20 February 2017 – SINGAPORE – The fourth edition of EmTech Asia, co-organised by MIT Technology Review and Koelnmesse Pte Ltd, concluded on a high note after two days of stimulating and insightful discussions on the latest breakthroughs in science and technology. Held from 14 to 15 February at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, EmTech Asia was attended by over 600 like-minded individuals from 22 countries. This year’s line-up of speakers included some of the brightest minds in the areas of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, smart cities, space exploration, augmented and virtual reality, computing and materials science.
“EmTech Asia is always a great event. We meet amazing men and women from around the world and we talk about technology that is going to change the future. There is work in bio-medical areas, in artificial intelligence, computer vision, virtual reality. It also gives many people a chance to get together and talk about new things they might be able to collaborate on, might be able to discover and, most importantly, how they can contribute to positive things for all of humanity. And we mean that sincerely, that’s why EmTech Asia is so important and that’s why Singapore is proud to host it.” said Steve Leonard (pictured above), Founding CEO of SGInnovate and Disruptive Innovation Partner of EmTech Asia.
One of the key themes was space exploration, featuring speakers from NASA and MIT such as Dava Newman, Apollo Program Professor Chair, MIT and Former Deputy Director of NASA; and David Oh, Project Systems Engineer and Former Lead Flight Director, Curiosity Mars Rover, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab. Both speakers were also engaged in a conversational panel hosted by the ArtScience Museum (ASM) in collaboration with EmTech Asia. The panel was held in conjunction with the NASA exhibition at the ASM, and was attended by over 130 students, teachers and media representatives.
The MIT Hacking Medicine Robotics Singapore 2017, was held the weekend leading up to EmTech Asia 2017 where the winners took to the stage to discuss their hackathon experiences and the potential for robotics to provide long-term solutions in elderly care and the overarching healthcare industry in Singapore. Held from 10 to 12 February at SGInnovate, the hackathon aimed to address unmet needs in elderly care and medicine and how robotics can play a role in aiding an ageing society. The winning team, Botler, created a patient-friendly autonomous transport for social robotics in eldercare.
This year’s conference featured a session on materials science with Jackie Ying, Executive Director, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, A*STAR. Her presentation, Nanostructured Materials for Energy and Biomedical Applications, described the synthesis of metallic, metal oxide, semiconducting and organic nanoparticles and nanocomposites of controlled size, morphology and architecture while discussing their unique properties. The cybersecurity session was led by Walter O'Brien, CEO, Scorpion Computer Services and Executive Producer of hit TV series Scorpion, who spoke about how countries can better protect themselves against cyber security threats.
According to Ron Cellini, Analog Garage/Emerging Business Group at Analog Devices and Cybersecurity Partner of the event, “The main take away from EmTech Asia is not just the ideas presented but the enthusiasm behind them. It is great to see the speakers go up the stage and feel the passion for what they are doing. What’s different at EmTech Asia compared to other conferences is the quality. The quality of the presentations, the quality of the folks you meet. You are not going to come here just to hear presentations that you’ve heard before. You’re going to hear things that are new and that challenge you. The pace, the interactivity with some of the talks, the ability of questioning that continually. This conference really encourages you to participate. I definitely met the right people here. I’ve got a whole stack of things I need to do when I leave this conference and for me that’s the best metric for when I go to conferences.”
EmTech Asia 2017 also featured a session on a Brave New (Bio-Engineered) World, which featured Le Cong, Postdoctoral Fellow, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, who introduced advances on genome editing tools using CRISPR system, and highlighted how genomics analysis could be integrated to transform our ability to understand and treat complex diseases such as cancer. Other sessions include The Story and The Prototype, by Mike North, Host of Prototype This!, on the Discovery Channel. Mike shared his rapid prototyping philosophy of designing story and prototype, testing them as fast as possible, seeing where they work and fail, and then iterating to deliver well-branded relevant products. A light-hearted demo was presented by Adrian David Cheok, Director, Imagineering Institute & Chair Professor of Pervasive Computing, City University of London during his Everysense Everywhere Human Communication presentation, where he demonstrated the Kissenger, Thermal and Electric taste applications with the help of conference delegates.
10 innovators under the age of 35 took to the stage to present their elevator pitch at the conference, highlighting their work and research. EmTech Asia celebrated these 10 young innovators under the age of 35, recognised on the 2017 regional ‘Innovators under 35’ list by MIT Technology Review. Their inventions and research were found to be most ground breaking and exciting from more than 100 nominations from Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.
For one of the Innovators Under 35, Dhesi Raja, Chief Scientist and Cofounder of Artificial Intelligence in Medical Epidemiology (AIME), the event turned into an opportunity to raise capital, “Emtech Asia (and Singapore) is definitely the next hub after Silicon Valley that you want to be part of, where great minds meet. Besides the mind blowing convergence of technology, engineering, medicine & entrepreneurship, a vast network of investors has also enabled us to verbally secure a deal worth S$ 200,000, just after a 3 minute pitch. Yes! This is the next valley! Singapore valley!”
Key sponsors and partners of EmTech Asia this year included Host Partner, Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA); Diamond Sponsor, Accenture; Disruptive Innovation Partner, SGInnovate; Innovation Partner, Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART); Cybersecurity Partner, Analog Devices (ADI); Silver Sponsors L’Oréal Research & Innovation and SAP Innovation Center. Partners, MIT Professional Education, MIT Hacking Medicine, Solve and Workforce Singapore. Media Partners included Asia-Pacific Biotech News, Asian Scientist, Biotechin.Asia, Geeks in Cambodia, Research SEA, Startup Bangkok, The Tech Portal India and TechStorm TV.
EmTech Asia will return in January 2018. Visit www.emtechasia.com to learn more.
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About EmTech Asia
EmTech Asia is where technology, business, and culture converge. It is the showcase for emerging technologies with the greatest potential to change our lives. It is an access point to the most innovative people and companies in the world. Most of all, it is a place of inspiration — an opportunity to glimpse the future and begin to understand the technologies that matter and how they will change the face of business and drive the new global economy. www.emtechasia.com
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