Samsung sees ramping up of Israeli investments

Israeli start-ups can expect to see additional investments from Samsung as the South Korean electronics giant seeks to solve global problems including the need for increased cybersecurity and longer-lasting batteries, the president and chief strategy officer of Samsung Electronics, Young Sohn, said.

“Our expectation is that we will continue to ramp up our investments in Israel,” he said. So if you have great ideas, “let’s talk.”

Around 600 people on Thursday attended Samsung’s Innovation Summit in Tel Aviv, at which Sohn laid out the South Korean conglomerate’s tech vision and agenda for the future.

“Working together we can solve some of the global challenges that are in front of us,” Sohn told the audience of developers, VC heads and startup entrepreneurs that packed the hall.

Listing the fields in which he saw the biggest potential for cooperation and developments in coming years, Sohn said that all technologies that will help companies and people to make sense of the huge amount of content and data out there — whether in the field of health, education or agriculture — will be of interest to players globally and to Samsung.

Advances in artificial intelligence and deep learning is also an area of interest to Samsung, as well as the development of more sophisticated sensors, more efficient data storage, and technologies that will lead to longer battery life. “As our world turns toward smart cars, robots and drones, this becomes crucial,” he said. “This is a big area we need to work on.”

Cybersecurity is also a key field of interest going ahead, he said.
“Security is a big concern to all of us,” he said. “We are all connected. How do we make sure information is shared without compromising confidentiality? This is a global issue.”

Samsung, the world’s largest manufacturer of consumer electronics, invested in 62 companies globally last year, spending over $200 million, Sohn said. The company has invested in 18 companies in Israel to date, in the fields of computer vision, sensors, cyber security and digital health.

The company could help Israeli startups get to market faster, he said. “We are very excited to be here in the Start-up Nation,” he said. “I think we can do more.”

Sohn said that if PCs were the center of tech development in the 1980s, and the 2000s represented the era of mobile phones, “the next big thing” is the era of smart machines.

In June, Samsung announced a strategy of spending $1.2 billion over four years for US-based Internet of Things research and development and investments. Israel could be also getting some of this investment, Sohn said. Internet of Things refers to the ability of physical devices to talk to each other via use of electronics, sensors, or software.