Samsung Group heir apparent and Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jay-yong on Tuesday visited the group’s start-up incubation centers in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province to discuss future support plans.

The centers opened last year, joining a government-led initiative that aims to nurture start-ups and venture companies across industries. Lee attended the opening ceremony of each center together with President Park Geun-hye.

During the visit, Lee, the de facto leader of South Korea’s largest conglomerate since his father, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee was hospitalized in May last year, met young entrepreneurs at the centers and pledged more support for them.

At the Daegu center, Samsung operates a venture incubation program called C-Lab. Selected project teams become residential members of the center and are offered consultations and funding.

In partnership with the local government, Samsung plans to create an annual 2 billion won ($1.7 million) matching fund for the next five years.

In the meantime, the Gyeongbuk center in Gumi supports small manufacturers in the region for the modernization of their production plants, while helping the commercialization of traditional culture and agriculture.

Under the plan, Samsung aims to help build 100 smart factories this year and 400 by 2017, based on the Manufacturing Execution system and the “Internet of things” technologies. A total of 30 billion won will be poured into related projects. 

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)