KT steps up efforts to transform into digital platform firm from telco

South Korea’s telecom giant KT Corp. is stepping up efforts to refashion itself into a digital platform company with a main focus on building ubiquitous artificial intelligent (AI) robotic research and development that will be advised by globally renowned experts.

The mobile carrier on Monday said it has recruited Dennis Hong, professor and the founding director of the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory at UCLA, to advise on its robotics business. Hong was selected as a NASA Summer Faculty Fellow in 2005, awarded the CAREER award by the National Science Foundation in 2007 and in 2009, and named one of Popular Science's Brilliant 10.

Han Bo-hyoung, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Seoul National University, will advise on KT’s AI image recognition technologies. Han won the AI Focused Research Awards from Google in 2018 and has since been conducting joint research with the global tech giant.

Bae Soon-min, former AI leader at Naver, will head KT’s newly installed AI2XL (AI To Everything Lab). The 41-year-old would be the youngest to oversee KT’s research team in the company’s history.

KT plans to set up a local R&D belt connecting Yangjae, Pangyo and Bundang. Its new building in Pangyo, Gyeonggi-do is scheduled to be completed in 2022. The company intends to rent out 20 percent of the office space to startups for up to 10 years free of charge to strengthen business ties and help them go global.

KT’s R&D center in Wooyeon-dong, Seoul would oversee the development of future technologies and provide an 5G open lab for startups. Its headquarters in Bundang, Gyeonggi-do would concentrate on securing next-generation AI technologies and training AI talent.

The company’s main area of focus is said to be AI robotics. Leading the department would be Lee Sang-ho, who headed the robotics team at ABB Korea. KT is expected to venture into the AI robotics market by partnering with Hyundai Robotics.

The latest move is part of the Korean telecommunication giant’s push to transform into a digital platform company with plans to nurture AI and robotics as new growth engines on top of cloud and big data.

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