LG Group on Wednesday held the 19th LG Global Challenger launch ceremony in Seoul with selected members of this year’s student expedition teams and company executives participating, the company said.

LG Global Challenger is a fully-funded overseas study and exploration program for talented university students from various academic fields.

Each year, the selected teams of students are given opportunities to experience and observe world-class research facilities, universities, corporations and both governmental and non-governmental organizations for a fortnight in various countries around the world. 

This year, after a highly selective screening process of research proposals, the program selected 30 teams of 120 undergraduate and graduate students specializing in a variety of academic fields, ranging from social sciences to arts and engineering.

“Although the process of challenge may be more difficult than expected, I urge all of you to never to be afraid of failure along the way and never to lose passion on your journey,” Koo Bon-moo, LG Group chairman said to the students at the ceremony.

“With an open-mind, challenge the barriers in observing the bigger world.”

This year, the winning research proposals included “disease prediction mechanisms utilizing big data,” “wearable robot for the welfare of the elderly” and “diagnosing denuclearization system,” among others.

Based on the assessment of the post-exploration reports, selected teams of students will be given either an internship or employment at LG Group, the company said.

By Kwon Bum-joon (bjkwon@heraldcorp.com)