Monthly People

By Sung-rae Park

Connecting people to people,
Connecting people and values.

We see the future through people. We interview entrepreneurs, scientists, government officials, politicians, and others to see a better vision.

We hope that you, the reader, will use us as a medium to create better opportunities.

We hope that the stories of the people introduced through Monthly People will inspire you to have a better future and vision.

We bring to life the stories of people who are responding to the issues of the day and making innovations in various fields through on-site interviews.

Through our content, we aim to provide our readers with forward-thinking insights and inspire them to create their own lives and opportunities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Monthly People
• Release date: Dec 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9791197377211

Book preview

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CONNECTING

PEOPLE TO PEOPLE,

CONNECTING

PEOPLE AND VALUES.

We see the future through people.

We interview entrepreneurs, scientists, government officials,

politicians, and others to see a better vision.

We hope that you, the reader,

will use us as a medium to create better opportunities.

We hope that the stories of the people

introduced through Monthly People

will inspire you to have a better future and vision.

We bring to life the stories of people

who are responding to the issues of the day

and making innovations in various fields through on-site interviews.

Through our content, we aim to provide our readers

with forward-thinking insights and

inspire them to create their own lives and opportunities.

CONTENTS

6

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Hak-chul Shin

Vice Chairman of LG Chem

Changing the world LG Chem is creating for a sustainable future centered on its future growth engines: eco-friendly materials, battery materials, and global new drugs.

10

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John Lim

President and CEO, Samsung Biologics

Samsung Biologics' global CDMO infrastructure is the future of the pharma-biotech industry, leading the way for the global biopharmaceutical industry.

14

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Jeong-ae Lee

President, LG Household & Healthcare

As the global beauty market reopens, LG Household & Healthcare will continue to innovate and strengthen its brand portfolio to compete globally.

18

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Jong-yoon Kim

CEO of Yanolja Cloud

Yanolja Cloud is leading the digital transformation of the global hospitality and leisure industry with its artificial intelligence-based global cloud solution (SaaS).

22

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Il-doo Kim

CEO of Kakao Brain

The future of Korea's AI industry, a virtuous cycle of beneficial technologies for a better life beyond the limits of artificial intelligence.

26

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Se-young Lee

CEO of wrtn technologies

wrtn technologies ushers in the era of human creativity by focusing solely on the essence of creativity: imagination.

30

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Won-jik Lee

CEO of LOTTE BIOLOGICS

At the center of the 'New LOTTE', LOTTE BIOLOGICS becomes a top 10 global CDMO company through aggressive investment and portfolio diversification.

33

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Jae-in Park

CEO of Philips Korea

Philips Korea's human-centered and innovative solutions are a milestone for new medical technologies.

36

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Koo-young Lee

Head of Q CELLS

Yi-hyun Nam

Head of Chemicals, Hanwha Solutions

A better future for Hanwha Solutions, a global leader in energy and material technology-based solutions, realizing a sustainable environmental economy.

38

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Jung-woo Ha

Head of AI Lab at NAVER CLOUD

NAVER CLOUD, a global AI vertical company, aims to be the strongest in the global AI market.

40

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Dennis Hong

Professor of Mechanical

and Aerospace Engineering, UCLA

Creative roboticist and educator of engineers who make the world warmer, continues the challenge of turning imagination into reality.

42

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Young-tae Jang

Professor of Chemistry, POSTECH

Going beyond 'cancer' to discover causes and regulators of 'aging' using fluorophores that distinguish specific targets.

44

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Jae-soon Choi

Professor, Institute of Biomedical Engineering,

Seoul Asan Medical Center, CEO, LN Robotics

LN Robotics is expanding the horizons of surgical robots based on its understanding of clinical unmet needs and technology.

MONTHLY PEOPLE | COVER STORY

Hak-chul Shin Vice Chairman of LG Chem

Changing the world LG Chem is creating

for a sustainable future centered on its future growth engines:

eco-friendly materials, battery materials, and global new drugs.

