Steadfastly embracing its mantra of ‘Life’s Good,’ LG believes that its products are more than the sum of their parts. That’s why the company is constantly innovating cutting-edge products which can help it shape a world where exceptional value is the norm and a smarter, more convenient life is accessible to everyone. These efforts bring LG one step closer to realizing a Better Life for All.

Since 2020, LG has been exploring new business opportunities to innovate the customer experience, leveraging the ideas, experiences and skills of its members through its in-house venture and company-in-company system.

In line with this commitment, LG has fostered a work environment that encourages employees to embrace new challenges, exemplified by last year’s launch of ‘STUDIO341.’ This initiative’s primary mission is to identify and foster internal ventures that encapsulate the spirit of challenge and innovation, the very spirit that has driven LG’s transformation from its humble beginnings as Goldstar in 1958 to a global powerhouse.

Designed with the Brave Optimist mindset, this initiative is tailored for company executives and employees based in Korea. The sole criterion? A creative idea that can solve a problem worth solving and provide a new experience to customers.

The five most outstanding ideas were selected for spin-off. Let’s delve into them.

MASKIT Founder Bae Ho-yeon

MASKIT: Secure & Queue-Free Concert Ticketing Solution
In response to the constraints of traditional concert hall ticketing systems, MASKIT collaborated with customer experience specialists at LG to create a system that allows customers to verify their identity at home and gain entry to a venue without enduring long queues. MASKIT also encrypts all the personal data it collects, ensuring consistent user protection.

This solution provides concert-goers an unprecedented level of convenience, while enabling concert organizers to achieve significant cost efficiencies. MASKIT’s ambition is to roll out this ticketing solution to large concert halls and entertainment companies nationwide, while evolving into a comprehensive culture and arts solution that utilizes personal data in the most secure manner possible.

X UP Founder Lee Yong-soo

X UP: Smart Sensor-based Golf Course Green Management Solution
X UP offers a robotic turf maintenance solution that manages golf courses by analyzing turf data via heat maps. The unpredictability and unknown causes of turf damage make it difficult to prevent, often necessitating repairs after the damage has occurred. However, X UP allows golf courses to shift from physical repairs to a data-driven preventative management strategy.

Looking ahead, X UP aspires to become the go-to robotic solution company offering a more efficient alternative to manual golf course maintenance.

FRESH GO Founder Lee Sung-hoon

Fresh GO: Modular Individual Refrigerator for Cold Chain Transportation
Fresh GO has pioneered an individual cooling cold chain solution that facilitates the transportation of fresh food in conventional trucks, meeting the growing demand for food deliveries. This innovative cooling method uses Physics-Informed Neural Networks and Ref Cycle technology, matching the performance of competitors at half the cost.

The temperature can be individually adjusted for each item, and the design, which eliminates the need to open the entire door, aids in maintaining internal temperatures. It can even be adapted for air deliveries. Fresh GO’s CEO, Lee Seong-hoon, has leveraged his experience at LG to bring this concept to life, addressing customer needs.

Cucumbers Founder Lee Jae-hyuk

Cucumbers: Cost-Effective Pickup Service and Marketing Tool for Restaurants
Cucumbers provides an intelligent solution that lessens the commission burden on restaurants while also acting as a marketing tool to draw in regular customers. By offering a pickup service with in-store prices and group pickup discounts, it allows users to reduce their cost burden, encouraging a symbiotic relationship.

Found Objet Founder Kim Ju-hee

Found Objet: Recycled Materials Trading Platform for a Sustainable Future
Found Objet, a platform that streamlines transactions between recycling companies and buyers, is the brainchild of CEO Kim Ju-hee, formerly of LG Vehicle component Solutions Company. She observed that many recycled materials businesses were run by the older generation, who often didn’t fully grasp market prices and needed to acquire new customers as the market expanded. Concurrently, purchasing managers at chemical companies were looking to gather information from various businesses to secure a consistent supply of raw materials. Found Objet bridges this information gap, contributing to a more sustainable future.

STUDIO341’s final five were selected based on their potential for growth and their capacity to continually innovate the customer experience moving forward. LG and Bluepoint intend to collaboratively invest up to KRW 400 million in each of these start-ups.

Stay tuned to LG Newsroom to see how its solutions based on innovative technologies are innovating new value for customers across various future industries.

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