Wherever you are on the spectrum of total acceptance to going nuts, one thing is sure: Life changed beyond recognition. Whatever it will go back to eventually will create a new status quo. I am positive it will be a good one.

But the sacrifice we embrace or endure right now will mould us into an updated version of humanity. Repeat action is a great shortcut to habit formation and this may well get us used to virtual everything – from board meetings to yoga classes. Digital transformation has been a ‘priority’ for years. But only now are we seeing widespread efforts to make up for the lost time.

Organisations used to decision by a committee are stepping up their game with surprising agility. Meanwhile, our climate gets a break and our healthcare systems are under review – both for good reasons but this move only made possible by a global crisis. But we must also see the bad. A sheer unbelievable portion of people are out of jobs, some without access to critical infrastructure or ability to meet their daily needs.

The mess that we are in

Truth is, the impact of the virus has only just begun. The 150,000 deaths as of now represent roughly 0.2 per cent of people passing in any given year. Most of these approximately 50-55 million deaths link back to chronic diseases. The rough figure globally for deaths due to such illnesses stands at 80 per cent, almost irrespective of social and economic development.

That means most of humanity ultimately loses to it. It is just that epidemics like this one and less capable healthcare systems accelerate the process considerably. What this means is that we all have the same core problem, but different timelines. Wealthier countries with better healthcare provision and correspondingly higher life expectancy simply delay the fatality of chronic conditions.

In reality, even the best healthcare systems globally are somewhat broken. For instance, many medical professionals deal with immense bureaucracy and red tape just to do their jobs. That means the scarce talent we have available is absorbed by mundane admin tasks when it could be helping patients. Beyond that, it is estimated that that in countries like the US, medical error is the third leading cause of death, claiming approximately a quarter of a million lives annually. Adding on to that, modern medicine has excessively cultivated a mindset of curing patients as the primary function of medicine.

Also Read: Looking for the silver lining for your business amidst a pandemic? Here’s how

With such a narrow focus, illness is treated at face value and correspondingly we are told that some things simply are not curable. But I have rarely seen a case in which hopelessness is a particularly great cure for anything. It likely makes things worse.

Chronic illness in itself is a term that exemplifies this aversion to looking deeper: We accept that the underlying condition cannot be changed, and simply treat the symptoms. In the case of diabetes, this can cost a healthcare system in excess of US$100,000 in long-term care per patient, which is not exactly amazing considering that 95 per cent of diabetes (type 2) is lifestyle-related. In the case of early detection and behavioural intervention, we could avert much suffering and the spending of a six-figure sum per each individual affected. Diabetics are told their condition is progressive and out of their hands; that there is nothing they can do. Hardly the right message, is it?

As a result, a large percentage of society is made to identify with a disease and its inevitability. The resulting feeling of helplessness is something the healthcare accepts. It is not their burden to bear, but the patients’. In situations like the one right now, where everyone is affected, that means we are all made to feel that way. But worst of all, it inspires inaction. It is the last thing we need right now. We must stop looking the other way when it comes to the influence each of us wields on our own physical, mental and overall health. Improvements to healthcare will take more than just clinical advancements.

What if instead, we went further than improving our ways of coping with the impact of the disease, and focused on preventing it altogether? Chronic diseases appear at all ages and for all types of reasons, but the main influencing factor is lifestyle. We all know this, but healthy living has been a latent ‘priority’ in much the same way as digital transformation. It’s bizarre that in all the buzz around our current situation hardly anyone seems to speak about the importance of a healthy lifestyle in boosting immunity. It is like highlighting the devastating impact of cavities and the importance of brushing your teeth without giving any mention to the effects of sugar.

Our brains are engineered to prefer focusing on the short term and indulging quick fixes, but this is lopsided.

Moderate diet and physical activity are a long term intervention that may well strengthen our defences against sudden epidemics and predictable lifestyle diseases alike. Good hand hygiene and social distancing are also a form of prevention, but one that is squarely focused on the short term. In fact, with all the microorganisms living on and in us, sanitising may also be a short-term idea. What appears to matter more to our health is the kinds of microbes we harbour, not the temporary absence of any.

Also Read: Why Taiwan is the “startup island” all SEA founders should sail to after the pandemic

Compliance measures focused on keeping people apart should be the tip of the iceberg of measures taken to recover public health in these trying times and ensure a better outcome the next time. This will require healthcare to transition from what we refer to as ‘sick care’ to a focus on heavily investing in preventative care at a much greater scale than currently.

