Innovation is the engine that drives new opportunities. It invigorates existing businesses, inspires change in our everyday lives, and leads to revolutionary disruptions across industries. Together, HARMAN and Samsung are dedicated to encouraging and supporting innovators worldwide, and this commitment was front and center recently at Samsung’s annual Innovation Summit in Israel, where some of the companies’ most advanced technology teams reside.

The Samsung Innovation Summits are designed to inspire, motivate global innovators and bring awareness about exponential technologies and their impact on business. On the outskirts of historic Tel Aviv, features of the past are starkly juxtaposed against elements of the future. It’s a place where you’ll find high tech gadgets sold in ancient buildings and luxury sports cars racing down cobbled streets. This combination of the world’s past, present and future provided the ideal setting for Summit attendees to consider the future of data and the ways it is revolutionizing the world’s largest industries.

At the 4^th Samsung Innovation Summit in Tel Aviv, Israel, leaders across the industry joined executives from Samsung and HARMAN to discuss the era of the Data Economy and its impact on Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, autonomous mobility, and digital health technologies. The Data Economy refers to the ability of companies to leverage big data when making strategic business decisions. Since the explosion of the internet, the amount of accessible data has been steadily increasing, and IDC predicts that the total amount of digital data created worldwide will reach 44 zettabytes by 2020. All of this data allows companies to implement information-based intelligence into their day-to-day operations, as well as create new classes of smart products and solutions.

Young Sohn, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Samsung Electronics and Chairman of the Board, HARMAN, kicked off the summit with his keynote speech that analyzed the ways data and digital information is driving the new economy. “There’s more data than ever,” said Sohn, “this new economy generates jobs, generates business, and generates opportunities for many entrepreneurs.”

During the Connected and Autonomous Mobility Opportunities panel discussion, Oren Betzaleli, Senior Vice President & General Manager Software Platforms for HARMAN Connected Services and Katrin Schneider, Vice President Engineering Quality & Operations for HARMAN, joined president Young Sohn and other industry leaders on stage to examine the path to connected and autonomous driving.

The panel discussion covered several topics, including progress in V2X communications, the importance of Over-the-Air updates and keeping all automotive software up to date, as well as how recent innovations in cybersecurity are protecting the connected car. In addition, panelists discussed the advancements Samsung and HARMAN are achieving together on the new DRVLINE™ and Digital Cockpit platforms.

The event emphasized HARMAN and Samsung’s commitment to the Israeli automotive market. Our newest automotive products and solutions, a result of collaborations between leading Israeli automotive technology companies, were also on display. DRVLINE™, an open, modular, and scalable hardware and software platform that allows OEMS to build advanced, customized cars, was one of the innovative solutions showcased onsite.

HARMAN and Samsung remain dedicated to effecting change in the industry. Our strategic investments in pioneering Israeli technology companies, including RedBend, TowerSec and iOnRoad, have led to the development of several enhanced automotive and cybersecurity solutions such as the International SMART Range where automakers can test new automotive cybersecurity, autonomous driving and smart mobility solutions and advanced OTA update solutions which are now deployed among 18 OEM partners and 30 million cars, set to reach 130 million vehicles in the next five years. As leaders in the automotive technology industry, our work with Israeli peer companies will continue to promote and inspire innovation in the region and around the world.