Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's No. 1 tech firm, announced Tuesday that it will pour $1.2 billion by 2020 into the Internet of Things business in the United States, as part of its global initiative to create a new IoT ecosystem, a hot issue in the ICT world.

Samsung also launched an advisory group in partnership with Intel Corp. to affect U.S. policy on IoT.

"I am excited to show how we are moving IoT to the center of our strategy and am delighted to announce that Samsung is planning to spend $1.2 billion in U.S.-centered IoT investments and R&D over the next four years," Kwon Oh-hyun, the company's vice chairman and CEO, said in a forum held at the Washington Post Conference Center in the U.S. capital.

The inaugural event with the theme of "Internet of Things -- Transforming the Future" drew more than 300 participants from the U.S. government, Congress and businesses, according to Samsung.

They include Rep. Darrell Issa, who co-chairs the Congressional Internet of Things Caucus; Dean Garfield, president and CEO at the Information Technology Industry Council; and Doug Davis, senior vice president for the IoT Group at Intel Corp.

Kwon said Samsung will seek joint ventures with IoT startups in the U.S. via its agencies in Silicon Valley: Samsung Strategy & Innovation Center, Global Innovation Center and Samsung Research America.

Laying out Samsung's vision for IoT, Kwon stressed a "human-centered" approach.

"At Samsung, putting peole at the center of everything we do is our highest value. The same must be true for IoT if we want to realize its full transformative power," he said.

"Today, IoT is changing individual lives, helping people to age in their own homes. But tomorrow, using IoT, we can give the same independence to millions of Americans. We can keep people out of hospitals and nursing homes. As our populations live longer, these benefits and cost savings for society cannot be ignored," he said.

IoT is a network of physical objects, including vehicles, buildings and electronic devices, connected to the Internet to exchange data. It allows such objects to be sensed and controlled remotely.

"If we want innovators everywhere to make use of IoT, we must make sure all tools are open to them," Kwon said. "This means technologies that connect to each other, because we know that boundaries around technologies hold back innovation and scale."

For that, Samsung and Intel established the National IoT Strategy Dialogue meant to offer advice to U.S. policymakers. The ITI is tasked with operating the group, of which membership is open to other companies.

Samsung said it hosted the Washington conference to "ensure that the rapid expansion of IoT benefits everyone, everywhere through the transformative power of innovation."

It marked the start of an international series of dialogue on IoT, it said. (Yonhap)