The role of tech companies in bringing change

Much like how the fintech wave emerged from the GFC, we should expect a drastic increase in digital health propositions focusing on preventative care and wellbeing. Fintech was the answer to a dysfunctional culture of distrust, over-bureaucracy and lack of customer focus amidst the financial services sector. Overall it inspired great improvement in all areas of the value chain.

Fintechs showed us that offering customers simple solutions, giving them data and control about their interaction with them and communicating with them on eye-level transformed the way we consume financial services.

We can expect the same for healthcare, where it is easy to detect similar issues. Technology-driven companies, especially those in health and wellness, will have some answers to the problems we are facing globally right now. They will hopefully create a new precedent in which doctors and their patients collaborate, assisted by data and connected by trust in the shared effort that is public health. At the same time, they will automate admin tasks, free up resources and help enhance medical value chains from better diagnosis to improved treatment.

Not to forget, technology is in a prime position to use data-driven approaches in re-shaping our behaviour towards healthier and ultimately more rewarding alternatives. The new trillion-dollar opportunity for tech is no longer to give us perpetual instant gratification, but to help us look after ourselves in the long run and be the best we can be today, tomorrow and thereafter.

There are many takeaways awaiting us right now (pun very intended.) It is time for a wholesome and considered approach to enter the way governments, organisations and people like you and I solve seemingly unsurmountable challenges.

Also Read: Leadership through a pandemic: A heartfelt note from one entrepreneur to another

Our globalised world in the 2020s is too complex to legitimate myopic problem-solving approaches. Issues such as COVID-19 are deeply interconnected with the overall health of our system, exposing the need to understand the bigger picture and overall implications as an interconnected maze. Having the courage to unbox big problems (and our thinking to address them) will give us a fighting chance at transforming our planet into a healthier home for humanity.

However tempting it may be to jump at short-term fixes, stopping there would be dangerous. If we are to return to normal anytime soon and prevent such in time to come, it is in our hands to be the change we ought to see, globally.

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Unlike the previous generations, today’s students –those who are in K-12 education, colleges and universities– were born and brought up in a digital world. A world that fully embraced the advantages of digital platforms, tools, and the hyper-connectivity that these allow.

In response, schools and colleges are expected to facilitate learning, collaboration, and communication using platforms and devices that are familiar for students. Not only is this more convenient for students and teachers.

It also greatly improves the learning experiences, makes education more accessible, and has a positive impact on the futures of students outside the education environment.

Why education providers have been slow to embrace a digital future?

Unlike other sectors, education can be slow at embracing change and innovation. One reason for this is the source of funding. Governments provide the bulk of funding at many levels of the education sector, so securing funds for digital projects wasn’t always a priority for a number of years.

Governments own experiences with massive IT projects are one reason for this. IT and digital projects in the 1990s and early 2000s weren’t always successful. Often, a massive budget and timescale overruns set back digital innovation in the government sector, with knock-on effects in education and other sectors reliant on government funding for large-scale projects.

Also Read: 1 tech, 4 ways: How blockchain disrupts the education sector

In Europe in particular, the impact of the global recession created over long-term budgetary pressures in the education sector. In the UK and other European countries, governments out of necessity implemented austerity programmes.

In practice, this meant that schools and universities couldn’t have the money needed to implement digital transformation and other IT projects that they needed to enhance the student experience and learning outcomes.

Schools are still struggling, even today, to balance budgets. Although in many countries, money has gradually been found over the years to provide tablets in classrooms, smart whiteboards, and communication platforms for keeping parents and students informed about what is going on in schools.

Yet in other areas, school leaders are still struggling to provide everything that students need to learn and thrive, including stationary and even essentials, such as the salary for cleaners. Hence the difficulty schools have to find more money for digital technology projects and creating a positive environment that would improve the teaching of science and technology subjects.

In colleges and universities, educators have larger budgets, but the willpower and desire to make changes weren’t always as strong It took time for the business case to make sense. It took time for the right people to understand the value of digital systems in higher education.

It also took time for those systems to become sufficiently popular and in-demand before higher education providers started to embrace digital technology en-masse.

