By Cyriacus Nnaji
Dr. I.P. Park, president and CTO of LG Electronics (LG), took to the virtual stage at the all-digital CES® 2021 to share the company’s inspiring vision for open innovation in the era of social distancing.
As the host of LG Future Talk, Dr. Park explained and demonstrated how open innovation has been the underlying principle of the company’s latest technological breakthroughs.
In a year of unprecedented change, LG’s unwavering commitment to making life better has remained firm, as has its ability to meet the changing needs of consumers worldwide.
To illustrate this point, Dr. Park highlighted groundbreaking products such as the LG PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier and the LG Smart Thermal Camera which effortlessly help to ensure consumers’ well-being and safety. LG is also adapting its CLOi robots for various environments and tasks – from disinfecting high-traffic areas in public and commercial spaces to making door-to-door deliveries and serving food in restaurants – to improve hygiene and minimize health risks for both employees and customers.
The core of today’s talk centered around open innovation, where Dr. Park was joined by Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, to talk about the growing power of partnership across disciplines and industries to deliver what is right for consumers. The LG Innovation Council is a prime example of LG’s many collaborative initiatives, bringing together a group of experts from a broad range of tech sector companies to learn, cooperate, discover new opportunities, and find new ways to improve people’s lives.
“Technologies and disciplines are converging to facilitate a host of digital innovations – AI, 5G connectivity, IoT, cloud, sensors, navigation, batteries – and they are transforming mobility which is a huge part of our lives,” remarked Shapiro. “And we’re seeing that sort of change in so many other areas too – transport, logistics, agriculture, healthcare, and even food.”
This open approach to innovation provides the basis for everything that LG is working towards, especially under its LG ThinQ brand, which encompasses the company’s AI and IoT-enabled devices. Dr. Park outlined exciting plans to develop an ecosystem by connecting all products and services across categories, providing consumers with a fulfilling user experience and unsurpassed convenience. “It’s not just about individual appliances and devices that have AI capacity and connectivity; it’s more about building an ecosystem where LG and partners work together to expand, enhance and enrich what we offer to those we serve,” said Dr. Park.
Joined by David Rabie, CEO of Tovala, whose oven-ready meal kits will soon be available for purchase in the LG ThinQ Store, Dr. Park envisioned an evolved ThinQ app that goes beyond control and monitoring functionality to become a full digital lifestyle platform. Through diverse partnerships and by implementing new features such as Scan-to-Cook, which lets users instantly apply the right oven settings for select pre-prepared meals by simply scanning the packaging’s barcode, LG makes home management effortless so customers can focus more on the things that matter to them most.
Dr. Park was again joined by Jean-François Gagné, CEO of Element AI, who last year helped Dr. Park announce the “Levels of AI Experience framework at CES 2020. The two companies, along with other partners, are developing an innovative, new platform called the AIX Exchange that will enable industry leaders, researchers, policymakers and consumers, to engage directly with one another to discuss how to best implement AI for the good of all. Dr. Park also revealed some of the intelligent technologies LG has been working on, including Vision Pack, which will augment the existing AI capabilities of the company’s ThinQ refrigerators and smart mirrors.
Another key point of the talk centered on LG’s vision for creating a consistent and connected user experience that extends to all areas of consumers’ lives. Together with Dmitry Loschinin, executive vice president of DXC Technology and president and CEO of Luxoft, Dr. Park unveiled LG and DXC Luxoft’s new joint venture named Alluto, which will reimagine the in-vehicle experience, leveraging LG’s webOS Auto to seamlessly connect car to home and office.
As an illustration of webOS’ potential, Dr. Park also presented a new smart cabin concept that will offer immersive interactive experiences for passengers, as well as the possibility of a cloud-based mobility ecosystem suitable for a variety of commercial and public applications, including intelligent fleet management in tomorrow’s smart cities.
“We come back to the importance of working together across industries because building and expanding this kind of ecosystem is absolutely a multidisciplinary effort,” emphasized Dr. Park. “It’s all about teamwork, collaboration and partnership when it comes to innovation for a better life in the age of digital transformation.”
