A decade ago, employees at Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore (SRI-B) noticed a recurring challenge during visits to government schools in Karnataka. While attendance remained high, many students lacked something fundamental to learning—basic notebooks and stationery.

That observation led to an employee-driven initiative that has since reached more than 2 lakh students across the state. Since 2015, SRI-B has distributed nearly 15 lakh notebooks, with this year’s drive providing 42,819 notebooks to 7,620 students across 195 government schools in Kolar district. More than 100 SRI-B employees volunteered in this year’s initiative, visiting schools to distribute notebooks and interact with students.

“At SRI-B, innovation and education go hand in hand. As engineers and innovators, we understand the transformative power of learning. A notebook may appear simple, but for a child it represents opportunity, confidence and the freedom to dream. Through this initiative, we hope to empower students with the resources they need to write their own success stories and build a brighter future,” said Mohan Rao Goli, Corporate Vice President and Managing Director, Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore.

The notebook donation initiative was launched in 2015 after SRI-B employees, during visits to government schools, found that many students attended classes regularly despite lacking basic learning materials such as notebooks and stationery. What began as a small employee-led effort has since grown into one of SRI-B’s longest-running community initiatives.

Over the years, SRI-B has expanded its support for government schools beyond notebooks. The institute has donated tablets, student desks, flipboards, school kits and RO water filters, while also undertaking infrastructure projects including rebuilding a government school in Kembodi, repainting school buildings and, most recently, refurbishing the Government Higher Primary School in Bodenahalli.

The notebook initiative reflects SRI-B’s long-term commitment to supporting education in communities around its Bengaluru campus. Through employee volunteering and sustained investment in learning resources and school infrastructure, the institute continues to help create better learning environments for students across Karnataka.

Samsung R&D Institute India, Bangalore (SRI-B) announced the continued rollout of its Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC) programme across leading academic institutions, in line with our Global CSR vision is ‘Together for Tomorrow! Enabling People’, reaffirming its commitment to empowering youth with future-ready digital skills and creating meaningful opportunities for the next generation.

As part of this initiative, SRI-B has onboarded six premier institutions in the current financial year, including NITTE Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Christ (Deemed to be University), RV College of Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, BMS College of Engineering, and Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering. With this, the programme is now actively being run across 15 colleges in total. Notably, SRM Institute of Science and Technology is the only participating institution from Tamil Nadu under SRI-B’s Samsung Innovation Campus initiative this year, with the remaining colleges based in Karnataka.

Samsung Innovation Campus is Samsung’s global CSR and skilling initiative, launched in September 2022, aimed at equipping young learners with advanced digital skills. The programme offers specialised training across core technology domains, including Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), Internet of Things (IoT), Coding and Programming.

The AI/ML curriculum covers neural networks, machine learning, data processing, and hands-on AI projects, while the IoT track focuses on sensors, connectivity, cloud integration, and smart device development. Students are also trained in programming fundamentals, including Python, data structures, algorithms, and software engineering principles. Courses under the programme typically span six months and are delivered with mentorship from SRI-B experts.

As Samsung marks 30 years in India, the programme reflects the company’s continued focus on empowering youth and strengthening grassroots innovation ecosystems across India.

Commenting on the initiative, Mohan Rao Goli, Managing Director and CVP, Samsung R&D Institute India, Bangalore, said, “SIC bridges the gap between academia and industry, aligning with government’s Skill India and Digital India visions. This 2026 initiative to six colleges will create a robust talent pipeline, fostering innovation and employability for the next generation.”

In India, our Citizenship programs are inspired by our corporate vision of ‘Powering Digital India’. India is a vibrant and young country with soaring aspirations, and to give wings to every dream our CSR efforts are focused on two domains: Smart Education and Skilling Youth. All our CSR programs aim to provide people equal access to the knowledge, skills, and the resources required to shape a better future for the community and build a New India.

Aligned with the government’s Skill India and Digital India missions, the initiative underscores Samsung’s commitment to fostering innovation, enhancing employability, and contributing to India’s digital growth story.