Also Read: Netflix partners with Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture to boost local film industry

Benefits of embracing digital transformation

Students now expect digital platforms and tools.

Not only do students at colleges and universities get to know one another before arriving on campus through social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat); they also collaborate on course and lecture notes using tools such as Google Docs. Joint projects can now be managed within project management tools, such as Basecamp and using email and messenger platforms.

Students have found ways to make their own education easier and more effective using digital tools that universities don’t need to provide.

As effective as these grass-roots innovations are, educators need a way of maintaining centralised control and keeping in contact with students. Custom-built and off-the-shelf education management systems are a great way to give students access to course materials, provide feedback to essays, upload lecture notes, and reading lists, and even give them videos of lectures for those who can’t attend.

It also proves a quicker and more effective way to communicate with students than physical noticeboards, news pigeon holes, and email.

Convenience aside, this is what employers expect and need.

The wider economic impact of education: providing students with the knowledge and most importantly, digital skills that make them ready for the world of work, is one of the main reasons for education providers embracing a digital future today.

Also Read: Edutech in SEA is still “far behind compared to North America” – but there is some hope

Employers expect and need graduates with the skills and experience with digital environments, tools, platforms, ways of sourcing information, collaborating, and managing project. In some sectors, such as IT, employers need more intensive sector-specific skills too, such as knowledge and experience writing code and solving technical challenges.

As Renee Patton, Director of US public sector education at Cisco says: “Effective digital transformation must be continual and evolutionary in order to enhance teaching and learning, support business processes and improve efficiency. It also necessitates collaborative working; vision and leadership; culture; process and methodology.”

Embracing digital transformation is the way forward for educators, schools, colleges, students, and society as a whole when students graduate.

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Register for our next webinar: How to future proof your supply chain

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Tech-enabled MICE (Meeting, Invention, Convention, Exhibition) and event industry is one of the worse-affected sectors, after travel, by the COVID-19 outbreak.

In Instagram, for example, a campaign #SaveEvents is widely circulating with people in the industry urging clients not to cancel events but to postpone to pull the industry back from a total collapse.

The MICE industry in the Asia Pacific showed a steep decline, as revealed in the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)’s Research Division data that has recorded that out of 44 meetings, 34 meetings in APAC were postponed for 2020.

With the event industry being forced to rethink its strategies while social gathering is still impossible, we can use the downtime to learn about these three event-focussed startups that present the tech side of the industry and staying afloat in this time.

Jublia (Singapore)

Jublia is a virtual events platform based in Singapore that facilitates matchmaking on the spot during an event.

According to the company, Jublia specialises in matching people and content to create a successful business matching and effective content discovery at events. Jublia does this through a data-driven approach built on the foundation of a recommendations platform and calls it smart matchmaking.

Also Read: Thailand event startup Event Pop raises Series A from duo of corporate venture arms

Jublia offers services such as Match 360°, which is a matchmaking platform with an end-to-end business matching process and intelligence built around the full process cycle. It seeks to help establish relevant matches, resulting in targeted meetings that ensure audience satisfaction at events.

Jublia also has an app that is designed to act as a co-pilot to any event attendee’s journey, with features purposefully built for a content experience and content discovery.

Jublia claimed that it is the first end-to-end business matching technology with personalised service and data-driven insights.

VenueE (Thailand)

VenueE is an online marketplace to discover places and service providers for organising events in Thailand.

Last year, the company made news after it invested and strategically partnered with Event Pop, in a move that it said to be its entry into the MICE industry market, as reported by Business Today.

Event Pop is a technology and innovation startup for managing all types of events and activities. With the joint venture (JV), the firms wish to promote the ability to “develop innovations that respond to market needs more quickly and to answer bigger opportunities in the MICE industry, especially in the meetings industry”.

The JV seeks to increase the supply chain by completing services from preparation up to internal management, marketing, and ROI management through joint technology between VenueE and Event Pop.

Peerapat Jitsakdanon, CEO and co-founder of VenueE, said that in the supply chain, there is still a lack of components to support continued growth. “It shows that the business still has problems, especially when it comes to accessing data sources and the difficulty in finding information,” Jitsakdanon added.

Event venue including services, such as food, beverages, or equipment rentals, in general, are still scattered due to customers’ preferences in choosing providers by suggestion or word-of-mouth.

VenueE also provides online marketing services to help customers or business groups to get access to information sources and book services.

