Samsung Electronics opens C-Lab Outside recruitment to find AI, robot startups

Samsung Electronics announced Monday it is accepting applications for the ninth cohort of its C-Lab Outside program, which seeks startups with strong growth potential and differentiated capabilities. The company will select 30 startups across eight fields: AI, digital health, content and services, robotics, materials and components, IoT, mobility and ESG. Applications are open from Monday through June 26.

Recruitment for the ninth cohort will run simultaneously across four regions — Seoul, Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province and Gwangju. Startups incorporated in South Korea that have raised Series B funding or below are eligible to apply. Applications can be submitted through the Samsung Electronics C-Lab website, and final selections will be announced in November following a review.

C-Lab Outside is an open innovation program designed to help domestic startups expand their ties with Samsung Electronics and explore new business collaboration opportunities.

For selected startups with potential business synergies, Samsung Electronics facilitates meetings with relevant business divisions and supports proof-of-concept projects to identify concrete avenues for collaboration.

In practice, the number of startups conducting PoC projects with Samsung Electronics has been growing. Last year, 17 of the 30 startups in the seventh cohort — more than half — explored collaboration possibilities through PoC projects with the company. The eighth cohort, selected this year, is also currently engaged in PoC work.

Config Intelligence, selected for the eighth cohort, specializes in building and synthesizing physical AI data needed to develop robot foundation models. The company is working with Samsung Electronics to secure data used in physical AI development.

"Through C-Lab Outside, collaborating with Samsung Electronics gave us the experience of building data that meets the demands of actual industrial settings," said Seo Min-jun, chief executive of Config Intelligence.