Company awards nine executives and employees in recognition of contributions to securing outstanding patentsSamsung SDI CEO Yoon-ho Choi says, “Securing competitive IPs is essential to the company’s Super Gap technological competitiveness”
SEOUL, Korea – May 22, 2024 – Samsung SDI today announced that the company held Intellectual Property (IP) Fair for the first time at its headquarters in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province, as part of its drive to promote executives and employees’ understanding of intellectual properties and encourage efforts to apply for patents.
Along with Samsung SDI President and CEO Yoon-ho Choi, IP Fair invited around 200 employees and top management staff—Executive Vice President (EVP) and Head of the company’s Automotive & ESS Battery Business, EVP and Head of Samsung SDI R&D Center Yoon-chang Kim, EVP and CFO Jong-sung Kim, and EVP and Head of Samsung SDI Legal & IP Team Seung-gyu Lee. The event was streamed live for all employees.
Samsung SDI’s IP achievement celebration kicked off with an opening speech by Head of Samsung SDI Legal & IP Team Seung-gyu Lee who emphasized importance of patents and explained Samsung SDI’s strategy for intellectual assets. Nine winners were chosen in the three categories: four individuals, four teams, and one main IP awardee.
Four individuals who received Outstanding Invention Award included Professional Suk-ki Kim who contributed to the invention of ESS battery rack, while Pro. Kang-sik An, Pro. Byoung-kwan Lee and Pro. Soo-hee Kim won the honor in recognition of inventing small battery pack, OLED materials and safety-enhanced binder, in the mentioned order.
Outstanding Department Award was given to four teams that made significant contributions to the company’s patent portfolio.
In addition, Pro. Sang-won Byun from the Automotive and ESS Business was honored with the main IP award for his contributions involving more than a thousand patent cases, one of which relates to electrode assembly of battery cells for electric vehicle and energy storage system applications.
Following the award ceremony, IP Fair went on to special lecture sessions from executives and employees who won awards for their achievements in intellectual property at the Hidden Hero Award and the SDI Global Annual Award (SGAA) at the last year’s end.
※The Hidden Hero Award is a quarterly event that selects and awards employees who demonstrate professional commitment to the CEO’s management strategies.
“Competitiveness in intellectual properties is one of key elements for Samsung SDI’s growth to become a global top-tier company,” said Samsung SDI President and CEO Yoon-ho Choi. “Securing competitive IPs is essential to the company’s Super Gap technological competitiveness.”
Ever since Samsung SDI introduced an employee invention remuneration system to reward innovative spirit of its employees in 1983, it has consistently extended the scope of this reward system by diversifying the criteria for rewards. Furthermore, the company celebrates IP-related feats through the Hidden Hero Award on a quarterly basis as well as the SGAA at the end of the year.
Samsung SDI’s R&D Center runs a ‘Patent Wall’ showcasing patent award plagues with each inventor’s name and the patent number. The wall also features a ‘Patent Champion’ which names the highest ranked employee in terms of the quality and the number of inventions made in one year span, giving well-deserved recognition to the named researcher while enhancing patent competitiveness.
Based on such systematic support for innovative strength, Samsung SDI has been increasing efforts to discern superior technologies that would give the company a competitive edge for exclusivity and differentiation of performances, actively registering patents for those technologies in key global regions such as Korea, the United States and the European Union. It is noteworthy that the number of new patent applications for battery technologies made by Samsung SDI is doubling every year and new patenting efforts for next-generation batteries such as all-solid state batteries are intensifying, which attests to Samsung SDI’s progress towards securing super-gap technological competitiveness for the future.