Nationally, the programme has recorded around 48% women participation, reflecting Samsung’s commitment to building an inclusive and equitable technology ecosystem. Along with technical training in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and programming, the programme also offers soft-skills training to help students become workplace-ready.

Together with initiatives such as Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung Innovation Campus is helping strengthen India’s digital skilling ecosystem, empowering young innovators to learn, build, and shape the future through technology.

Samsung, India’s largest consumer electronics company, is inviting startups to collaborate on technologies around the Government’s Digital India stack, which includes UPI, Digilocker, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN), Unified Health Interface (UHI) among others.

With this, Samsung aims to accelerate its Digital India journey in the country and strengthen its vision of Powering Digital India.

The startups will partner with Samsung’s R&D centres and business units in India on domains such as wallet, health, fitness where products and services will be integrated with the Samsung ecosystem.

On a case-to-case basis, Samsung will also explore funding support to some of these startups to help them further scale their solutions.

As a first step to connect with startups in India, Samsung held a Startup Collab event at the iconic Samsung Opera House in Bengaluru earlier this week. At the event, around 25 startups from across India came together and interacted with Samsung leadership from its R&D centres in Bengaluru and Noida, and its corporate headquarters in Gurugram, exploring Samsung’s ecosystem of products and services and understanding where they can potentially collaborate around Digital India initiatives.

“Samsung is a consumer centric company and strives to develop meaningful innovations for consumers in India. The Government’s Digital India stack is revolutionary, and has the potential to transform the way many sectors work. We wish to collaborate with startups who have cutting-edge technologies in this space, which, when integrated with the Samsung ecosystem, can transform the lives of people, our consumers,” said Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore.

“As a large multinational, we bring to the table strong consumer understanding, business know-how and market reach that will help startups refine their offerings to enable compelling consumer experience. Co-prosperity is one of our core values and we hope to play our part in enhancing the innovation ecosystem in the country, thereby Powering Digital India,” said Dr. Balvinder Singh, Head, Open Innovation Group, Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore.

The startups that attended Samsung’s Startup Collab event were from the fintech, health tech and eCommerce space with some of them utilizing the India Stack to build for Digital India services.

As part of the collaboration, Samsung’s R&D centres and business units in India will work together with the startups to co-build solutions for a specific product or service that have the potential to be integrated with Samsung’s product ecosystem.

Samsung’s engineers, who work on cutting-edge domains such as AI, machine learning, IoT, big data, metaverse, will also provide these startups  with technical mentorship as well as guidance in protecting their intellectual property, wherever relevant.

Over the years, Samsung has had very successful partnerships with startups in the country. For instance, a successful startup today powers Samsung’s local India app-store where consumers can discover and access their favourite mobile applications in 12 Indian languages. This currently has close to 3 million daily active users.

Another startup has powered Lock Screen Stories on Samsung Galaxy smartphones in which consumers get beautiful wallpapers and content every time they unlock their devices. This feature has close to 30 million daily active users.

Mohan Rao Goli, Chief Technology Officer, SRI-B receiving the award from Mr. Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Government of India at a ceremony in New Delhi

Samsung R&D Institute – Bangalore (SRI-B), Samsung’s largest R&D centre outside Korea, has been conferred the National Intellectual Property Award 2021 and 2022 by the Government of India in the category of top public limited company/private limited company for patents filing, grant and commercialization in India: Services Sector.

Additionally, SRI-B also won the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) IP Enterprises Trophy.

The award was presented to SRI-B by Mr. Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Government of India at a ceremony in New Delhi.

“At Samsung, we are honoured to receive this prestigious award from Government of India. It is a recognition of our efforts to upgrade standards in the field of patents and innovation, as well as creating a strong culture of patent filing within our organisation in the areas of Communication Protocols, Visual intelligent Solutions, AI/ML, Internet of Things, Data Intelligence and Services. Samsung’s vision is to inspire the world by creating breakthrough innovations, technologies, products and design that enrich people’s lives,” said Mohan Rao Goli, Chief Technology Officer, SRI-B.

