KT recruits AI talent… ‘Robot Authority’ Dennis Hong, 80-year-old research center director elected

Input 2021.01.25 10:01

AI wins to leap from telecommunications companies to digital platform companies

KT has hired Professor Dennis Hong, a world-renowned authority in the field of robotics, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as an advisor. In addition, Han Bo-hyung, a professor at Seoul National University’s Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, was appointed as an advisor to deep learning (deep learning) and AI (artificial intelligence) image recognition technology, and Dr. Bae Soon-min, born in 1980, as head of the newly established AI2XL (AI To Everything Lab).

KT announced on the 25th that it has recruited a large number of AI-related key talents to go beyond telecommunications companies and become digital platform companies. It is evaluated that it reflects the will of President Sang-mo Lee, who wants unrivaled leadership in the area of ​​artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud (ABC).

Professor Dennis Hong is a scholar who has won the National Science Foundation’s’Young Scientist Award’,’GM Young Researcher Award’, and’American Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Education Award’. It was also named in the ’10 Young Genius Scientists’ selected by the world-renowned science journal, Popular Science. He is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Virginia Tech, and a director of the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), and is currently the head of the robotics laboratory at UCLA Romela.

Professor Hong said, “We must raise KT’s robotics technology competitiveness to the highest level in the world,” explained the company. Professor Dennis Hong will serve as an advisor for the overall KT robot business. In addition, it will take on the role of raising the market pie of the domestic robot industry, such as in charge of judging and consulting at the competition for robot startups.

Professor Bo-Hyung Han obtained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Maryland State University in the United States. In 2015, it won first prize in the object tracking algorithm competition hosted by ICCV, the International Society for AI Pattern Recognition. Professor Han serves as an advisor on the direction of technology development that can solve social and ethical issues related to AI and machine learning, and research and development of the latest AI technologies.

For the first time in history, KT also selected the head of a research institute born in 1980, and transfused young blood with both innovation and creativity. Dr. Soon-Min Bae graduated from the Department of Computer Science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and transferred to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he received his master’s and doctorate degrees. Since then, Samsung Techwin and Naver led the research and development of robots, closed circuit (CC) TV, video, and avatar AI. Director Bae is expected to play a pivotal role in suggesting a strategy for the No. 1 AI technology by acting as the head of the newly established AI2XL research center in the KT Convergence Technology Institute.

In addition, KT has hired Lee Sang-ho, the general manager of ABB Korea, as the head of the AI ​​robot business division in the AI-DX (digital conversion) convergence business. Lee Sang-ho is in charge of the AI ​​robot business business model and product development. It will also take on the role of securing KT’s new growth engine by developing a service platform that leads changes in customers’ lives.

In addition, KT announced that it will establish a R&D (research and development) win-win triangle belt in Yangjae-Pangyo-Bundang to create a win-win ecosystem for ventures and start-ups and foster a digital new deal business represented by the ICT (information and communication technology) industry. It is to grow this place as a cradle of advanced ABC technologies such as AI, big data, cloud, and digital healthcare.

The new office building in Pangyo, located in Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, is expected to develop and demonstrate KT’s future convergence technology and establish itself as a space of win-win cooperation with ventures and start-ups.

KT leases office space for up to 10 years free of charge to foster venture companies and startups with excellent technology. It is about 20% of the total work space of the new office building in Pangyo. KT plans to support the growth of ventures and start-ups by actively providing opportunities for global advancement in Pangyo, where IT ventures and start-up companies are concentrated, and providing consulting in connection with KT’s ABC business. The completion of the new office building in Pangyo is scheduled for the second half of 2022, and moving-in will begin in the first quarter of 2023.

The KT Woomyeon Research Center, which was in charge of KT’s R&D business, oversees the development of the foundation technology that will lead the future growth industry, while testing 5G (5th generation mobile communication) open labs for venture companies and start-ups that will move into the new office building in Pangyo. Bed (test space) program is provided.

The KT Bundang headquarters tower is responsible for supporting the securing of original AI technologies, such as next-generation AI video and voice recognition and analysis technology and data intelligence that predicts optimal decisions based on big data. In addition, it will be used as an education-specialized space for fostering AI talent both inside and outside the company that encompasses ventures and start-ups that will move into Pangyo as well as KT employees.

President Jae-Mo Lee said, “KT will leap forward to become the No. 1 digital platform company by doubling the innovation of cutting-edge technology with world-class AI scholars and enhancing understanding of new business.” “We will focus on technologies and businesses that make the lives of customers more valuable. I said.