Samsung’s old textile mill transformed into idea accelerating lab

Samsung Electronics Co. has opened its first regional C-Lab Outside campus in Daegu – where its founder Lee Byung-chull started his first business in grocery trading and then expanded into textiles with the opening of South Korea’s biggest woolen mill – in a show of its commitment to the South Korean economy.

C-Lab Outside Daegu Campus opened on Wednesday to nurture local startups from Korea’s third-largest metropolitan area in Gyeongsang Province as part of Samsung Electronics’ pledge to build the country’s sustainable startup ecosystem, the company announced on the same day.

C-Lab Outside is a sister program of C-Lab Inside launched in 2012 as Samsung Electronics’ in-house startup incubation program. The company launched C-Lab Outside in 2018 to develop the creative ideas of non-Samsung entrepreneurs into business opportunities.

C-Lab Outside Daegu Campus is the first regional C-Lab Outside campus, and it has welcomed five local startups in the robotics, healthcare and environment sectors as its first tenants.

The startups, selected by Samsung Electronics through the regional city’s recommendation and professional evaluation, will each receive 100 million won ($76,663.60) in financial aid, dedicated office space and business consulting services from Samsung Electronics.

The tenants include artificial intelligence (AI)-backed voice stethoscope developer Neopons, pregnancy health monitoring app and device developer Clairaudience, fine dust reduction filter developer Tia, construction robot developer MFR, and smart window developer Vision.

DAEGU, SAMSUNG’S FOUNDING PLACE

Samsung Electronics’ first regional C-Lab Outside campus is built on the site of Cheil Industries Inc.’s old textile mill in Daegu, which served as a stepping stone for war-torn Korea’s rapid transition into an export-driven economy until it closed in 1997. The factory started operations in 1956 and hired about 4,500 workers in the 1970s and 80s.

Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chull as a grocery trading company in Daegu in 1938. After the Korean War, Samsung’s business expanded into the textile industry, which also paved the way for the Samsung empire, which now controls a swath of industries from financial, fertilizer, oil refining, retail, heavy, petrochemical and electronics to semiconductors.  

Founder Lee was renowned for his commitment to the redevelopment of his country, devastated by the three-year war, through industrialization.

The opening of the first regional startup incubation lab in Daegu, Samsung's birthplace, signifies its hope to contribute to the national economy again as Korea’s biggest business group by reigniting growth and vitality in regional economies, said industry observers.

FRESH PLEDGE BY CHAIRMAN LEE

The latest C-Lab Outside campus in Daegu is expected to lead to Samsung Electronics’ more active role in the cultivation of regional startups. The company is readying to open a C-Lab Outside campus in Gwangju in South Jeolla Province, and another one for startups in North Gyeongsang Province.

“We will keep actively discovering innovative startups in various regions and give them full support for their global advance,” Kim Wan-pyo, Samsung Economic Research Institute president, said during a C-Lab Outside Daegu Campus opening ceremony on Wednesday.

Samsung’s social contribution has been repeatedly emphasized by Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee, the company's third-generation leader who took the helm in October last year. He urged his employees to remember Samsung’s pledge to Korean society as a partner.

“Samsung will share with customers, shareholders, partner companies and regional communities for a win-win for all,” Lee said in an internal message sent to his employees in October.  

Before the opening of C-Lab Outside Daegu Campus, Samsung turned a portion of the old textile mill site into a cultural and entrepreneurial town. It built an opera house on the land and donated it to the city of Daegu in 2003. It opened Samsung Creative Campus in 2017 to offer working space to local government agencies, private companies and retailers. It has also transformed the old dormitory building for Cheil Industries’ workers into an industrial museum.

Samsung Electronics has so far groomed 856 in-house venture firms and startups through its C-Lab program, of which 526 startups have attracted 1.3 trillion won in total investment.

Write to Jeong-soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.