The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, confers the annual National Intellectual Property Awards to outstanding innovators, organizations, and companies in the field of patents, designs and trademarks every year.

The National Intellectual Property (IP) Awards are conferred every year to recognize and reward the top achievers comprising individuals, institutions, organizations and enterprises, for their IP creations and commercialization, which have contributed towards strengthening IP eco-system in the country and in encouraging creativity and innovation.

So far, SRI-B has filed over 7,500 patents in India and globally. Engineers at SRI-B have filed patents around areas such as multi-camera solutions, 5G, 6G as well as ultra-wideband wireless communications protocol. These patents have been commercialized in Samsung flagship Galaxy smartphones, smartwatches and network equipment, among others.

Over the last few years, SRI-B has embarked on a path to become a patents powerhouse by improving the quality of innovations and developing a patents mindset among its engineers. IN recent years, many young, first time inventors have emerged at SRI-B.

At SRI-B today, nearly 50% of patent filers are first-time inventors and about 27% have less than five years of experience. With this strong patent filing culture, SRI-B has seen a 100% increase in annual patent filings over the last four years while commercialization of patents filed by Samsung has increased by four times in last 3 years, meaning these innovations are ultimately offered in Samsung products. The majority of patents filed are in emerging areas such as 5G, AI, ML, IoT, camera & vision technologies.

SRI-B has a specialized intellectual property team that conducts invention-creation training, advanced inventive step training to help employees understand the idea and process of innovation. Most of the patents have been filed by the young millennials and Gen Z who have just entered the workforce.

To simplify the process for the inventors, SRI-B has also set up an internal portal. This portal is a one-stop-shop for all patent filing information that an engineer requires during the process.

In order to strengthen Industry-Academia connect, Samsung R&D has been working with young innovators across top engineering colleges as part of a popular students’ engagement program named Samsung PRISM.

Samsung PRISM was started in 2020 and in the last two years, over 4,500 engineering students and 1,000 professors have worked with SRI-B engineers to deliver live projects successfully. In this time, student and professor teams have filed multiple patents along with SRI-B engineers and have published several research papers in cutting edge domains such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and IoT, strengthening Samsung’s vision of Powering Digital India.

SRI-B is now expanding this program to 70 engineering colleges in India by 2025, aiming to stimulate the Indian innovation ecosystem and make students industry-ready.

With a strong R&D focus to develop meaningful innovations for India and the world, Samsung is the leader in filing patents in India. Owing to the patent filing culture, Samsung Research Institute – Bangalore (SRI-B) has seen a 100% increase in annual patent filings over the last four years.

The commercialization of patents filed by Samsung has increased by four times in last 3 years that means these innovations are ultimately offered in Samsung products. The majority of patents filed are in emerging areas such as 5G, AI, ML, IoT, camera & vision technologies.

“For patents, we work with business teams, do our research and come up with unique consumer needs in the design team. Then we collaborate with engineering teams to see which ideas make the cut. It is a journey full of fun and learning,” said Swadha Jaiswal, Design Manager at SRI-B. Swadha has been with Samsung for seven years and has filed ten patents so far.

SRI-B also has a specialized IP team that conducts invention-creation training, advanced inventive step training to help employees understand the idea and process of innovation. Most of the patents have been filed by the young millennials and Gen Z who have just entered the workforce.

“At Samsung, freshers are trained on the patenting process by the IP (intellectual property) team, the engineering team, and others. Teams guide them on what the broad customer needs are and the areas they need to focus on,” said Payal Anand, Chief Engineer, Machine Learning at SRI-B. Payal has been with Samsung for 7 years and has filed 3 patents.

Samsung strongly believes in nurturing young talent and has built a strong culture of innovation and patent filing. To simplify the process for the inventors, SRI-B has also set up an internal portal. This portal is a one-stop-shop for all patent filing information that an engineer requires during the process.

