Vietnamese conglomerate VinGroup launched an R&D centre in Daegu, South Korea. VinTech Korea Research (VKR) is a part of VinGroup’s tech arm and will be used to conducting research related to IoT technologies, artificial intelligence, robotics, smart manufacturing plants as well as developing products and solutions for vehicles and transportation, local press reported.
This new venture marked VinGrop’s first foreign R&D facility expansion. VinGroup is the largest private enterprise in Vietnam, with businesses in real estate, hospitality and entertainment, retail, health, education, agriculture, and technology. After South Korea, the company plans to expand its Vintech Research network to other countries such as the US, Japan, Israel, China, and Russia.
The deputy CEO of VinGroup Võ Quang Huệ said that the firm chose South Korea because the country has the best ‘creative index’ in the world and is an ideal place to cultivate tech research and development and that he hopes the centre will help VinGroup a “technology conglomerate with the ability to compete internationally”.
In the first months of operation, VKR will research and design vehicle control units (VCU) for cars and battery control systems (BMS). The firm also aims to design electrical-electronic components for cars, industrial robots, LCDs for automotive products and phones.
Parallel to the conglomerate’s move to improve its technology prowess, Vietnam is increasingly becoming a hot destination for investors in the technology space. Investments in Vietnamese startups tripled in 2018.