Lotte Establishes 'Design Management Center' to Lead Group Innovation... Appoints President Born in 1971

Professor Baesangmin of KAIST Department of Industrial Design Appointed as Center Director

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Lotte has established a dedicated design organization and embarked on 'design management' to drive innovation across the entire group.

On the 14th, according to Lotte Group, Lotte Holdings recently created the 'Design Management Center' and appointed Professor Bae Sang-min (50, photo) from KAIST's Department of Industrial Design as the center head (President).

President Bae, born in 1971, majored in design at Parsons School of Design in the U.S. and Seoul National University Graduate School. In 1998, at the age of 27, he became the first and youngest East Asian professor at Parsons School of Design, and since 2005, he has been serving as a professor at KAIST. He is one of Korea's top design experts, having received numerous prestigious awards in the design field such as the Red Dot Award and iF Design Award.

Lotte Group recruited President Bae to intensively strengthen design capabilities as a strategic asset. The Design Management Center led by President Bae will play a role in accelerating innovation not only in product and service design but also in enhancing a creative organizational culture and overall corporate innovation. In particular, the establishment of the center and the appointment of a president-level executive strongly reflect the will of Chairman Shin Dong-bin, who believes that change and innovation are necessary.

Recently, Lotte has been recruiting experts across the board to strengthen the group's future capabilities. Last month, under the ESG Management Innovation Office within Lotte Holdings, healthcare and bio teams were newly established, appointing executives in their 40s at the managing director level as team leaders. The healthcare team focuses on the recently spotlighted digital healthcare and senior markets to discover business opportunities, while the bio team is reportedly reviewing various options such as acquiring existing bio companies and establishing joint ventures with pharmaceutical companies.

In June, Lotte Holdings also established a Brand Management TF under the Communications Office. This unified the organization to establish and manage an integrated brand strategy, consolidating brand-related tasks previously handled by three organizations?Lotte Holdings, BU (Business Unit), and others?under the Brand Management TF. At the Value Creation Meeting (VCM) held in July, Lotte announced a new slogan, 'New Today, Better Tomorrow,' and is accelerating brand building centered around this slogan.