[THE INVESTOR] Outgoing Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin said on Oct. 24 that the Korean firm would find new growth engines to win the battle with global internet giants such as Google and Facebook.

“In order to compete with Google and Facebook in the borderless internet realm, gaining (core) technology is vital. (Naver) will actively invest in decent technology and promising startups,” said Lee, at the firm’s developer conference in Seoul, dubbed Deview 2016.

 

He also said that technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data analytics have already infiltrated people’s daily life and the competition to obtain an upper hand would heat up further down the road.

He promised that the Korean tech giant will not hesitate to collaborate with startups to seek global business expansion. 

In line with the firm's aim to gain a competitive edge in the AI sector, Naver unveiled an AI assisstant, called AMICA, at the conference. 

The AMICA solution, which can be compatible with mobile apps such as a mobile messenger, allows users to search the internet or make food orders with voice commands. 

Some of Naver's other technologies in the pipeline include solutions or automated vehicles and robots.

Lee is slated to step down from this post in March to focus on Naver’s European business operations -- one of the regions where the firm has little presence.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)