South Korea’s fourth largest conglomerate LG Group on Friday opened the country’s largest research and testing hotbed in western Seoul it built at 4 trillion won ($3.7 billion) to stay ahead in setting trends for future lifestyle.

“We will nurture tens of thousands of creative minds here and create a success model of innovative growth that connects new values by gathering different thoughts and skills,” said Koo Bon-joon, vice chairman of LG Group, at the opening ceremony of the new research center.

LG Science Park - located in Magok, Gangseo District, in western Seoul - was built on an area of 170,000 square meters, which is equal to the size of 24 soccer fields. It comprises of 20 research buildings whose total area reaches 1.11 million square meters, which is more than one third of the gross area of Yeouido in Seoul. The project cost 4 trillion won ($3.7 billion) with construction lasting four years.

The research nest is equipped with a testing center where cutting-edge equipment and research zones such as large-scale three-dimensional printing room and properties analyzing equipment for research on convergence are clustered. It also has an integrated support center where employees - regardless of which affiliates they are from - are able to promote various projects and researches. Construction of the facilities will be completed in 2020.

About 17,000 researchers from LG Group’s 8 major affiliates LG Electronics Inc., LG Display Co., LG Innotek Co., LG Chem Ltd., LG Hausys Ltd., LG Household & Health Care Co., LG Uplus Corp., and LG CNS Co. have moved into the complex, which will house 22,000 researchers by 2020.

LG Group said that LG Science Park will play a key role for the conglomerate to prepare for the fourth industrial revolution by allowing researchers to pursue various convergence-related researches in future and growth businesses as well as the group’s core electronics and chemical areas. The conglomerate’s growth-oriented businesses include organic light emitting diodes, vehicle components, and energy sectors while future businesses include robots, self-driving, artificial intelligence, fifth-generation network, next-generation materials and components, and bio technologies.

The lab cluster will maximize joint projects - for example, on autonomous driving technology that involve fifth-generation network of LG Uplus, self-driving parts of LG Electronics, and vehicle sensor technology of LG Innotek.

At the opening ceremony, LG Group Vice Chairman Koo said that the complex will set a good example for symbiotic growth as it can be the ideal location for startups to advance into global markets with the help of the conglomerate’s infrastructure, technologies, and connections.

Korean President Moon Jae-in, who also attended the opening ceremony on Friday, said that LG Science Park will be able to achieve innovation and bring out the best in each research of electronics, telecommunications, and biotechnology sectors. Moon asked LG Group to become a good example of innovative and win-win growth and put out efforts to nurture talented researchers and create quality jobs.

By Lee Je-cheol and Lee Eun-joo

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