Chairman Koo Bon-moo of LG Group.(Photos: LG Group)

LG Group has been considering a plan to focus its investments in four key areas including energy, auto parts, living eco, and healthcare as part of its future growth engines.

The areas include such key products as fuel cell batteries, batteries for electric cars, smart grid components, and solar batteries, which are among the green products that the top management of the group has long had in mind as their future growth engines in the green industries.

Early this year, the group decided to invest 20 trillion won in the development of those products with six trillion won in R&D activities alone and make its Magok Industrial Complex an advanced base for new growth engines to be named LG Science Park and to include a huge fusion R&D complex.

The group has already made significant progress in the area of environment-friendly energy by taking over a 51 percent stake in Rolls Royce Fuel Cell Systems, which owns core technology for power battery cells, for $45 million and launched LG Fuel Cell Systems.

The group has been focusing on the commercial use of fuel cell batteries using only oxygen to generate power as well as the power grid for the most effective use of energy through the fusion of IT controlled by the smart grid.

LG was the first to market a smart green solution, an integrated solution to control the use of power in a building and in a town with smart technology in July 2012. The group has also been working hard for the development of all kinds of environment-friendly auto parts and solutions for next generation autos.

LG Electronics merged LG CNS, a designer of auto engineering and parts, and its affiliate V-ENS to set up the VC Business Headquarters, which will take charge of the R&D activities for environment-friendly auto parts at the recently-completed LG Electronics Incheon Campus.

LG Chemical, in the meantime, will continue to produce batteries for electric cars, fully taking advantage of its globally-recognized technologies, supplying its batteries for such major automakers as Ford, GM, Chrysler and Renault.

LG has also been engaged in the “living eco” products development as a future growth engine. LG Innotec, an affiliate of LG Electronics, has the production processes ready for OLED chips for lighting package and module, as well as the entire production process for those products, and LG Electronics is ready to produce lighting equipment with those parts.

Healthcare is another area of focus involving medical equipment made with IT and smart equipment, allowing doctors to check on patients’ illnesses from anywhere at any time. LG U-plus has signed an MOU with Jasaeng Oriental Medical Clinic for a joint venture for Chinese medicine-based smart healthcare equipment development.

A scene of a lab in the LG Science Park in LG’s Magok Industrial Complex just outside Seoul.