Samsung's C-Lab participates in Europe's largest startup exhibition

Samsung Electronics Co.'s C-Lab showcases K-innovation at Europe's largest startup exhibition, paving the way for global market expansion.

South Korean electronic giant announced on Thursday that C-Lab will present in-house ventures and outside startups nurtured by C-Lab at 2023 Viva Technology, which will be held in Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, France, until June 17.

VivaTech is Europe's largest startup trade show, which started in 2016, and this is the first time Samsung C-Lab is participating in VivaTech.

Samsung Electronics has set up a C-Lab exhibition space within the K-startup Pavilion organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The company will showcase four startups nurtured through the C-Lab in-house program, targeting its employees, and the C-Lab Outside program, targeting external startups.

Relumino is a visual aid solution for the visually impaired, consisting of the Relumino app, a smartphone software that utilizes residual vision to enhance object recognition, and the Relumino glasses, a wearable eyeglass-type device.

Started as a C-Lab in-house project in 2016 and further developed by Samsung Research to improve its completeness, the enhanced Relumino glasses, offering improved user convenience and comfort, will be presented at VivaTech.

In addition, C-Lab Outside startups such as Clika, an AI model developer utilizing lightweight solutions, NDotLight, a 3D design tool developer for metaverse content production, Vsion, a smart window developer that adjusts transparency according to the situation and QuantumCat, a gold nanoparticle catalyst developer for removing harmful gases, also participated in the exhibition.

Samsung Electronics selected companies among the C-Lab Outside startups that aim to enter the European market and provided support for exhibition expenses and booth installation costs.

This opportunity will provide regional startups, which have faced challenges in moving into the global market, with a platform to assess market response, strengthen business viability and grow into global companies.

Samsung Electronics is expanding C-Lab Outside to Daegu, Gwangju and North Gyeongsang Province this year, taking the lead in discovering and nurturing high-performing startups in the regions and invigorating the local startup ecosystem.

"Participating in VivaTech will be a great opportunity for C-Lab startups to gauge the response of the global market," Head of Samsung Electronics' Management Support Division Park Hak-gyu said. "We will continue to support C-Lab startups in their overseas expansion bids to promote the excellence of Korean startups."

Through C-Lab, Samsung Electronics has nurtured a total of 866 startups (391 internal and 475 external). The cumulative investment attracted by C-Lab startups, totaling 536 (61 spin-offs and 475 outside startups), amounts to 1.36 trillion won ($1.07 billion).

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