Large corporates, particularly Korean large corporates, have often been charged with the slogan that, “big companies don’t innovate”. That’s a statement Marc Shedroff, VP at Samsung’s Open Innovation Center in Silicon Valley, disagrees with.
Samsung, which now has a $1Bn R&D operation in the heart of Silicon Valley, is pushing hard to convert new ideas into innovative products in an increasingly tough market (primarily phones & tablets). The company spends over $10 billion annually on research and development, and employs 50,000 people to accelerate the pace of innovation. The opening of its new startup accelerator in Palo Alto shows that they are serious about tapping into local the local innovation super-culture, in a region that lives and breathes technology. The accelerator will be looking to unlock innovation from promising entrepreneurial minds and wants to help small startups get their products off the ground while learning about the ways they can leverage Samsung's hardware and platforms. The Open Innovation Centre also boasts a venture-capital arm that will give Samsung the ability to invest in young startups that are trying to deliver the "next big things" in tech. The Accelerator’s main focus is software, which echoes a recent push from the South Korean government to rebalance the, till-now, heavy emphasis on hardware among Korean technology companies, and invest further in software to compete against the likes of Apple and Google.
Marc manages the Partnerships and Operations team and Prior to joining Samsung, ran business development at various startups including Pulse News, Cooliris, and Peel. Previously, Marc served as head of entertainment and sports partnerships at YouTube (Google), where he was responsible for content licensing partnerships with major movie studios, cable networks, sports leagues, and news organizations. Prior to joining Google, Marc was a Director in Time Warner's Corporate Strategic Planning Group, where he worked on new business development initiatives across Time Warner, specifically in the area of digital media. Previously, Marc was a Director of Business Development and Strategy at AOL.
Marc Shedroff will be speaking at beGLOBAL the 13th of September, at the Four Seasons Palo Alto. Tickets (Super Early Bird tickets still available!) can be bought at Eventbrite.
More about beGLOBAL: beGLOBAL is a global tech conference, with a touch of Korean spice. Produced by the organizers of beLAUNCH, the top Startup/Tech Conference in Korea, beGLOBAL aims to bring together the best of Tech from the East and West. We will feature the top giants from Silicon Valley discussing the latest tech trends, with a global perspective. Additionally, ten of the best Korean startups will showcase their services to our audience, offering an opportunity to see a snap-shot of the next generation of tech from Asia.
Please click on links below for further details:
Full speaker line-up please click here
Conference agenda click here
To purchase (super early bird tickets) at only $145 please click here
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