South Korea’s tech behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. has been eagerly chasing and recruiting prominent global IT experts to strengthen new growth engines.

According to industry sources on Thursday, Samsung NEXT, Samsung Electronics’ internal organization in charge of investing in startups, recently hired Dane Howard, former interior display designer of German carmaker BMW, as its new global head of design and product experience.

He also worked for eBay, Microsoft and on-demand insurance company Trov. He was responsible for brand design for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and U.S. Major League Baseball.

Samsung NEXT in December last year recruited Travis Bogard who worked for the world’s largest ride-hailing service operator Uber as the global general manager. He also has an experience in working at wearable device manufacturer Jawbone, Microsoft’s subsidiary Tellme and internet service provider AOL.

Early this year, Samsung Research America hired Larry Heck, a machine learning expert who participated in developing MS’ digital assistant Cortana and worked for Google and Yahoo, as head of AI research and development. He is now leading Samsung Electronics’ AI center in Silicon Valley and will head the company’s Toronto AI center that is set to open on Thursday (local time).

Industry experts believe that Samsung Electronics has been inviting global IT experts as part of its efforts spearheaded by vice chairman Jay Y. Lee to develop new growth engines by bolstering research in new industries, investing in startups and seeking mergers and acquisitions.

By Hwang Hyung-gyu and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]