Samsung Reveals Strategy and Innovation Center in Silicon Valley

Just like Samsung said would happen back in December 2013, a new research and development center has been set up, though it hasn't and won't be complete for months still.

For those unfamiliar with the situation, there was a report, back in late 2012, that Samsung had decided it needed a new R&D center.

The building, or buildings, would be constructed in Silicon Valley, Menlo Park, California on Sand Hill Road.

Now, the company has officially unveiled the nascent campus, which is simply called the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center.

Set to be funded directly from Samsung's Catalyst Fund and the corporate venture fund, the center will eat up roughly $1 billion, or $740 million Euro.

Strangely enough, Samsung’s President and Chief Strategy Officer of Device Solutions, Young Sohn, said that the center had actually been open since last August.

Nevertheless, most of the offices and infrastructure has yet to be finished, and it is unlikely that the building process will finish in the near future, given the plans to coordinate with satellite offices in South Korea and in Israel, which have, likewise, not been set up yet.

Other strategic locations are being considered as well. All in all, Samsung is putting all it can spare into R&D, to make sure it maintains a varied product lineup.

"We see tremendous opportunities and transformations over the next five years driven by Big Data centered around mobility, cloud, and the Internet of Things, and Samsung will be a significant part of this revolution," Sohn said in a recent press statement, found here.

"This is an exciting opportunity for us to engage with entrepreneurs and innovators and empower them to leverage Samsung's technology and global brand presence to bring our collective visions to market."

On a related note, Samsung has organized the "SamsungCreate Challenge" and scheduled it for later in the year. Engineers, inventors, entrepreneurs and artists will be encouraged to use Samsung technology to promote new ideas. A $10 million / 7.4 million Euro seed investment will be given to those chosen.