We boarded a bus to visit the Samsung Innovation Museum on the third day of our international immersion module in South Korea. We knew what to expect: a display of the Korean giant’s technological prowess. The five-storey complex in Suwon’s Digital City — the nerve centre of Samsung Electronics — starts with the advent of electricity and goes from there. It is only when the museum touches on more modern times that it becomes apparent this is related to Samsung.
The first hall is dedicated to the history of the industry from the 18-20th century, highlighting game-changing inventions such as Thomas Edison’s filament lamp and Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone. The hall has five stations — electricity, lighting, telecommunications, home appliances, and radio — each sectioned off by a cone-shaped roof. Samsung’s interactive transparent displays provide additional information.
The second part of the museum, which represents the present, covers the rise of TV, smartphones and the internet. It has three stations: semiconductor, display, and mobile. While Samsung makes no mention of its major opponents, Apple and LG, it displays several items by other competitors. The second half features the world’s first mobile phone — Motorola’s DynaTAC8000X, and the world’s first smartphone — IBM’s Personal Communicator. Samsung affords a place in its exhibits for products made by Intel, Nokia, Siemens, Sony, AT&T and other tech companies.
The third hall, which claims to project the future of technology, looks more like a showroom of Samsung’s latest products. The visit ended with us in awe of what all Samsung has contributed to innovation and what it plans to do. After such an inspirational visit, we looked forward to attending the lecture by the Samsung Global Strategy Group. In the informative session, Mr Randolph gave us a lot of inputs on what the Samsung Strategy group does, and we applied all the learnings to a practical case. We eagerly await the upcoming days to learn more!
(This story first appeared in Business Line on Campus: https://www.bloncampus.com/b-school-corner/a-visit-to-the-samsung-innovation-museum/article24707168.ece)
