Samsung Plans London Innovation Center for Software Development

Earlier this year Samsung broke ground on an open innovation center right in the heart of Silicon Valley; now, the South Korean company has revealed plans to launch another center in London with an eye towards developing new software. In an interview with U.K. magazine Marketing, Samsung's Senior Director of the Open Innovation project, Brendon Kim, revealed that the new facility should open in about two years.

The purpose of Samsung's new London offices will be to work directly with local startups and to move quickly to acquire new software. Kim notes that without a local presence the decision making process simply takes too long and often goes nowhere. The company plans to staff the new innovation center with "local people," and then "give them decision-making authority and [to] see what happens."

Kim also notes that Samsung's shift from being a hardware company towards developing software has required a drastic change in the company's approach to development. With physical devices, "failure isn't really an option – if you ship, it better work." But when it comes to software "if you don't have failure you are not taking enough risks."

While the main purpose of Samsung's next innovation center will likely be acquiring startups and integrating them into the company, we're sure the Galaxy-maker will also devote its energy to improving its own software.