Not another lab: LG’s plan to tap into Silicon Valley’s startup scene

The Korean consumer electronics giant is launching a new startup competition out of its recently launched NOVA innovation center.

LG exec Sokwoo Rhee

Before joining LG, Sokwoo Rhee worked for seven years for the federal government, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Photo: LG

When LG left the phone business earlier this year, the company declared it instead wanted to focus its resources on growth areas such as EVs and the smart home. Now, LG is trying to put its money where its mouth is: The company on Wednesday announced a new startup competition that aims to accelerate innovation in these areas with mentoring, collaboration and millions of dollars in funding.

The startup competition is run out of LG's new NOVA Silicon Valley Innovation Center. The 12-month plan will ultimately result in 10 companies getting access to $20 million worth of funding and resources to build products and businesses together. It's not the first time the consumer electronics giant has tried to lean on West Coast tech talent: In 2013, LG opened its Silicon Valley Lab to develop its own smart TV operating system. However, prior attempts to merge Silicon Valley innovation with LG culture largely failed, and the lab laid off most of its staff two years later.

This time, it's supposed to be different, thanks in part to new leadership: The company has brought on Sokwoo Rhee as its new SVP of innovation to lead NOVA, and given him the mandate to develop a more collaborative approach that aims to develop new products and businesses together with outside companies. In an exclusive interview with Protocol, Rhee explained what NOVA will focus on, why he doesn't want to build yet another lab and how his experience working within the U.S. government will help him navigate corporate bureaucracies.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Tell me a bit about the idea behind LG NOVA.

LG Electronics is a world-renowned manufacturer of appliances, TVs, vehicle components and so on. But there are many sectors that we have not been involved as much. And frankly speaking, there are a lot of smart people outside of LG Electronics. That's why we established this innovation center. We want to create new business opportunities. We want to create an innovation ecosystem so that startups, Big Tech, nonprofits and even government agencies can all work together, and create a situation of one-plus-one equals more than two.

Which role does the startup competition play in those plans?

This is going to be a 12-month program called "Mission for the Future" that brings in hundreds, and hopefully thousands of startups. And hopefully in 12 months, we can create something really tangible, something great that can really make an impact in our lives.

We'll have four tracks. One of the focus areas is remote health care and wellness. The second area is electrifying mobility, electric vehicles and charging-station infrastructure. The third area is smart lifestyle, which is basically the smart home, IoT and so on. The fourth area is the metaverse, which is a little bit more peculiar from LG's perspective. We also have what we call an open track, [which is] basically open [to] any other ideas.

What's the ultimate outcome going to be like for companies that participate? Do you want to acquire them? Invest in them?

So the ultimate outcome may be different [from case to case]. It could be an acquisition, could be an investment, it could be a cooperation. On the health care side, for example, a lot of startups have interesting components, like glucose sensors or blood-pressure sensors. But in many cases, because of the complexity in the health care system, each component itself may not become as prominent as it could. That's where we come in. We are selling tons of appliances, and we [could] incorporate such glucose sensor devices into, let's say, a home network, for example. Startups can work with us, and we can create new business together.

How important is it to be in Silicon Valley for something like this, especially now that everyone is just on Zoom all day?

Innovation can happen everywhere. I was in Washington, D.C., for seven years, and a lot of great innovation happens over there. But our way to do innovation is through collaboration. We don't want to have a single lab somewhere. Our approach is to work with others. To do that, we have to be at the center of global innovation, even geographically. That's why Silicon Valley is important for us.

Companies like LG have tried to get a foothold in the Valley before. This hasn't always worked.

There are a lot of challenges for a large company to try to create an innovative environment, and especially a company like LG Electronics that started outside of the United States. That's why this innovation center is really a mix of professionals who've been with LG for a while, who know the culture, and entrepreneurs like me, who have worked for startups multiple times. It is intentionally designed to have a mix of those talents.

Speaking of your past work experience: Big companies tend to be kind of bureaucratic. They have a way of doing things, and it's hard to break those habits. Do you think years of working with the federal government will help you with that in your new job?

Yeah, well ... [laughs]. You actually answered your own question. Obviously, the federal government is very process-oriented, and for a good reason. I was a startup guy, very much an entrepreneur. Then I did a 180 degrees, [worked] in the government and learned a lot.

You're right, I'm familiar with bureaucracies. And frankly speaking, LG Electronics is actually pretty good in terms of that. [The company] is very aware of the potential issues that may come up, so they are doing everything they can to enable us to do our jobs without getting in the way. Any organization has its own challenges, but I think we can make it work.

Fintech

Judge Zia Faruqui is trying to teach you crypto, one ‘SNL’ reference at a time

His decisions on major cryptocurrency cases have quoted "The Big Lebowski," "SNL," and "Dr. Strangelove." That’s because he wants you — yes, you — to read them.

