a collaboration between leaders in the technology and healthcare industries with the mutual goal of bridging barriers to accessible and affordable eye care. By expanding our partnerships, we are advancing the three main components of the 2030 IN SIGHT strategy – elevate, integrate, and activate – to make the platform sustainable and scalable,” said Holden Yoon Seung Kim, CEO, LabSD, Inc. 

Through this unique and cost-effective solution, Samsung is also helping underserved populations across Vietnam, Morocco and Papua New Guinea.

The world is currently learning the good and bad of working from home. Weeks ago, only a few of us were working from home consistently. For most others, this has been a whole new experience. Working from home consistently for many days on, will require a lifestyle as well as work-style shift. Are we prepared for it? Do we need a dedicated office at home, do have the technology – gadgets, bandwidth, security – to support it? These are things we need to give a hard look as we transcend into a new normal.

Samsung has been at the forefront of innovations for smart homes, and in the last few days our Bengaluru R&D Centre, where I work, has received a lot of inquiries related to smart home offices from technology partners, academia and even, and do not be surprised, real estate companies who build homes and offices.

With the reality of #WFH in front of us, we could see an upsurge in home offices becoming part of home designs across the country. And to cater to more people working from home, modern city planners will have to plan on providing better infra for electricity, fiber to home, broadband, 5G, Internet of Things (IoT) and co-meeting spaces in residential areas.

IoT and smart home automation, especially, could help make our work from home more comfortable and productive. Imagine several aspects of your home turning smart, making your home and your home office more ergonomic, easy to manage and also fun.

For example, smart lights with intensity control could help you reduce eye strain as you work with optimum lighting, and to avoid that glare during a video call, smart curtains and blinds could help at the press of a button.

A smart door lock and smartphone accessed door camera can help you avoid getting up and answering the door, unless it’s really necessary. And for those of us who have young children, setting up cameras in different rooms will help keep a tab without breaking the rhythm of work.

These days you get smart sensors of multiple kinds that can be installed in a home IoT set up for different kinds of applications. Take for instance simple sensors that connect with smart lights to alert you if your kids have managed to open the knife drawer, or if the temperature of the stove goes above a certain level. Blue light for one sensor, red light for another, yellow for the third, rather than an alarm that disturbs the entire household. You get the drift.

Then of course you have smart refrigerators, TVs, microwave ovens, robot vacuum cleaners, dish washers and air conditioners that work in tandem to give you the best experience possible.

While you work from home in a smart home environment, one thing to be extremely cautious is security of your home network. One needs to ensure that it isn’t just your laptop and phone that are secured. All gadgets and appliances on the network need to be secured, from your smart refrigerator to TVs to your vacuum cleaner.

[The author of this article, Ravindra Shet, is an employee of Samsung R&D Institute, Bengaluru & works in the area of IoT]

But before IT came to the city, and before startups took it over, it was the original Garden City of India known for wide roads, pleasant climate, and beautiful old buildings that the British and the Maharaja of Mysore gave it.

Even today, if one looks around, heritage buildings remain the soul of the city.

In a study commissioned by Samsung on Bengaluru some time ago, a third of the respondents felt the city’s heritage buildings and architecture, which is a mix of colonial and art deco buildings spread across the city, defined its character.

Then, a sizeable 77% of millennials and 63% of non-millennials said they would want to restore heritage buildings and see them being converted into public spaces for art, culture and other events around technology and startups to hone the dreams of its residents.

Bengaluru is also where Samsung runs its biggest R&D centre outside South Korea, and houses the World’s Largest Mobile Experience Centre, Samsung Opera House, in a beautiful British-era building right in the heart of the city.

People of Bengaluru are passionate about their heritage, about their culture, which is why over the years, they have come together to protect heritage buildings that so define it. One such building that heritage lovers have helped protect is the 150-year-old iconic Balabrooie Guest House. There are many such instances of civil society movements to protect heritage.

