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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notably, Dot Inc., which develops devices and software for the visually impaired, was named a CES 2022 Best of Innovation Award winner in the Accessibility category and also named two CES Innovation Awards Honorees. Verses, which developed the Meta Music System for streaming, was named a CES 2023 Best of Innovation Award winner in the Streaming category.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From C-Lab Inside projects to successful spin-offs

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

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

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

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

Four start-ups accelerated through C-Lab Outside

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

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

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

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

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

 Appendix 1. C-Lab Inside Projects

1. SelfieType

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

2. Hyler

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

3. Becon

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

4. SunnySide

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

5. Ultra V

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

Appendix 2. C-Lab Outside Startups

1. Circulus

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

2. FITT

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

3. Vtouch

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

4. Smoothy

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