Delegate (Singapore)

Singapore-based Delegate brands itself as a free online marketplace where people can discover and book everything needed for events. The vendors displayed on the platform are curated by the Delegate team, as reviewed in Vulcan Post.

Also Read: From Kopi to a cool mil: Event marketplace Delegate raises US$1 million

The Delegate platforms allow visitors to discover and compare event planners, caterers, entertainment choices.

It was co-founded by former colleagues Jacqueline Ye and Melissa Lou, who came to realise how inefficient the sector is. They then look for ways to automate the time-consuming task of event planning.

Delegate is currently operating in Singapore and Hong Kong.

These three startups are representatives of what potential the tech-enabled events hold for the future. In the current situation, one can only hope that the industry can find an innovation that would sustain them at a time when movements and gatherings are restricted.

The ability to survive and come out stronger remains a question, but in the meantime, let’s do our part to #SaveEvents.

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e27 aims to support the startup ecosystem in this challenging time by compiling list of discounts and offerings offered by companies to help support the ecosystem. To view the list, click here.Have an offering/discount for the community? Fill up this form.

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Earlier this year, the Singapore government announced an S$300 million (US$215 million) worth of additional support for the country’s deep tech startup ecosystem.

The support has received the warm welcome of the local deep tech startup ecosystem, which also includes venture capital firm Cap Vista.

Founded in 2003, Cap Vista is a corporate VC fund that is working under the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), a statutory board under the Ministry of Defence of the Singapore Government. The agency’s responsibility is to acquire new technology to be used by the Singapore Ministry of Defence and the Singapore Armed Forces.

Focussing on early stage deep tech startups, Cap Vista invests in Singapore-based companies or foreign companies which aim to set up base in Singapore.

CEO Zhen Hao Chng explains to e27 that the firm keeps watch of the latest tech innovation in the market –and how it can help safeguard the nation.

“We want to … bring in these startups’ tech innovation because we are aware that there is a lot of money being pumped into the sector. We can bring in [these technologies] to help accelerate our own indigenous development,” he continues.

In this interview with e27, Chng reveals what sets the firm apart, particularly in how it is working with startups.

Also Read: Develop new solutions and technologies with Panasonic Deep Tech Innovation Challenge

A CVC on a mission

As a CVC backed by a government agency that is dealing with the matter of defence and security, Cap Vista can offer more than just funding to its portfolio companies.

“We can bring you the defence use case, contracts, and revenue, and if you want to scale this way, we can also help link you up with all the government agencies,” Chng says.

“Although we are a VC, the VC is simply a mean to an end. We are not here to make money like a typical fund though the companies must be profitable and generate revenue. We are here to get the technology to put to use in the ministry, armed forces, or the government agencies that we work with,” he continues.

This is why Cap Vista focusses on the deep tech sector, which is known to dive into innovation that takes longer to research and develop.

For the startups themselves, the proposition that Cap Vista offer can be beneficial especially when considering the nature –and challenge– of deep tech investment.

Chng points out that there remains a gap between the development of the tech itself and its commercialisation. Apart from that, investors tend to aim for quicker returns and are wary of the level of complexity that these tech innovations can bring.

“Everyone is waiting for someone to initiate [investing in a new company],” he points out. “So we want to be the one who is leading this investment into deep tech.”

Also Read: Breaking the glass ceiling: These 6 women are making their marks in deep tech field

One of the solutions to this matter was having a team of partners with a strong background in engineering.

“I myself was an engineer and have been working at DSTA for the past decade,” Chng says.

“We can properly see if this were a legitimate technology or not; not just some person drawing some graphs and claiming what it can do. We can also evaluate the risk associated with it, validate it, and make sure that it can grow,” he elaborates.

Another problem faced by deep tech startup community is related to the matter of communications.

“Unless they have gone through some more rigorous programmes, most people often struggle to understand when deep tech startup founders are presenting their ideas. [These founders] sometimes need help in articulating their ideas and understanding the commercial sector,” Chng notes.

Moving forward

Some of Cap Vista’s portfolio companies include space tech startup Aliena and Artificial Intelligence (AI) company Seventh Sense.

Also Read: An exploration of deep tech with SLINGSHOT 2019

As part of its effort to support the deep tech ecosystem, the firm had recently teamed up with Singapore Space Tech Limited (SSTL) to launch Project Cyclotron, a space tech accelerator programme.

