KT said on the 20th that it opened the KT Innovation Hub, in collaboration with Microsoft (hereafter KT Innovation Hub), based on its strategic partnership with Microsoft to drive AX (AI transformation) across Korea's industrial sector.
The KT Innovation Hub was set up on about 595 square meters at the KT Gwanghwamun West building on Sejong-daero in Jongno District, Seoul. It is a flagship collaboration space with Microsoft where B2B (business-to-business) customers can view exhibits on AX work innovation and receive tailored consulting. The company said it made the abstract concept of AX concrete through consulting linked to hands-on exhibits.
The KT Innovation Hub is divided into four main areas based on the core values of "collaboration" and "AX engagement." The AX Gallery exhibits the latest AI technologies and use cases. The Conference Room and Develop Studio are spaces for AX consulting. The Recharge Zone is a place for exchange and relaxation to spark creative ideas.
In the AX Gallery, customers can experience AX solution exhibits using voice commands and touch panels. A key exhibit is "multi-agent." Whereas customers previously had to issue commands to each AI with a different role and compile the results to draft a report, the multi-agent approach has multiple AIs collaborate and coordinate on their own to produce an output that matches the request.
In the Conference Room and Develop Studio, teams identify ways to tailor the innovations experienced in the AX Gallery to the customer's situation. AX experts from KT and Microsoft work with customers to create a roadmap for work innovation and provide technical advice and solution design to realize it.
In particular, the designed solution can be turned into a working prototype within up to five days. Based on this, they verify whether the technology is actually effective for the customer. For example, for corporations that need customer center innovation, they diagnose the existing staff-centered counseling process and then simply train AI on core knowledge to implement a trial AI agent.
KT's AX consulting organization, the AXD Division, said it will use the KT Innovation Hub to offer practical AX experiences even to customers unfamiliar with AX. The KT AXD Division plans to realize the innovations customers experience as full-package services—such as industry-tailored AX consulting and engineering—through collaboration with Microsoft's technical experts.
KT plans to develop the KT Innovation Hub into a forward base that leads AI research and industrial application in the Asia-Pacific region.
Executive Vice President Jeong U-jin, head of KT's Strategy and Business Consulting Division, said, "We will be able to use the KT Innovation Hub as a forward base to build and accelerate the AX ecosystem in Korea's vertical markets," and added, "Going forward, together with Microsoft, we will expand collaboration among industry, government, and academia to help Korea take a leap forward as an AI-leading nation."