“People in Bengaluru savour their heritage in a very passive way, not wearing it on their sleeve, but in their hearts,” says Harish Bijoor, who is as passionate about all things heritage in Bengaluru as he is about marketing, his main calling.

Mohandas Pai, chairman of Aarin Capital Partners, who led the IT revolution in the city, remembers his days as a student at St. Joseph’s College. He recalls bunking classes with friends and going for noon shows at Opera House on Brigade Road, which ran as a theatre those days.

Opera House is now Samsung Opera House, after Samsung India restored the British-era property over a period of two years and re-opened it as the World’s Largest Mobile Experience Centre. Today its façade continues to don its magnificent original look and feel while on the inside, a modern experiential space has been developed with extensive use of technology.

See how Samsung reinvented Opera House

Samsung Opera House is slowly becoming a playground of ideas and art and culture, with events being organized around fitness, photography, gaming, music, movies, food, stand-up comedy, technology and startups at the sprawling plaza area outside the building.

What’s inside Samsung Opera House

The Samsung model is a great one to follow, says Bijoor. “Keep the exterior the way it was, and jazz up the interiors. I want to see more such old structures and markets being developed like Samsung Opera House,” he says.

“A city has to preserve its past, its culture, and heritage. Having classical architecture shows continuity in planning,” adds Pai.

Mohammed Ameen, who operates Samsung Opera House says when the building was reopened in 2018, he heard from many old-timers their recollections of Opera House in the olden days. “Many people came up to me and told me about the movie they had seen here. Someone said he had got his ‘date’ here. They love that it’s back in action, even if it is in a new avatar,” he says. “I am happy Samsung has created something for the GenNext of Bengaluru. I am looking forward to co-work with Millennials and GenZ in the days to come,” he adds.

This team at SRI-B, Samsung’s second biggest R&D center outside South Korea and one of three Samsung R&D centers in India, has been working from home for the past couple of weeks. Now, they are already toying with the idea of developing a filter that will suppress noise from open kitchens during video chats from home.

“This new way of life has thrown up its own challenges. But every challenge provides us an opportunity to rediscover ourselves, to think of how we can get better, how we can transform the society. Every small innovation counts,” Shah told Samsung Newsroom India. “At Samsung, we will continue to be at the forefront of creating meaningful innovations that would benefit everybody,” he adds.

Dipesh, born to Gujarati parents, but a Bangalorean at heart, was the first employee at Samsung R&D Center which started as SISO way back in 1996. He rose through the ranks to become its Managing Director. A people’s man, he has been following the WFH phenomenon very closely to understand employee behavior, customer needs, and so on.

These days, he says, he is rediscovering the value of relationships, as he spends more time with family. His parents live with him; his brother stays two blocks away in the same apartment complex. “My brother and I are into music. We have not met for the past few days, but all of us are in touch. Twenty of us neighbours even play Housie (Tambola) using group chats.”

“I am amazed by how our VPN and mobile networks are all holding up. Everything is working seamlessly. We may be staying apart, yet we are together, thanks to our smartphones, tabs, laptops, networking apps and social media,” he says.

His advice to young minds is that this is the perfect time to think, predict and innovate!

A group of kids in his younger daughter’s school recently connected through video conferencing to sing for a choir. “Isn’t it amazing? They were all home and connected by their home networks, and they made a whole song and uploaded it on YouTube!”

Shah is enjoying this journey of rediscovering himself. Apart from getting to bond more with family – playing card games, chess and even Monopoly – he is contributing to family chores, merrily mopping floors, as a daily exercise. And he has more time to pursue his passion – singing and music!

Three Mantras to Young Minds:

• Be positive, make best use of this time
• Think of meaningful innovations
• Pursue your passions

(Next Monday in Rediscover Yourself, we will speak to another Samsung India leader to share his or her experience. And tomorrow in another weekly column called Quick Tech, senior technology writer Mala Bhargava will tell us about her favourite Samsung innovation and share some interesting tips for #WFH. Stay inspired).