“At Samsung, we believe in meaningful innovation and encourage our engineers to bring their novel ideas, techniques to develop new-age solutions to problems. We are immensely proud of our young millennials and Gen Z employees who have contributed significantly and have filed for patents at such an early stage of their careers. We will continue to work towards creating an environment that inspires, supports and develops young innovators,” said Dr Aloknath De, CTO, SRI-B.

In order to strengthen Industry-Academia partnership, Samsung R&D has been working with young innovators across top engineering colleges as part of a popular students’ engagement program named Samsung PRISM. Among the successes over the last two years of the program is many students getting to file joint patents with SRI-B engineers. Earlier this year, Samsung also set up a world-class artificial intelligence, machine learning and data engineering lab at the KLE Technological University to offer young students an exciting opportunity to research in emerging cutting-edge tech areas.

The expert interviewed for the series is Ratnakar Rao V R, who heads the Beyond 5G Team at Samsung R&D Institute India – Bangalore (SRI-B). Rao is soon to complete a decade at SRI-B, and the bulk of his experience has been in the research and development of wireless communication technologies like 4G and 5G. Check out the interview below to find out more about the promising technologies Rao and his team have been working on.

Q: Advanced system software plays a crucial role in activating all kinds of technologies developed to provide better user experiences. How has research into applied AI been factoring into your work within the communications field?

Traditionally, all cellular communication systems were implemented using mathematical models and were strictly rule-based. However, this is now changing in the 5G era due to a few key factors.

Firstly, since a single network has to cater to a number of diverse use cases simultaneously, such systems cannot operate to the best of their capabilities if implemented based only on traditional modeling. Secondly, advances in computation algorithms and processor architectures are making it easier to run AI and machine learning models on a wider range of devices. Thirdly, wireless networks are being virtualized and are getting split into micro-services that run in the cloud. On-Device AI capabilities are also being added to wireless terminals. From 5G onwards, networks will be closely integrated with applications, making it necessary for them to be more contextually aware of users and applications in order to deliver personalized network experiences to all.

All these factors enable and necessitate broader use of AI and machine learning in next-generation wireless networks and terminals.

Q: Can you please briefly introduce SRI-B and the kind of work that goes on there?

The Samsung R&D Institute in Bangalore (SRI-B) has established five Centers of Excellence (CoEs) with the focus areas of Communication, Camera and Multimedia, On-Device AI, IoT and Services. SRI-B has experience executing projects from the research to market stage in each of these areas, and makes impactful contributions to Samsung product lines on the backs of these CoEs every year.

At the Communication CoE, SRI-B has dedicated teams working on mobile terminals, network RAN/core development and wireless standards. Strong synergy between these teams has resulted in the establishment of end-to-end domain expertise. In addition to this, we have recently seeded advanced communication research in a bid to make impactful contributions to Beyond 5G and 6G evolution.

Q: What kind of communication-related work are you and your team engaged in now?

Firstly, our team specializes in radio, data networking protocols and embedded modem system software. We craft the 5G radio experience for different markets around the world. Our team is engaged in the product development of 5G mobile terminals for a range of world-wide markets.

Secondly, we are engaged in advanced research and development surrounding communication protocols. Some of this work makes it into Samsung products as differentiating features and solutions. The rest of our work is aimed at creating standards and implementation IP (intellectual property) pertaining to Beyond 5G and 6G systems.

Q: How do you expect the Beyond 5G era to change the way users interact with technology in their day-to-day lives?

The early launches of non-standalone 5G have unlocked a lot of hitherto unused spectrum in mid and high bands and also enabled the re-farming of the existing 4G spectrum for use with 5G. Thus, the transition to a very high-capacity communication system is underway.

This massive addition of capacity will enable more users to connect more devices to the internet and bring the benefits of connectivity to the masses who live in rural areas. For regular users, these benefits will be evident in terms of very high-resolution streaming, faster downloads and uploads and real-time interactive gaming. They will also see mixed-reality experiences in video streaming and video calls.