The effects of the prolonged global recession are manifesting themselves in slower economic growth. The Korean economy has been growing at a rate in the low 2 percent range, driven by improved consumption and increased employment, but growth has been limited by high inflation and interest rate hikes. The petrochemical industry's card in the face of recessionary concerns in major exporting countries is investment. The idea is to build a sustainable growth system by investing trillions of won in eco-friendly and future businesses. LG Chem has identified eco-friendly bio-plastics as one of its three new growth engines and announced its intention to invest 3 trillion won by 2025. The Korean government is also taking the lead in supporting the recovery of economic vitality and strengthening industrial competitiveness next year by expanding R&D on national issues and future core strategic technologies. In the global brand value of chemical companies released by a British research organization in 2022, LG Chem was the only domestic chemical company to be ranked third globally. Despite the ongoing global economic slowdown, LG Chem plans to prepare for the future by focusing on three new growth engines: eco-friendly materials, battery materials, and new drug materials. Just as a rabbit prepares three burrows, LG Chem, which wisely creates the future in the spirit of the Kyoto Three Burrows, will not only secure its competitiveness in the global market with the help of three new growth engines, but also accelerate its efforts to achieve net-zero by 2050. As a top tier company in the chemical industry, LG Chem, which has presented innovative and differentiated solutions for the environment and society, will create a sustainable environment and future.

Sung Rae Park [e-mail]

Fostering eco-friendly materials, battery materials, and new drugs as future growth engines

LG Chem is expressing strong confidence in its three new growth engines: eco-friendly materials, battery materials, and new drug materials. The company has set a goal of expanding sales in these three areas from KRW 6.6 trillion in 2022 to KRW 40 trillion by 2030. The share of the three new growth engines, which accounted for 21% of total sales in 2022, will increase to 57% in 2030, while sales of battery materials, which stood at KRW 4.7 trillion, will reach KRW 30 trillion by 2030. This reflects the company's intention to evolve into the world's largest comprehensive battery materials company, driven by a solid 26% average annual growth rate in battery materials.

In the field of anode materials, LG Chem is expanding its customer base to include global battery and automotive companies. Here, LG Chem announced its plan to strengthen its competitiveness by securing global leadership in high-nickel cathode materials. Furthermore, the company plans to expand its production capacity from 120,000 tons this year to 470,000 tons in 2028 by establishing a global four-power anode production system in Korea, China, the United States, and Europe. LG Chem said in a conference call after its first-quarter earnings announcement that it is negotiating supply terms with a number of global companies for anode materials, and that the outer plate of anode materials will be visible by early next year at the latest.

LG Chem is embarking on a major transformation of its business portfolio, aiming to move away from the petrochemical center and become a global science company. It plans to complete the foundation for sustainable growth centered on its three core businesses of battery materials, eco-friendly materials, and innovative new drugs. In addition to its core business of cathode materials, LG Chem plans to ▲ foster the business of additional materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) ▲ promote R&D of new materials such as pure silicon cathode materials and all-solid-state battery electrolytes ▲ strengthen global partnerships to secure metal supply chains ▲ establish precursor joint ventures with major companies such as Huayu Cobalt, Piedmont Lithium, and Chemco in China, North America, Australia, and Korea ▲ and expand its presence in the separator business in the Korean, European, and American markets. In the field of cathode materials, LG Chem is also actively considering expanding its business into mid- and low-priced products such as high-voltage mid-nickel (Mid-Ni), lithium iron phosphate (LFP), and manganese rich (Mn-Rich).

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Hak-chul Shin Vice Chairman of LG Chem, Photo courtesy of LG Chem

LG Chem is focusing on sustainable businesses such as renewable energy and biomaterials, which are global megatrends, as its core competitiveness. LG Chem's petrochemicals business, which successfully mass-produced the world's first bio-circular balanced absorbent plastic (SAP) using plant-based bio raw materials, has more than 50 ISCC Plus certified products. In addition, it is making a mark in the field of 'biomaterials' by selling eco-friendly products that have obtained ISCC plus certification in the field of ABS for the first time in Asia. Furthermore, it is expected to establish a closed loop for waste plastics, including chemical recycling technology and mass production system, to build a circular economy for waste plastics, and to foster 'new and renewable materials' business fields such as production of solar panel film POE products, construction of eco-friendly biomass power plants, construction of carbon reduction facilities, and production of blue hydrogen, to solidify sustainability centered on eco-friendly materials as a future growth pillar.

LG Chem's advanced materials industry boasts the world's second-largest production capacity, centered on anode materials, a core component of secondary batteries. It currently produces more than 10 types of battery materials, including anode materials, separators, and cathode binders, and continues to conduct extensive R&D on new materials in response to changes in battery technology. Representative products include BGT (Backside Grinding Tape), an essential material that protects the surface of wafers during backgrinding, Back Plate, an adhesive film that serves as a reinforcement plate attached to the back of plastic OLED panels, and CCP/PPG, a core material for semiconductor IC package substrates. In addition, the company is laying the groundwork to become a global production center by developing next-generation high-safety separators. The company has also achieved more than 10-fold growth in production capacities for the battery