[Edaily Reporter KYUNG GYEYOUNG ] GS Retail ( GS Retail(007070)) announced on the 20th that it is launching its “Field-Centric AI Transformation (AX)” project in earnest to solve challenges in the business field in collaboration with startups.

In this regard, GS Retail held a meet-up event for the fourth cohort of its open innovation program, “The GS Challenge: Future Retail,” at GS Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 16th. The company selected five startups and launched AI-based proof-of-concept (PoC) projects.

“Future Retail” is an open innovation program that GS Retail has operated in partnership with the Seoul Creative Economy Innovation Center since 2023. Over the past three years, the company has selected 18 startups to collaborate on projects such as AI-based order optimization and the automation of short-form content production.

For this fourth cohort of Future Retail, the business division first defined three key challenges—△Data and AI Intelligence, △Optimization of Autonomous Operations, and △Innovation in Digital Engagement—and then sought out startups with the appropriate technology and execution capabilities to address them. This approach was taken to further enhance the alignment between the business division’s challenges and the startups’ technologies. Preliminary meetings were also held to verify the suitability of the challenges for the startups and the feasibility of applying their technologies.

Through mid-November, GS Retail’s business units and the startups will carry out pilot projects, such as analyzing customer behavior and purchasing patterns at fresh food-focused stores using Vision AI, and identifying trending products using social media (SNS) data. The company also plans to expand the scale of support for some projects by linking them with government-backed initiatives.

Lee Seong-hwa, Head of the New Growth Division at GS Retail, explained, “The core of AX innovation in collaboration with startups is connecting outstanding technology to tangible customer value and business results,” adding, “Through this fourth cohort, we will further advance ‘Future Retail’ as an open innovation platform that bridges the gap between solving real-world challenges and business implementation.”