The Edge Singapore reported that SGInnovate has partnered with ST Engineering and cybersecurity company Tegasus International to launch a series of courses to enhance Singapore’s cybersecurity capabilities, targeting 2,500 professionals over three years. The “Cybersecurity Professional Series” comprises of two tracks: Operational Technology (OT) courses that address existing gaps in cybersecurity training for Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) sector professionals; and Information Technology (IT) courses that introduce cybersecurity fundamentals to both technical and business professionals. Steve Leonard, Founding CEO of SGInnovate highlighted the importance of cybersecurity in the wake of emerging technologies such as AI and IoT, and called for a need for secure critical infrastructure.
Topics: Talent
KrAsia featured an article based on the SGInnovate Insights Paper “Deep Tech Investments: Realising the Potential”, which examined the differences between Deep Tech and general tech, as well as the challenges, risks, and rewards that lie within investments in deep tech. While Singapore’s deep tech ecosystem does not lack research or interest, what it lacks are experienced people with both industry knowledge and supply chain know-how which leads to deep tech research projects stagnating. The absence of a sophisticated Deep Tech investment community in Singapore results in startups resorting to looking overseas for capital, with SEPPURE cited as an example. The void has resulted in the government stepping in, which led to SGInnovate’s founding in 2016 to fund, build and grow Deep Tech in Singapore. The various kinds of top-down support have led to a clutch of startups in the Deep Tech sector and created a global reputation for Singapore.
Topics: Investments
ZDNet reported that SGInnovate has issued a call for Australian investors to join its cause to work with scientists and grow the Deep Tech space. Speaking at D61+ Live in Sydney this week, SGInnovate founding CEO Steve Leonard shared that while consumer tech is solving problems of convenience, Deep Tech such as MedTech, AI and Quantum Computing amongst others can solve big challenges faced by humanity. Since its launch in 2016, the organisation has backed more than 70 local and foreign startups, equivalent to approximately S$40 million. Some companies that have received backing from SGInnovate include Taiger, AIDA technologies, and Melbourne-based See-Mode. Steve also noted that while investments made have been based on market-led trends and knowing that tangible use cases can be delivered, SGInnovate has also avoided unicorns because it could ‘take the organisation off the important work’.
Topics: Investments
Silicon Republic reported that Dublin and Boston-based MedTech HealthBeacon has welcomed two new strategic investors, SGInnovate and US firm Manatt, closing its Series A funding round with the company’s total amount raised standing at $15 million. According to Hsien-Hui Tong, Head of Venture Investing at SGInnovate, “Medical non-adherence places a significant burden on healthcare systems. HealthBeacon’s use of smart tools to tackle this global challenge resonates well with SGInnovate’s belief in investing in best-in-class deep tech tackling difficult problems faced around the world.” This investment also marks the first healthcare investment between SGInnovate and Enterprise Ireland.
Topics: Investments, Startups
Holmes Report published an article from the panel discussion “Artificial Intelligence + The Future of Communications” at the IN2Summit Asia Pacific, where the panellists discussed how AI has changed the role of communications practitioners. According to research from MIT Technology Review, 45 percent of respondents believe that Asia will lead the world in the development of ethics and governance than any other region, as compared to only a quarter who sees North America as the ethics frontrunner. On the topic of ethics, Grace Chiang, deputy director of comms for SGInnovate noted that regulation is always playing catch-up with technology and cited the challenges of setting ethical standards due to ethics being “culturally defined”. While the core of being a communicator remains the same, which is to share a compelling message to the right audience, Grace said that technology that surrounds that core will augment the job of a communicator.
Topics: A.I.
The Straits Times reported that Reefknot Investments, SGInnovate, Switzerland-based transport and logistics firm Kuehne + Nagel, and supply chain expert Wolfgang Lehmacher signed an MOU yesterday to set up a think-tank to spearhead changes in the supply chain and logistics industry. Mr Kong Wai Wei, a global supply chain director at Starbucks Corporation, is also participating in the initiative as an individual member. Over the next 12 months, the think-tank will focus on key themes such as disruptions resulting from changes in consumer behaviour and the issue of sustainability. According to Pang Heng Soon, Head of Venture Building at SGInnovate, global VC investments in logistics totalled almost S$27.5 million over the past decade, with 80 percent taking place in the “last five years or less”, which presents an opportune time for winners to emerge on both the vendor side (suppliers of technological solutions) as well as on the user side (logistics players that are looking for tech solutions for higher efficiencies and effectiveness).
Topics: Investments