“The intention is to educate and to help the startups in marketing and building their business plan. That way, they can focus more on building their technology,” Chng says.

In the near future, Cap Vista is looking forward to focus on bringing more investors to the programme. It also aims to expand the programme overseas.

“It has a very bottom-up approach in building it,” Chng closes.

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In light of the challenging times brought about by COVID-19, accelerator bodies such as Taiwan’s StarFab have been advancing its corporate innovation efforts in the biomedical facet.

Heeding this call are startups under StarFab’s Taiwan AI x Robotics Accelerator (TAIRA), an accelerator programme that seeks to support startups through early engagement with potential enterprise clients, access to funding, and a strong network of mentors.

To this end, Sidsco and Leadgene Biomedical from the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) recently reported good news on the disease prevention front. They have devoted their resources since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to focus on SARS-CoV-2 viral infection screening platforms based on pseudoviruses. They have also been working together to develop a platform for screening SARS-CoV-2 viral infection in vitro (cells based) and in vivo (animal based).

The approach of these two biomedical companies is unique because while most teams focus on diagnostics and testing, Sidsco and Leadgene Biomedical leverage existing development technologies and experiences.

The platform can reportedly help medical personnel evaluate the antiviral effect of the neutralising antibodies, small molecules and natural extracts as well as confirm the effectiveness of decontamination products.

Testing has already been completed for the platform and it was found that SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus only can infect the ACE2 highly expression cells. ACE2 is an important protein in SARS-CoV-2 infection and it is the key as to why the virus is able to combine with the ACE2 receptors in the human body and how the virus enters the human body to cause a severe pneumonia with novel pathogens.

As pseudoviruses cannot be replicated in the cell, the experiment can be conducted safely in labs.

This technology is expected to accelerate the research process for future drug and neutralising antibody developments. Both Sidsco and Leadgene Biomedical stated that they looked forward to high-quality service that would allow R&D personnel to take advantage of the screening platform and carry on their work. The two companies also believe this is the biggest contribution that the biomedical industry can make during this difficult time when COVID-19 is ravaging globally.

Pressing on with corporate innovation under the new normal

StarFab COO Jack Hsu stated that TAIRA’s priority was to leverage the domain of Southern Taiwan Science Park to encourage innovation. Through the open innovation platform, the company determines to integrate the advantages of hard and soft powers of southern Taiwan.

In the fight against COVID-19, TAIRA’s startups have delivered impressive performances, from individual location tracking services for quarantine, innovative vending machines, to collaboration with LCY Chemical Corp to put forward delivery machines of disinfectants, and much more.

The startup teams of Southern Taiwan Science Park and TAIRA continue to prove their strength and potential. The collaboration between Sidsco and Leadgene Biomedical is further proof of the close relationships that companies are able to build in the biomedical cluster at Southern Taiwan Science Park.

Speaking for Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau, its deputy director Cheng Hsiu-Jung credited the park’s success to StarFab in terms of delivering new services as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed. The StarFab Accelerator continued to introduce outstanding startup teams to major corporations in the Park for collaborations over the course of their partnership. The partnerships and continuous efforts showcase Taiwan’s high standards of public health and biotechnology, as disease prevention continues to become more pressing around the world.

This will allow Taiwan’s biomedical startups to shine on the global stage and stand at the international frontlines of disease prevention to help win the war against COVID-19.

About Sidsco and Leadgene Biomedical

Sidsco was founded in 2018 and was selected in 2019 for TAIRA (Taiwan AI Robotics Accelerator). Through TAIRA, Sidsco successfully established themselves in the Southern Taiwan Science Park, becoming a part of the park’s scientific community. Sidsco built a 98m2 testing site and animal facility in the Kaohsiung Park in accordance with national standards. Their primary business is offering preclinical trials, e.g., molecular cell biology, animal models for diseases, pathology analysis, etc. 

Founded in 2013, Leadgene Biomedical is a professional provider of protein and antibody platforms and has already established a GMP/ISO13485 certified factory in Yongkang, Tainan. Their technologies can be applied to initial development stages of in vitro diagnostic reagents and drugs. In recent years, Leadgene Biomedical has supported many of its partners to introduce many clinical and preclinical in vitro diagnostic reagents and drugs to the market.

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