LG Nova Partners with Startups in Health, Metaverse, Mobility, and Smart Lifestyles

LG Nova, LG's North American Innovation Center, is actively seeking startups to collaborate with in its core growth areas. Based in Silicon Valley, LG Nova aims to be a central hub connecting startups with LG's strengths, investors, big tech, academia, and sales channels.

Mission for the Future Challenge

LG Nova's flagship program is the "Mission for the Future" challenge. This nine-month annual program is designed to identify promising entrepreneurs and startups globally. These selected participants will work with LG's entrepreneurs in residence to develop businesses within the LG ecosystem. The challenge focuses on creating businesses that improve quality of life through a smarter, healthier, and more connected future.

Key Innovation Areas:

LG Nova has identified several key themes for its innovation push:

1. Connected Health

LG is doubling down on healthcare, focusing on wellness solutions for people in healthcare facilities, at home, or through services. The first two shortlisted companies in this area are:

• XR Health: Offers VR treatment rooms for telehealth services.
• Maya MD: An AI digital health assistant that uses LG televisions to engage customers in health conversations.

2. Metaverse

LG Nova is exploring how people and machines can connect through new interaction modalities in the metaverse.

• iQ3: Creates enterprise applications and services for metaverse product training.
• I3M: Building hyper-realistic virtual travel and tourism experiences.

3. Sustainable Mobility (Energizing Mobility)

LG is focusing on sustainable mobility solutions.

• SparkCharge: Provides mobile EV charging solutions with a focus on sustainability.
• Driivz: Developing an operating system for electric vehicle charging management.

4. Smart Lifestyles

This area focuses on smart home technology.

• EveryKey: A universal smart-key technology to unlock cars, phones, and doors, and secure website logins.
• A.kin AI: Integrates virtual assistant technology into LG hardware, particularly for homes with care coordination challenges for neuro-diverse audiences.
• Chefling: A solution for meal planning, shopping, and cooking based on dietary requirements.

Insights from CES 2022

At CES 2022, LG Nova announced its shortlisted companies, providing a glimpse into the types of startups LG is seeking. The program is set to open applications for the next batch later in the year. Insights from interviews with the head of LG Nova reveal the company's criteria for selecting startups and how to capture the incubator's attention.

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About the Author:

Haje Jan Kamps, the author, covers general tech news with a focus on hardware. He has experience founding companies, working in venture capital, and as a journalist and TV producer. He is also a photographer and author of a book on pitching startups.