The subsequent enhancements to 5G in the coming years will unlock consumer infotainment and a lot of other use cases. For example, the low-power, low-bandwidth features of IoT devices will help public services, the agricultural industry and factories automate for better efficiency. Likewise, satellite-based 5G will provide ubiquitous coverage all over the globe. The highly reliable, low-latency optimizations applied to 5G networks will also enable better remote delivery of services like healthcare and education.

Q: Which of SRI-B’s achievements in the communications field are you most proud of?

We at SRI-B are proud to have played a critical role in the launch of the world’s first 3G, 4G and 5G smartphones. Recently, SRI-B has enabled standalone 5G and 5G carrier aggregation in mobile terminals for commercial use, developed 4G and 5G network software and helped establish MC-PTT (Mission Critical Push to Talk) capabilities.

SRI-B has also been an IP powerhouse for several years. Every year, a number of IPs are created by SRI-B engineers from across the various domains. We have created more than 200 implementation IPs in the area of wireless communication, and more than 100 standard essential IPs in the areas of 4G and 5G.

Q: How does collaborating with other institutes like Samsung Research America, Samsung R&D Institute UK and Samsung Research in Korea complement your work and research capabilities?

We have worked closely with Samsung Research on early technology development and realization of 5G, and are now collaborating on nascent 6G technology development. I strongly believe that a lot of potentials can be unlocked by further collaboration between SRI-B and the teams at Samsung Research America and Samsung R&D Institute UK.

SRI-B has a very large pool of communication engineers, including innovators and domain experts. It is therefore possible to build high-quality teams and execute research promptly. We are actively exploring these possibilities by interacting with R&D leaders at global research centers to enable breakthrough innovations.

Q: How are AI and machine learning being applied to Beyond 5G and 6G wireless communication technology? How do you expect these technology combinations to evolve going forward?

It is widely agreed that AI and machine learning will have a significant influence on network management and radio resource management for Beyond 5G and 6G networks. We envisage AI and machine learning applications being present in block-level AI, procedural AI and system software AI, and are actively researching along these lines.

• • Block-level AI: A specific block in the terminal or network could be added with AI/machine learning without impacting the rest of the system, resulting in performance improvements and/or computation savings. For example, a channel decoder could decide to terminate the decoder iterations early if it is able to predict whether the block decoding will eventually pass or fail.
  • Procedural AI: This is where at least two entities in the end-to-end system exchange information to enable accurate use of AI and machine learning techniques. For example, meta-data needs to be exchanged between the terminal and network for an auto encoder or decoder to work within a margin of error. Another example is mobility management for terminals.
  • System software AI: Most entities in next-gen communication systems will have to operate in several modes. The embedded system software should be able to scale up or scale down system resources very dynamically. AI-assisted embedded system software is expected to learn context-specific requirements and adapt accordingly.

Q: You are a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). What kind of activities are you involved with in this role? How does your position in the IEEE inform your other work?

In this role, I deliver invited lectures and talks on various technology topics for the student communities and teach fraternities at regional engineering colleges. The role has also enabled me to seed new study items internally, allowing us to initiate new collaborations with student communities and faculties from reputed universities.

The aim is to influence as many people as possible to improve their domain expertise and pursue advanced research in the communications field. I also represent Samsung in various talks and discussions with industry, government and academia. My interactions help me stay in touch with the latest trends in various areas adjacent to my area of expertise.

I also encourage my team members to publish their results in outstanding conferences and journals. This year and last year, we have published more than 20 papers in various outstanding forums.

26 year-old Pavithra Vancheeswaran is over joyed. Not only has she completed her M. Tech from the Indian Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) but has also won the prestigious ‘Sir M. Visvesvaraya Scholarship Award’ for scoring the highest CGPA across all courses. This is no small feat considering Pavithra is a full-time employee of Samsung R&D Institute India, Bangalore (SRI-B), Samsung’s biggest research centre outside Korea and the M. Tech course was done alongside pressures of work.

