It will probably take less time to list the things they don't get involved in, since Korean technology giant,LG makes everything from televisions to washing machines. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the company has a strong interest in innovation, and that's why it has a new North American Innovation Center. The business unit is based out of Santa Clara in Silicon Valley, California, and is looking for new and interesting ways to work with startups.
At the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, the company announced the first companies that have made it onto its shortlist for working with the electronics giant. Some of the focus areas for the company's innovation areas are highlighted by the startups.
The startup community is trying to be in the center of the diagram. It wants to unite this with the wider investor landscape, big tech, academia, and the entrepreneurial community, where appropriate.
The Mission for the Future challenge is a program that is run by the company to find the most promising entrepreneurs and startup who can work with the company's entrepreneurs in residence to help create businesses within the company's ecosystem. Mission for the Future is a nine-month annual challenge program that seeks the best ideas, concepts and businesses that will improve quality of life in a smarter, healthier, more- connected future.
The first big theme for the company is connected health, with a particular focus on doubling down on healthcare focused on healthcare to meet people's wellbeing needs at healthcare facilities, in their homes or through services in that space. The first two companies to be considered by the company were XR Health, which offers virtual reality treatment rooms for telehealth services, and Maya MD, which is a digital health assistant that uses the television to encourage customers into active conversations about their health.
The metaverse is the second broad category where the company is paying particular attention to how people and machines can connect. iQ3 is an enterprise applications and services for product training for the metaverse, and I3M is a virtual travel and tourism experience.
The third pillar of the innovation push is sustainable mobility. The company is making EV charging mobile, while maintaining a sustainable lifestyle. Driivz is building an operating system for electric vehicle charging management.
The last part of the innovation pie chart is about Smart Lifestyles, which appears to be a reference to smart home technology. In this universe, they chose a universal smart-key technology, EveryKey, which is an effort to use a single device tounlock your car, phone and doors, and keeps your website logins safe, while A.kin is a company working to add virtual assistant technology to LG. It is aimed at homes with home-care coordination challenges. Chefling is a solution for planning, shopping for and cooking meals that follow your diet.
The startups that have been announced give you a glimpse of what the type of thing that the company is looking for is. I spoke with the boss of the program to learn more about what the program is looking for, how the program is aiming to work with startups, and how to catch the eye of the incubator.
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