As the issues the world is facing — and the innovation and technology required to address them — get more and more complex, the key may be in turning to tried and tested methods that drive, sustain, and accelerate innovation: research. Specifically, the process and power of scientific research that applies systematic methods to analyse and interpret data to come up with conclusions and solutions.

Solving complex problems often requires coming up with solutions made up of equally complex parts, research allows for us to take into account solutions coming from different sources and various disciplines. With this more holistic approach, we can cast our eye beyond the immediate future and see what the world would look like a century from now.

The Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference Singapore 2022 (HIC Singapore 2022) aims to address issues faced by Singapore and its neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia. It seeks to envision a future beyond achieving a mature economy, centred around the theme of “What will Home Sapiens be in 100 years.”

The world beyond mature economies

HIC Singapore 2022 looks into a future beyond achieving mature economies and aims to accelerate “knowledge manufacturing” across disciplines. to come up with project designs that could potentially solve deep issues in Southeast Asia and the world. The goal is to create new value and jumpstart innovation across various sectors through the power of scientific research.

The programme is premised on defining what that future will be by discussing three key topics: diving into growth beyond mature economies, designing the future of food, and exploring the merits of Singapore being a global testbed for healthtech development.

Also read: 10 digital disruptors from the Asia Pacific compete in “Fast Forward with HPE”!

The first session on “the future of a mature economy” explores the challenges and issues of a mature economy and discusses what needs to be addressed to move forward. It features panellists from various sectors as they navigate their roles and capabilities in designing that future.

From global industry leader OMRON, we get a hint of how vision-driven companies can successfully grow and maintain businesses, backed by years of experienced global company growth. With research and innovation institute EcoLab, we explore how accelerating the implementation of deep tech as a service can bring effective solutions to society’s issues. And from Latheacond Technologies, we garner insights on how they are trying to innovate the business of one of the most massive, far-reaching, and oldest industries — supply chain with the help of scientific advancement.

Thriving for a century and more

When we talk about the future, we are talking about survival. And for humans, there are two major factors to survival: food and healthcare.

Food insecurity is a global problem and something that should be addressed if we want to move forward and survive as a species. The second session on defining the food culture will take a look at the current challenges we are facing in our food systems from production, distribution, and management.

Moreover, we will take a look at what food looks like in the future. What could potentially be the trends when it comes to nutrition? What are the expectations from various sectors when it comes to designing food and the systems that produce and distribute them?

The third session on healthcare specifically takes a look at Singapore as a global testbed for healthcare innovation. With a diverse population made up of a wide range of ages and races, Singapore also requires a wide range of healthcare technology that innovators can use as a springboard for their new healthcare technology.

Also read: Australian fintech takes global No. 6 spot

The session features a panel of experts from different sectors to discuss the various opportunities to collaborate on creating new businesses based on innovative new healthcare technologies not just in Singapore but beyond.

Apart from the panel, this session also includes TECH SPLASH, a fast-paced presentation from three startups/researchers to showcase the technologies they have developed, The aim of TECH SPLASH is to provide an avenue for research ideas and collaborations to happen between the presenters and viewers in an intensified atmosphere.

The fourth session will take a look at how the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics can be a sustainable solution for non-food packaging in Singapore. With a panel featuring leading experts on recycling and sustainability from multinational corporations and the government, this session will explore successful case studies and discuss the key role of responsible plastic use and recycling to create a circular economy.

Designing solutions for a better future

Interdisciplinary collaborations can be the key to solving many of the world’s complex issues. By gathering together stakeholders from academia, corporates, tech startup ecosystem, and government, the HIC Singapore 2022 is facilitating an environment that allows innovators from various disciplines to gain fresh ideas, begin collaborations, and come up with new solutions they otherwise would not have had they been siloed in their own sectors.

Also read: Meet the 26 innovators pitching on JETRO x Techstars pitch day

Through the panel sessions and startups showcases, discover how the world would look like 100 years from now, learn about solutions being developed to the challenges we are facing, and explore opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations.

Join the virtual conference on 26 February 2022 and be part of a community designing solutions for a better future. The HIC Singapore 2022 is free to join for students, academia, and startups.

Sign up here.

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Image credit: alphaspirit

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Leave a Nest

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majoo, an integrated SaaS business solution platform for Indonesia’s MSMEs, has raised an additional US$5 million in its pre-Series A round.

