Samsung is looking to take its relationship with the Internet of Things to the next level with an investment to the tune of $1.2 billion.

The electronics giant’s CEO Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon announced the four-year R&D plan during an event in DC this week. The investment will cover some 15,000 Samsung employees across the US. According to Forbes, the money will be split between startups in the space and Samsung’s own operations, including a chip fabrication lab in Austin and a research center in Palo Alto.

“If we want innovators everywhere to make use of IoT, we must make sure all tools are open to them,” Kwon told the audience. “This means technologies that connect to each other, because we know that boundaries around technologies hold back innovation and scale.”

The chief executive added that the investment would go a ways toward helping address the issues of an aging population, keeping older citizens living independently outside of nursing homes and hospitals.