Qualcomm accelerates CSR programs in Korea

Korean students who were invited to this year’s “Qualcomm IT Tour” program gather at Qualcomm’s headquarters in San Diego, California, Thursday. / Courtesy of Qualcomm Korea

By Kim Yoo-chul

Qualcomm, the U.S.-based mobile chip-set titan, is moving beyond business expansion to strengthen its initiatives for corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in Korea.

Qualcomm Korea said it had invited 25 Korean undergraduate and graduate students to the company’s headquarters in San Diego as part of the firm’s decade-long “Qualcomm IT Tour” program.

The invited students were given the opportunity to understand the development of Qualcomm’s latest mobile and wireless technologies and get first-hand experience with some of them. Qualcomm also held a briefing and demonstration session to update its key technologies for the students, the company said.

“Those students attended a ‘mentoring session’ with Korean engineers working at Qualcomm headquarters,” the company said. “The students were briefed about the latest technology trends and work-life at Qualcomm, and the qualifications and experience needed to work there.”

The latest event is the 14th.

This year, Qualcomm president Derek Aberle met the students to discuss “rising technologies” such as the Internet of Things, machine learning and virtual reality ― all of which were identified by the company as the next growth engines.

“We hope this IT program helps Korean students gain a better perspective of the latest technology trend and also helps them in contributing their efforts to create larger mobile ecosystems in Korea,” Qualcomm Korea chief Lee Te-won said.

Since 2004, Qualcomm Korea has been managing scholarship programs every year for engineering students in Korea. Also, the Korean subsidiary runs the “Qualcomm Innovation Awards” to help master’s and doctoral-degree students proceed with their research programs.