AC Ventures and Quona Capital co-led this round, with BRI Ventures and Jakarta-based fintech unicorn Xendit participating.

This round brings the total funding raised in this round to approximately US$9 million. majoo will use the funds to ramp up its product development, which includes the integration of its instant online store and marketplace.

The startup will also strengthen its market penetration and expand the team. 

Also read: The 27 Indonesian startups that have taken the ecosystem to next level in 2021

majoo was established in 2019 by former LinkAja commercial head Adi Wahyu Rahadi, former PT Sentra Inti Nusa Energi director Audia Rizal Harahap, and its current VP Engineering Bayu Indriarko.

Started as a Point of Sales (POS) solution for MSMEs, the company later expanded to provide an end-to-end SaaS solution involving employee management, POS, and inventory management throughout the Indonesian microentrepreneurs selling process.

The Jakarta-headquartered company has a tech team in Malang, supporting teams in 60 cities and sales representatives in more than 100 cities.

Since its launch, majoo claims to have acquired over 25,000 active merchants with 12-month retention and 250 per cent growth during this pandemic.

So far, majoo stated that it has processed over 100 million transactions worth US$600 million for MSMEs in more than 600 cities in Indonesia across a diverse range of businesses from F&B to laundromats and convenience stores. 

Last October, majoo secured US$4 million in pre-Series A funding led by AC Ventures with participation from BRI Ventures and Xendit.

As per Indonesian Ministry of Cooperatives & SMEs data, Indonesia has over 63 million MSMEs, accounting for around 99 per cent of all businesses in the archipelago. Meanwhile, the rate of digitalisation for the country’s MSMEs was only 13 per cent in 2019, with internet connectivity remaining an issue, as stated in UOB ASEAN Transformation Study.

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Image credit: majoo

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Manatal raises US$5.1M from Sequoia Surge, angels

Thailand-based end-to-end recruitment and onboarding SaaS platform Manatal today announced the closing of its US$5.1 million seed funding round from Sequoia Surge and angel investors.

The startup will use the fresh funds to enhance its product offering and AI recommendation engine in the coming months.

Manatal was founded in January 2019 by Jeremy Fichet (French) and Yassine Bel Mamoun (Moroccan) in Bangkok. It helps recruiters leverage the latest technologies to streamline the entire recruitment flow from the sourcing to the onboarding.

Also Read: Meet the 5 Southeast Asian startups graduating from Sequoia Surge’s sixth cohort

The firm also supports companies in improving internal and external communication,enrichg their recruitment data sets, track KPIs, and provideg AI-powered recommendations. With Manatal, SMEs around the globe can combat challenges around talent recruitment and reach their hiring goals in a more affordable way than offered by the various enterprise recruitment solutions in the market.

Thousands of SMEs, tech companies and startups have joined Manatal. It has now expanded its customer base to 130 countries without a sales team, helping companies hire close to 100,000 candidates.

Medici raises pre-Series A led by Wavemaker, Jungle Ventures

Medici, a one-stop healthcare and insurance platform in Vietnam, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round co-led by Wavemaker Partners and Jungle Ventures.

Existing investor Insignia Ventures Partners also co-invested.

The company will use the fresh funds to scale up its insurtech footprint, expand its healthcare offering, and hire across different roles in the organisation.

Founded in 2019, Medici builds a digital-first, holistic healthcare ecosystem enabling affordable access for the Vietnamese masses to best-in-class doctors, healthcare products, and insurance. Its ecosystem includes telemedicine services connecting users to their curated network of in-house and partner doctors, clinics, and hospitals, an online marketplace for supplements powered by partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, and a network of leading companies in Vietnam distributing their services to their employees.

Also Read: Medici gets seed funding to foray into insurance in Vietnam

In 2021, Medici ventured into the insurance space after acquiring an insurance broker license from the Ministry of Finance. This has enabled the firm to offer affordable policies based on the health data from its ecosystem, which has millions of users across more than 30 provinces in Vietnam.

Vu Ba Tuyen, ex-Deputy CEO of Hanwha Life, with more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, has been appointed as the Deputy CEO of Medici in charge of Medici’s insurance business.

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Picking up where we left off in part 1, while the upskilling and infrastructure building in a short time to leverage innovative technology or trend are important, it is also true that a few of them would be hype and therefore burst like a bubble.