She, and another colleague Yogesh Kochar, who also won the award, competed against 163 M. Tech. students, most of them doing the course full-time.

Pavithra and Yogesh are part of a group of 28 engineers from SRI-B who have completed their M. Tech. degrees from IIIT-B as part of the R&D centre’s continuous learning initiative, helping upskill its employees.

“Balancing work, studies and other commitments is a tight rope to walk, and I wouldn’t have been able to do this without support from my team and my family,” says Pavithra, who joined Samsung in 2016 as a campus fresher and is now part of the Internet of Things team.

SRI-B employs thousands of young engineers who work on cutting edge technology in diverse areas such as AI, machine learning, IoT, natural language processing, biometrics and camera tech.

Many engineers at SRI-B, like Pavithra, are straight out of engineering college and to help them with an upward learning curve, SRI-B has tied up with IIIT-B for an M. Tech. program for employees with specialisation in Computer Science in 2014. Since then, 172 employees have completed the program.

Employees have to go through a rigorous entrance examination and an internal selection process to get a seat in the coveted M.Tech. program.

Yogesh Kochar from the Network team says the last three years have been a challenge for him but this program has added tremendous value to him as a professional. “Going back to academics has given me a fresh perspective and helped me take my work to the next level. I can already feel the difference,” he says.

Professors from IIIT-B conduct classes for the program at the SRI-B office in Bengaluru. Over the last year and half, though, these classes have shifted online.

“At Samsung India, we strongly believe in continuous learning. We nurture the talent of our people and enhance their research acumen. The collaboration with premier institutes such as IISC, IIT-M and IIIT-B were initiated to upskill our engineers on deep technology domains,” says Dr. Aloknath De, Vice President & CTO , SRI-B.

“It is fascinating to see our veterans and young millennials study together while working full time. Over the last few years, we have seen an upward slope in the learning curve, which is also reflected in the higher number of research publications and patents filings” he adds.

SRI-B has witnessed a four times increase in patent filing over the last four years, especially in areas such as 5G, AI and IoT.

Starting this year, SRI-B has collaborated with two premiere Indian institutes –Indian Institute of Technology – Madras (IIT-M) – for part-time and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for full time nonresidential course. SRI-B plans to sponsor higher education for 30 employees with IISc in 2021. The M. Tech programs will focus on specialization in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Business Analytics, ECE and Signal Processing.

Samsung Digital Library will be implemented across 100 plus government schools of Karnataka wherein more than 2000 Samsung Galaxy Tab A and “e Education Content along with Training” will benefit nearly 25000 students.

Samsung Digital Library programme was inaugurated today in the presence of Mr. S Suresh Kumar, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education of Karnataka. Also present at the event were Mr. Heejoon Kang, Chief Financial Officer, SRI-B, and other Samsung executives.

Mr. S Suresh Kumar, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Government of Karnataka, said, “Our focus on strengthening the primary education system will be bolstered through this partnership with Samsung. Students at this age must get an experience of the latest technology to have a holistic development. The Samsung tablets will be an ideal way to engage these kids in an interactive manner and we hope this to be a fulfilling association.”

“At Samsung, education is a cause that is close to our heart. We are committed to help students learn and bridge the digital divide with our new initiative – Samsung Digital Library. Through this partnership with the state government, we are hopeful that the students can adopt more engaging methods of learning with new age technology,” Mr. Dipesh Shah, Managing Director at Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore, said.

Samsung Digital Library is a new corporate social responsibility initiative that has been introduced by SRI- B. The initiative will focus on providing quality digital knowledge and education in government schools of Karnataka.

In the first phase of the initiative, 20 tablets per school will be distributed across 50 Government schools of Tumakuru and Ramanagar. Tumakuru is also a ‘Smart City’, and this collaboration will further the government’s initiative towards digital education. The second phase is slated for the month of August this year.