The ways Zia Faruqui (right) has weighed on cases that have come before him can give lawyers clues as to what legal frameworks will pass muster.

Photo: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images

“Cryptocurrency and related software analytics tools are ‘The wave of the future, Dude. One hundred percent electronic.’”

That’s not a quote from "The Big Lebowski" — at least, not directly. It’s a quote from a Washington, D.C., district court memorandum opinion on the role cryptocurrency analytics tools can play in government investigations. The author is Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui.

Keep ReadingShow less
Veronica Irwin

Veronica Irwin (@vronirwin) is a San Francisco-based reporter at Protocol covering fintech. Previously she was at the San Francisco Examiner, covering tech from a hyper-local angle. Before that, her byline was featured in SF Weekly, The Nation, Techworker, Ms. Magazine and The Frisc.

The financial technology transformation is driving competition, creating consumer choice, and shaping the future of finance. Hear from seven fintech leaders who are reshaping the future of finance, and join the inaugural Financial Technology Association Fintech Summit to learn more.

Keep ReadingShow less
FTA
The Financial Technology Association (FTA) represents industry leaders shaping the future of finance. We champion the power of technology-centered financial services and advocate for the modernization of financial regulation to support inclusion and responsible innovation.
Enterprise

AWS CEO: The cloud isn’t just about technology

As AWS preps for its annual re:Invent conference, Adam Selipsky talks product strategy, support for hybrid environments, and the value of the cloud in uncertain economic times.

Photo: Noah Berger/Getty Images for Amazon Web Services

AWS is gearing up for re:Invent, its annual cloud computing conference where announcements this year are expected to focus on its end-to-end data strategy and delivering new industry-specific services.

It will be the second re:Invent with CEO Adam Selipsky as leader of the industry’s largest cloud provider after his return last year to AWS from data visualization company Tableau Software.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donna Goodison

Donna Goodison (@dgoodison) is Protocol's senior reporter focusing on enterprise infrastructure technology, from the 'Big 3' cloud computing providers to data centers. She previously covered the public cloud at CRN after 15 years as a business reporter for the Boston Herald. Based in Massachusetts, she also has worked as a Boston Globe freelancer, business reporter at the Boston Business Journal and real estate reporter at Banker & Tradesman after toiling at weekly newspapers.

Image: Protocol

We launched Protocol in February 2020 to cover the evolving power center of tech. It is with deep sadness that just under three years later, we are winding down the publication.

As of today, we will not publish any more stories. All of our newsletters, apart from our flagship, Source Code, will no longer be sent. Source Code will be published and sent for the next few weeks, but it will also close down in December.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bennett Richardson

Bennett Richardson ( @bennettrich) is the president of Protocol. Prior to joining Protocol in 2019, Bennett was executive director of global strategic partnerships at POLITICO, where he led strategic growth efforts including POLITICO's European expansion in Brussels and POLITICO's creative agency POLITICO Focus during his six years with the company. Prior to POLITICO, Bennett was co-founder and CMO of Hinge, the mobile dating company recently acquired by Match Group. Bennett began his career in digital and social brand marketing working with major brands across tech, energy, and health care at leading marketing and communications agencies including Edelman and GMMB. Bennett is originally from Portland, Maine, and received his bachelor's degree from Colgate University.

Enterprise

Why large enterprises struggle to find suitable platforms for MLops

As companies expand their use of AI beyond running just a few machine learning models, and as larger enterprises go from deploying hundreds of models to thousands and even millions of models, ML practitioners say that they have yet to find what they need from prepackaged MLops systems.

As companies expand their use of AI beyond running just a few machine learning models, ML practitioners say that they have yet to find what they need from prepackaged MLops systems.

Photo: artpartner-images via Getty Images

On any given day, Lily AI runs hundreds of machine learning models using computer vision and natural language processing that are customized for its retail and ecommerce clients to make website product recommendations, forecast demand, and plan merchandising. But this spring when the company was in the market for a machine learning operations platform to manage its expanding model roster, it wasn’t easy to find a suitable off-the-shelf system that could handle such a large number of models in deployment while also meeting other criteria.

Some MLops platforms are not well-suited for maintaining even more than 10 machine learning models when it comes to keeping track of data, navigating their user interfaces, or reporting capabilities, Matthew Nokleby, machine learning manager for Lily AI’s product intelligence team, told Protocol earlier this year. “The duct tape starts to show,” he said.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kate Kaye

Kate Kaye is an award-winning multimedia reporter digging deep and telling print, digital and audio stories. She covers AI and data for Protocol. Her reporting on AI and tech ethics issues has been published in OneZero, Fast Company, MIT Technology Review, CityLab, Ad Age and Digiday and heard on NPR. Kate is the creator of RedTailMedia.org and is the author of "Campaign '08: A Turning Point for Digital Media," a book about how the 2008 presidential campaigns used digital media and data.

Latest Stories
Bulletins