Education and research phase wraps up; 2 students join as interns

[Provided by Seven-Eleven]
[Provided by Seven-Eleven]

Seven-Eleven said Tuesday it will deepen the digital transformation of its store operations and overall business on the back of an industry-academia collaboration project with Kyung Hee University.

The convenience store chain has wrapped up two rounds of education and research carried out under an MOU with Kyung Hee University since August last year. Two students selected through the internship recruitment process will spend 16 weeks at Seven-Eleven's Digital Transformation Innovation Team.

A total of 24 students participated under the supervision of Park Jae-hong, a professor in Kyung Hee University's Department of Big Data Application. The students researched AI and big data solutions and data-driven decision-making tools applicable to convenience store operations.

In the first cohort, held in the second semester last year, the final project focused on a mobile-based solution for improving in-store inventory management. It centered on using product barcode information and expiration dates to track shelf life and reduce the inventory management burden on store owners.

The second cohort, held in the first semester this year, produced an AI-based system to support product management and ordering decisions. Students drew on existing product data and sales trends to develop predictive models and support tools for managing new and existing products.

Seven-Eleven plans to assess the real-world applicability of projects from both cohorts and explore how to build systems deployable in actual work environments. The two selected interns will join in September for a four-month placement, working to develop concrete plans for applying ideas generated through the partnership. In December, each intern will present a final individual project based on their practical experience.

Lee Yun-ho, head of Seven-Eleven's Digital Transformation Innovation Team, said the company will continue to strengthen an industry-academia model that nurtures young talent and drives digital innovation in the retail sector, now that the collaboration has extended to include a full internship program.


andy@heraldcorp.com