Open Innovation Center
Hyundai Motor, Korea’s top automotive company, will make a massive investment in Israel, one of the most innovative countries in the world. The company plans to invest in promising start-ups in Israel and establish an Open Innovation Center.
According to Hyundai Motor Group on November 2, the company has revealed the plan at the 2017 Fuel Choices and Smart Mobility Summit, which took place from October 31 to November 1 (local time), to further strengthen its partnerships with prominent Israeli startups in advanced future automotive technologies. It will build the Open Innovation Center, which will be in charge of research and development with innovative start-ups, in Israel early next year.
In addition, Hyundai Motor will make a direct and indirect investment in start-ups and jointly develop technologies. The company unveiled its vision that determines the future of the company at Israel’s largest summit discussing future mobility and innovative business.
The Open Innovation Center will play a role as a hub that develops innovative technologies. At the center, start-ups and universities in Israel can gather to build networks and present their works to apply for direct investments from the Korean carmaker and indirect investment from leading venture capitalists. In the medium and long term, the center will be expanded into a full-fledged research center that directly develops future innovative technologies such as future mobility and artificial intelligence.
Hyundai Motor Group formed a consortium with Technion, or the Israel Institute of Technology, and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, expecting to create a synergy. The HTK Global Consortium was launched in September to develop next-generation new technologies and seek out and promote promising start-ups. The Open Innovation Center will help the company run business in earnest and invest in promising start-ups in Israel.
Hyundai Motor’s latest plan to strengthen the partnerships with local start-ups is led by Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun. Chung visited Israel in May to check the local start-up ecosystem and check the possibility of partnerships for Hyundai Motor’s future mobility technologies. In fact, he had a meeting with Amnon Shashua, chairman of Israel’s Mobileye, which has the world’s best technology in camera sensor for autonomous vehicles, at that time and Shashua visited South Korea in October to meet Chung to discuss close cooperation plans.