Samsung has a strong partnership with the state of Karnataka and has been acknowledged for its sustainable efforts to transform the society through multiple initiatives towards community building. Since 2015, the CSR team at SRI-B has been active in carrying out various drives like the Notebook donation drive, building of a new school in Kembodi, solar lantern distribution and many such activities across Karnataka.

Karnataka is also the home to the world’s largest mobile experience center- Samsung Opera House and the biggest R&D centre of Samsung outside Korea. Samsung R&D Bangalore is a key innovation hub in Samsung. With the best of talent from India and overseas, this centre focusses on creating cutting edge technologies across multiple areas of Samsung’s business, that transform experiences of users both globally, as well as in local markets.

As part of that philosophy, five years ago, several employees of Samsung got an opportunity to engage with less privileged students at government schools in rural India, and most of them were taken by surprise that the biggest reason for these children to attend school was to get free mid-day meals provided to these schools through a government programme. Most students did not have basic necessities such as notebooks and stationery.

That’s when employees from Samsung Research Institute – Bengaluru (SRI-B) resolved to begin a donation drive to bring focus back on education and help curb the drop-out rate among students.

This week, our employee volunteers reached out to government schools in six Talukas of Kolar and Ramnagar districts of Karnataka and distributed 550,000 notebooks to 100,000 students in 2,100 government schools.

As the little girls and boys received their new set of notebooks and stationery, the glee on their faces was palpable. The minute they got their hands on their prized possessions, they couldn’t stop writing their names on them. Mr J Manjunath, the District Collector of Kolar, Samsung executives and other officials participated in the drive along with Samsung employees. The students also made a solemn promise to study to the best of their potential.

Samsung has always shared a strong relationship with the state of Karnataka. Bengaluru is home to SRI-B, Samsung’s largest research and development centre outside South Korea, and Samsung Opera House, the world’s largest mobile experience centre. Samsung also recently installed the world’s largest Onyx Cinema LED screen at the city’s Swagath Cinema theatre.

In the fifth edition of the notebook donation drive for around one lakh students studying at government schools, volunteers from SRI-B reached out to schools in six Talukas of Kolar district (Kolar, Malur, KGF, Mulbagal, Bangarpet and Srinivaspura) and one Taluka of  Ramanagar district (Magadi) to distribute notebooks and stationery items.

School Boys in Taluka of Kolar district  show their new notebooks.

The notebook donation drive was conceptualized five years ago when Samsung employees, on a field visit, interacted with students of different government schools to understand their challenges and more importantly, the reason for attending school. A majority of students said they come to school only for mid-day meals. They also mentioned that they lacked necessities like notebooks and stationary items. Engineers at SRI-B formed a volunteer group and along with the CSR team has been conducting donation drives, bringing the focus back to education and helping arrest school drop-out rates.

“We urge more corporates to come forward and participate in the development process of our region. These students are our future and I appreciate Samsung’s efforts towards the development of rural areas of Kolar. We seek continued support to brighten up the lives of these children,” said Shri Manjunath, District Collector, Kolar.

School Girls in Taluka of Kolar district show their new notebooks.

“Samsung has undertaken conscious efforts towards the development of young minds in this region. The continued collaboration with Karnataka government is a testimony of our commitment and we feel deeply satisfied to see our young talented engineers participate with enthusiasm. While we continue to make the lives of our consumers better with our innovations, we will also focus on contributing to the development of our country with sustainable initiatives,” said Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, Samsung R&D Institute – Bangalore.

Since 2015, members of the volunteer group, ‘SEVA’ and the CSR team at SRI-B have contributed over 850,000 notebooks to over 70,000 school students across 1,200 government schools. With the latest drive, they would have contributed over 1,400,000 notebooks. The team has also initiated the construction of a new school building in Kolar district and has installed water filters in 85 schools in the district.

Samsung has had a strong relationship with Karnataka. The state is home to Samsung’s largest R&D centre outside Korea, the world’s largest mobile experience centre, the Samsung Opera House and the recently launched cinema LED screen at Swagath Cinema, Bangalore.