The DFK-LG Industry-Academia Collaboration Project marked the very first partnership between Design Factory Korea and LG Electronics — a milestone project that brought together students from three disciplines to tackle a real-world design challenge.
Three interdisciplinary teams of five members each, drawn from design, engineering, and management, were tasked with a single challenge from LG Electronics: design an IoT accessory that can be attached to legacy non-smart products. The project challenged students to think beyond existing products and envision a new type of smart accessory that could seamlessly extend the functionality of home appliances already in use — without replacing them.
Throughout the project, students had the opportunity to meet directly with LG Electronics professionals, receiving real feedback on their work from industry insiders. The experience placed students in the mindset of an LG task force team, making the project feel as close to actual industry work as possible. As one participant described it, working alongside colleagues from different majors to plan and design IoT products for LG felt like being part of a new employee task force team developing the next generation of products.
The final presentations were held at LG Headquarters, where students showcased their ideas to LG officials. The response was overwhelmingly positive — each of the three teams produced a ready-to-implement accessory concept, and the ideas presented have since been filed for both domestic and international patents. Due to intellectual property rights, the specific solutions cannot be published.
Led by Professor Sangwon Lee, the DFK-LG project set a strong precedent for what industry-academia collaboration at DFK can look like: interdisciplinary, hands-on, and directly connected to the real world.
