LG Electronics said Friday it was moving to recruit talented research and development personnel from other countries.

The company held a tech conference in Tokyo on Friday, which invited 50 engineering students, including Korean students studying in Japan. A total of 20 executives in the firm’s research and development department took part in the conference.

“The participation of elite engineers who focus on areas of materials, components and analog and the number of Korean students studying for a doctorate degree at well-known schools have increased compared to last year,” said an LG official.

The conference is an event organized every year in the U.S. and Japan to look for talented staff. It has been held since 2005.

For Friday’s event, LG Electronics held a recruiting tour earlier in June to finalize the attendee list by reviewing their documents and going forward with telephone interviews.

In a related effort, LG Electronics is on the move to hire global technicians by designing recruitment plans that are customized to each country. LG executives reach out to foreign students by visiting universities in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan, making irregular and individual hires.

The firm is planning to use this program and pay a visit to about 10 prominent universities in Europe to employ staff specialized in solar energy, water treatment, health care and environment technology. It will also make offers to experienced engineers with a master’s or a doctoral degree at Georgia Tech and Carnegie Mellon University in North America.

“We need to hire the good talents to make preparations for the uncertain future,” said Skott Ahn, the chief technology officer at LG Electronics. “We will begin the recruitment to gain competitiveness in research and development and for our future.”

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)