At CES 2026, the world’s largest consumer electronics and IT trade show, Samsung Electronics will showcase new projects through its C-Lab program, an innovation program that spans a broad spectrum of fields, including AI, robotics, and digital health.
During CES, January 6-9, Samsung will operate a dedicated C-Lab exhibition area to support startups in the global marketplace. The exhibition will be located in the dedicated startup zone in Eureka Park at the Venetian Expo.
“Samsung supports C-Lab startups by using CES as a platform to validate innovative technologies and build momentum for global growth,” said Byoung Chul Lee, Vice President and Head of Creativity & Innovation Center at Samsung Electronics. “This year, the expanded participation from regional startups demonstrates how the C-Lab ecosystem continues to evolve.”
C-Lab Outside: 15 startups in AI, robotics and digital health
This year, C-Lab is presenting 15 startups. Eight of these have been incubated directly by Samsung Electronics within C-Lab Outside program, four come from Samsung Financial Networks-powered Samsung Financial C-Lab Outside, two from Samsung Electronics' internal venture program C-Lab Inside, and one has been jointly incubated by Samsung Electronics and the Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center.
Record participation of regional startups
Since 2023, Samsung has expanded C-Lab Outside to the Korean cities of Daegu and Gwangju, as well as Gyeongbuk Province. The program identifies and supports promising startups to strengthen regional startup ecosystems, providing workspace, step-by-step consulting, and opportunities to collaborate with Samsung and its subsidiaries. This allows startups to grow without having to relocate to the metropolitan city of Seoul – fostering a sustainable local innovation cycle.
To date, 40 regional startups have been incubated through the initiative, helping to revitalize regional ecosystems and laying the foundation for future global unicorns.
Seven startups from Daegu, Gwangju and Gyeongbuk will participate in CES 2026, marking the largest attendance ever of regional C-Lab startups at CES.
Regional startup achievements continue to grow
The technological competitiveness of these regional C-Lab startups continues to be recognized. Repla, a plastics recycling startup from C-Lab Outside Gyeongbuk, was awarded a CES 2026 Innovation Award for its Puri-Checker – a device that analyzes conditions in plastic composites.
“For a regional startup, collaborating with a global company like Samsung has been a valuable opportunity,” says Dong-eun Seo, CEO of Repla. “Plastic recycling is a global challenge and CES offers an important platform for exploring international market opportunities.”
The seven participating regional C-Lab startups are as follows:
- Stress Solution (Gyeongbuk): An AI-based solution for personalized audio creation in mental health
- Deepscent (Gwangju): An AI-powered digital scent solution adapted for different environments
- Elevenliter (Daegu): AI-powered diagnostics for progressive diseases in pets
- AunionAI (Gwangju): A web-based AI solution for automated multilingual dubbing and subtitling with expressive voices and sound effects
- Repla (Gyeongbuk): Enzyme-purified recycled plastic, free from contaminants
- Univa (Daegu): An on-device multimodal solution based on large language models
- 10kM.ai (Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center): An AI-based video production solution for businesses that can generate, edit, and monetize videos
C-Lab Inside showcases AI-powered internal initiatives
Every year since 2016, Samsung has used CES to showcase projects from C-Lab Inside and gauge global market response and validate business potential.
This year, two are presented AI-powered projects that have been highly evaluated in terms of innovation, global scalability and maturity:
- ChronoMix: An AI solution for object-centric video composition
- EZ Reco: A generative AI platform that provides electronics recommendations based on expert knowledge
Expansion of C-Lab into subsidiaries, including financial startups
As part of the expansion of Samsung’s open innovation model to its subsidiaries, four startups from Samsung Financial C-Lab Outside are participating at CES for the first time. The participation allows startups across industries to explore new global collaboration opportunities by benefiting from Samsung’s incubation experience. The participating Samsung Financial C-Lab Outside startups are:
- Selectstar (Samsung Life Insurance): Copyright-cleared datasets and an all-in-one AI evaluation platform
- Datumo (Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance): Cyber risk modeling to quantify and reduce the financial impact of cyberattacks
- WINNING.I (Samsung Card): Next-generation identity verification (eKYC) powered by parallel fingerprint and facial biometrics
- Pillsang (Samsung Securities): Real-time phishing (fraud/scam) detection with on-device AI
C-Lab startups win 17 CES 2026 Innovation Awards
C-Lab startups have been awarded a total of 17 CES 2026 Innovation Awards, including two Best of Innovation Awards, as announced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA).
Both Best of Innovation Award recipients MangoSlab and StudioLab originated from C-Lab Inside and have later been spun off as independent startups – confirming the technological excellence and growth potential of Samsung's internal ventures.
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