MIT Technology Review
Making technology a greater force for good through journalism.
What’s next for the future of AI? MIT and Samsung NEXT joined forces to answer the million dollar question.
One of our main goals at Samsung NEXT was to increase awareness and affinity for our brand within our target audience. Core to this is to increase our credibility as experts in key subject areas by creating opportunities to engage with that audience.
We believed that a more integrated, longer-term approach with partners is a better way to do this vs. discrete one-off activities.
How do you like them apples?
We worked with MIT Technology Review, a multi-platform content provider with an actively engaged audience, to create awareness and credibility in our core spaces, including AI, Cybersecurity/Identity, Smart Cities, and Digital Health. We leveraged the MIT TechReview platform (digital, events, social, and earned media) to position ourselves as thought-leaders, with a focus in our AI vertical.
At NEXT we had just launched “Qfund” that invests in really early stage breakthrough AI technology, and in order for us to get good leads, we needed to connect with a really specific audience. We organized a private dinner in Boston during MIT Tech Review’s biggest annual event, Emtech, and worked with the MIT team to invite a curated list attendees. This list included directors of AI university labs (Harvard, MIT, Yale, etc.) , scholars, researchers, professors, and more. The idea was that if they learned about this unique and specific fund and what it provided, when a potential startup or idea comes to them, they could refer them to us. We also added branding visuals throughout the event so that the audience would start familiarizing the space with our brand.
Invest in breakthrough ideas
The next step in this partnership happened at the MIT Emtech Digital in San Francisco, an event that is focused on AI technologies. In this event, we focused on bringing to the main stage our thought-leadership around investing in novel techniques with our Qfund. Because of the high level of specialization in the audience, it was the perfect opportunity to dig deep on the topic and increase awareness. To achieve this, we setup a fireside chat with our Head of Ventures, Brendon Kim and the MIT Emtech CEO, Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau.
The topic of the conversation was to talk and showcase our expertise and efforts around innovation in the deep learning and AI space. During the conversation, Brendon highlighted how Samsung NEXT not only enables "deep learning +X” by creating tools for AI developers, but also invests in long-term breakthroughs via a strategic AI fund.
To consolidate this session, later that day we hosted a private, invite only dinner with the same profile of attendee as the one in Boston and we were able to expand our local network and create important partnerships for the Qfund team.
