Hyundai Card joins hands with
MIT startup ecosystem

Some 130 audience gathered at Studio Black, Hyundai Card’s co-working place in southern Seoul on Oct. 14. It was an event called MIT Startup Showcase, co-hosted by Hyundai Card and MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP). It was the first of its kind to take place in Seoul.

Hyundai Card CEO Ted Chung delivers speech at the MIT Startup Showcase at Hyundai Card Studio Black in Seocho-dong, Seoul.

”When I was attending the Sloan School of Management 30 years ago, coding was already a mandatory course,” said Hyundai Card Vice Chairman and CEO Ted Chung. “Professors said that the age of artificial intelligence (AI) was impending and students were supposed to know how to code. I stayed up all night learning to code and took coding exams.”

The MIT Startup Showcase aims at introducing tech startups in Silicon Valley, London and Tokyo, whose creation was supported by MIT and exploring potential open innovation opportunities between the startups and already established companies.

“Given this event centers around technologies so innovative that could bring revolutionary changes to digitalization of finance – such as blockchain, AI, machine learning and data analysis, we have chosen Hyundai Card, leader of those sectors, to work with,” said Bae Jae-wan, who manages the MIT ILP in Korea.

MIT ILP has been hosting numerous events with local startups, such as academic conferences and symposiums. The events are meant to help them keep up with the latest market trend after understanding the latest technologies faster and developing better technologies.

The MIT Startup Showcase is part of that effort to further develop technologies, products or services that outstanding startups hold through collaboration with companies in the market and to turn them into bigger ones. Born in 1948, MIT Startup Showcases supports a number of startups using the network of 1,800 already active startups around the world, all launched by MIT graduates.

“We call the network ‘MIT Innovation Ecosystem,’” said Bae. “A lot of global companies in Korea have already joined the ecosystem.”

Employees from AI-based retention service provider Relativity 6 and AI-enabled multi-channel chatbot startup Posh Technologies give presentation to the audience.

Eight startups in AI and data, all established by MIT graduates, attended MIT Startup Showcase. Each of them was assigned five minutes to introduce their technologies and services. Large Korean companies and venture capitals also joined the event. Hyundai Card’s AI service Team, Growth Marketing Team and Data Application Team met with six local startups, such as “dMetrics,” “Posh Technologies” and “Cerebri AI,” to discuss the potential for open innovation.

List of startups founded by MIT graduates in attendance at MIT Startup Showcase.

Two startups using Studio Black also joined the event. One is Kono Labs, an AI-based communication service provider, and the other is “Moin,” a Seoul-based international remittance firm.

“We support Studio Black’s efforts to increase networking opportunities with already established companies,” said a Studio Black employee. “Nurturing companies with competiveness edge is expected to promote the value of Studio Black in the long term.”

MIT professor Michael Casey talks about the future of blockchain technology.

Creating network opportunities was not the only perk of joining the MIT Startup Showcase. The participants took lectures from renowned MIT professors on AI, digital currency and big-data analysis.

Michael Casey, senior advisor for Digital Currency Initiative at MIT Media Lab, lectured on the “truth machine: the blockchain and the future of everything.” Devavrat Shah, professor at the department of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, talked about AI-drive decisions within clicks. Nick Meyer, a lecturer at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship dealt with operationalizing AI in a lecture.

Hyundai Card, for its part, used a session to highlight how the company agonized over data and developed related technologies. Under the title of “Data Play of Hyundai Card,” said Bae Kyeong-hwa, head of AI Business Division, underscored the company’s efforts to develop customized financial services by analyzing massive consumer data.

“We have collected massive amount of data of 1.5 billion annual transactions that came from 7.8 million customers and 1.6 million retailers,” he said. “We try to categorize the data and put into context such as weather or location to provide our customers with the most optimized benefits depending on the circumstances they are in. We call it ‘super customization service.’”

Bae Kyeong-hwa, head of AI Business Division from Hyundai Card, talks about the company’s efforts to improve AI-enabled data analysis system.

CEO Ted Chung introduced super customization service for the first time during his speech at IBM Think 2019 conference in February. It is part of Hyundai Card’s efforts to deliver optimized consumer service at a customized timeframe via a customized channel.

“You can’t do super-customized business without a perfect understanding of your customer data based on AI-backed analysis,” Bae noted.

“Hyundai Card has invested about 300 billion won – 35 percent of its profits generated over the past five years – on building foundation for data analysis and use,” said CEO Chung. “As a result, we have pioneered the data curation field, which makes possible to analyze certain data in just three seconds.”

“I have always been wondering exactly when the age of AI would arrive. It is so fortunate that I can witness the arrival before my retirement and realize a new kind of data science,” he said. “I sincerely hope that every attendant here will enjoy a meaningful opportunity for open innovation. Through this event, I believe everyone can take a glimpse at outstanding technologies created by local startups and MIT graduates.”

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