Nordic Innovation House Singapore: Newsletter - November 2024

Singapore Innovation Ecosystem Highlights

• The first Nordic Open Innovation Challenge (NOIC) is launched by Enterprise Singapore, which aims to help Singapore companies partner with renowned multinational corporations to address challenges in areas like sustainability and advanced manufacturing. In this edition, Singapore firms will have the opportunity to co-innovate and launch pilot projects with global companies ABB and Electrolux via their Singapore or Nordic headquarters – and gain access to new markets.
• DSV Air & SEA (DSV) is taking significant steps to accelerate its shift towards greener logistics in the region, with the purchase of two electric trucks from Volvo in Singapore.
• Norwegian companies, Evoy and Pascal Technologies, and Singaporean companies, Lita Ocean and SeaTech Solutions International, have signed an agreement to develop electric high-speed harbour craft for Singapore’s maritime environment.
• With Singapore’s strong maritime presence and increasing interest in energy management and insights, Cetasol, a Gothenburg-based deep tech/green company that develops intelligent solutions to support and accelerate maritime sustainability, has recently incorporated a new, fully-owned subsidiary locally.

Features

Nordic Singapore Innovation Days

Nordic Singapore Innovation Days 2024 kicked off with an inauguration at Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH), showcasing insights into how Singapore serves as a gateway for innovation in Asia via the panel sessions on Government / Investor / Incubator perspectives. Some key takeaways from the Inauguration includes:

• The Singapore government is investing $25 billion in R&D (2021-2024), creating unique opportunities for deeptech innovation. Luuk Eliens - Singapore Deep-Tech Alliance (SDTA) emphasized that deeptech requires partnerships across sectors, from research to commercialization, with VCs stepping in at the crucial prototype-to-product phase.
• Singapore boasts mature IPR, ample funding, and robust academia-industry-government collaboration, but faces challenges like high living costs, limited late-stage funding, and a small home market.
• Nordic countries exemplify Triple Helix collaboration, with cities like Tampere pushing for climate neutrality, we learned from Kristian Valkama - Business Tampere.
• Joanna Boquist - Vinnova informed that Vinnova’s innovation programs offer over 5000 open calls, emphasizing the need for connected ecosystems and cross-border innovation.

? Nordic Singapore Innovation Days aims to shape pioneering efforts and creating lasting impacts, paving the way for meaningful innovations and a future filled with sustainable solutions and is organized by Vinnova, SISP - Swedish Incubators & Science Parks, Ignite Sweden, Business Sweden, Business Finland, Nordic Innovation House - Singapore, SGInnovate, and Enterprise Singapore. ?

Click here to see more highlights:????Click?Here

Nordic + FinTech Night 2024

The Nordics-Baltics and Singapore both prioritize financial inclusion and accessibility, while committing to innovation and digital transformation in the fintech space. The Nordic+ FinTech Night brought together key representatives to learn from our panel, share perspectives through networking and establish new connections.

The night started with welcome remarks from the Estonian Ambassador Priit Turk and Danish Ambassador Jakob Brix Tange.

Followed by a panel discussion on "Responsible Fintech for a Sustainable Asia: Empowering Inclusive Growth". Special thanks to our moderator, Diana KAM of Venturebeam, alongside our panellists: Mark Medum Bundgaard (Chief Product Officer of Partisia), Fay Chetnakarnkul (Head of Asia Region at Norfund), and Markus Prommik (CEO & Co-Founder of Finfra).

On closing, we had Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer at Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), sharing about the growing connection between Singapore and the Nordic+ countries and the outlook on the future of fintech and its potential to drive change.

This event was jointly organised by Nordic Innovation House - Singapore, the Estonian Embassy in Singapore, Embassy of Denmark in Singapore, and supported by the Estonian Business Hub, Business Sweden Asia-Pacific, the Embassy of Finland in Singapore, Innovation Norway, Business Iceland, Embassy of Lithuania in Singapore, NordicTalks (brought to you by The Nordics, a project under The Nordic Council of Ministers and The Nordic Council) and Nordic Innovation.

Click here to see more highlights: ???Click?Here

Insights

Additional S$440 million injection to boost investments in deep-tech startups in Singapore

The Singapore government is adding funding via the Startup SG Equity scheme, which was established in 2017 and is part of Singapore’s S$28 billion Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 plan, and there will be expanded support to cover early growth-stage companies, and raising cap of total equity investment into each firm to S$12 million (Business Times).

Next step cooperation on Artificial Intelligence for the Nordics and Baltics

The Nordic and Baltic Ministers of Digitalisation took another step in strengthening regional cooperation on AI Readiness today in Stockholm. They discussed 21 recommendations handed over by key public and private stakeholders in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). (Norden).

Creating smart and sustainable cities in the Nordic Region

In a new publication, researchers make six recommendations for urban planners and decision makers to make Nordic cities sustainable. The findings are based on projects funded through the Nordic initiative on Sustainable Urban Development and Smart Cities between 2000 and 2024 (Nordforsk).?

Opportunities

IMDA Open Innovation Call 2024

Submit proposals until 29 November, 2024 |?View all challenges here

Stand a chance to win over $2.5 million in the latest IMDA Open Innovation Platform challenges! Partners include HP, SBS Transit, Singapore Tourism Board & more. In this call, they are seeking tech solutions in the realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Edutech, Data Analytics and more to streamline processes, enhancing efficiency in various domains.

Solution providers stand to win over S$2.5M in prize monies. The deadline for submissions is 29 Nov 2024, 4PM SGT. Please note that IAL challenges will close on 15 Nov 2024.

DIMENSION X (DX) 5

Application close on 29?November, 2024 |?Apply here

Dimension X (DX) is an open innovation challenge by Hatch that accelerates and validates technologies from global deep-tech start-ups with dual-use potential for public safety and security.

Start-ups selected receive non-dilutive fund of SGD100K to develop a Proof-of-Concept (POC) in collaboration with Singapore’s public safety and security agencies from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and scientists/engineers from the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) to validate their technologies.

For DX5, Hatch is looking for innovative technologies to address the following challenge statements:

• Data Extraction - Extract textual information from different sources (e.g., excel, scanned notes) into pre-defined templates
• Data Curation - Data curation tools for on-premise LLM/LMM training
• Embodied AI - AI foundational models for multi-functional robots
• Video Compression - Video compression for low-bandwidth, real-time transmission and storage optimisation
• Video Enhancement - Real-time video enhancement in rainy conditions
• Drone Detection - Detect drones made of unconventional materials (e.g. cardboard)
• Mixed Reality - Transmit sense of taste and/or smell through virtual environment
• Digital Twin - Create interactive 3D digital twin to simulate decision making scenarios
• Spectral Imaging - Acquire material and compound data using spectral imaging
• Forensics - Identify DNA profiles from a DNA mixture
• Out-of-the-Box (OOTB) - Seeking highly innovative and impactful technologies relevant to public safety and security

About Hatch

Hatch is an innovation centre driven by the mission to curate and accelerate dual-use technologies that enhance public safety and security. Established by Singapore’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX), we are dedicated to leveraging cutting-edge global technologies across multiple sectors to achieve this critical mission.

Nordic Innovation House is a connector accelerating high-quality Nordic tech startups, scaleups and growth companies in Singapore. We are the bridge between Nordic and Singapore ecosystem players, including government, corporate, SME, investors and accelerator hubs, to enable more collaborations.

In Singapore, we work with Business Sweden, Innovation Norway, Business Iceland, the Embassy of Finland in Singapore and the Embassy of Denmark in Singapore.?

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