Hence it is equally important to monitor and figure out the trends and bet on the technologies that have future potential.

A survey done by the World Economic Forum (WEF) lists the following jobs as likely to see a growing demand:

• Data analysts, scientists, big data specialists
• AI, ML, IoT specialists
• Digital marketing and strategy, digital transformation specialists
• Process automation specialists
• Business development professionals
• Information security and forensic analysts
• Mechatronics and new product development specialists
• Software and applications developers
• Project managers
• Database and network professionals
• Robotics engineers
• Strategic advisors and risk management specialists
• Management and organisation analysts
• Fintech engineers
• Mechanics and machinery repairers

Meanwhile, the demand for the following skillsets is going to decrease:

• Data entry clerks
• Administrative and executive secretaries
• Accounting and bookkeeping clerks
• Accountants and auditors
• Assembly and factory workers
• Client information and customer service workers
• Material recording and stock keeping clerks
• Financial analysts
• Sale representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technology and scientific products
• Relationship managers
• Bank tellers and postal services clerks
• Door-to-door sales, news and street vendors
• Electronics and telecoms installers and repairers
• Construction labourers

The new skill sets and related jobs would not be confined to large organisations but will be required across industries including farming. The farming industry is undergoing major transformations with the deployment of IoT and other technologies.

Also Read: Why cross-skilling is critical for jobs of the future – Part 1

The above should give an idea of what skills individuals need to pursue. It is equally imperative for the skill development agencies, for instance, to get ready for more courses around developing data analysts rather than data entry operators.

In a sense, the evolving situation and availability of manpower skilled for innovation-economy will also compel the SMEs to accelerate their digitalisation drive, thus climbing up the value chain and overall improving the industrial competitiveness of the country.

According to some of the surveys, contract jobs are going to be on the rise, as organisations will increasingly operate on project mode and would rather outsource specialised and specific tasks or jobs instead of creating or retaining a large pool of employees.

The uncertainty caused by the pandemic as well as the work-personal life balance, life experiences and the freedom demanded by today’s millennials to live their dreams, is set to accelerate this trend.

Whether you are a contractor or an individual entrepreneur, you need to do the prospecting for work that matches your skill, manage your workload, undertake monthly billing, manage your own finances and taxes, manage relationships with your client, reskill yourself, and more.

This would bring in a renewed focus on the individuals to hone their soft and hard skills continuously and transform themselves into an enterprise by themselves.

Summary

To address the challenges faced by the industry and job market today, societies are pursuing a holistic approach, creating active linkages and coordination between education providers, requisite skills, workers, and employers; ensuring effective collaboration between employment agencies, as well as involving regional and federal governments in helping their citizens.

Also Read: Workers are switching jobs now more than ever. Why upskilling matters most post-pandemic

The importance of skill training institutions cannot be emphasised more. The skill trainers have to be at the avant-garde, looking for the trends, skilling themselves and offering upskilling and cross-skilling courses in the most convenient and cost-effective manner. The speed of adoption and the quality are going to dictate how societies are going to thrive in the future.

Algorithms and machines will be primarily focused on the information and data processing and retrieval tasks, administrative tasks and some aspects of traditional repetitive manual labour. The tasks where humans are expected to retain their comparative advantage include managing, advising, decision-making, reasoning, communicating, and interacting.

Per different surveys carried out recently, data analytics, IoT, high performance and cloud computing, process automation, robotics, Fintech, cybersecurity, mobile and software apps, large machinery, cyber-physical systems, mergers & acquisitions (M&A), networking, 3D/4D printing and the likes are set to boom.

Curiosity, understanding the inherent strengths, soft skills, technical skills, adaptability would be desirable qualities in an individual.

Entrepreneurship and contract jobs are going to be encouraged, leading to humans being an enterprise by themselves.

Learning is a lifelong process.  Individuals need to be adaptable to change and the early movers are going to reap more benefits compared to laggards.

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Singapore-headquartered early-stage VC firm Altara Ventures today announced the final close of its first fund oversubscribed at US$130 million.

The initial target was US$100 million.

Investors include institutional funds, sovereign wealth funds, financial services institutions, publicly listed corporations and prominent family offices.

Altara Ventures is focused on early-stage investments in high-growth tech startups, including fintech, consumer, enterprise software, logistics, healthtech and edutech. The VC firm is led by five General Partners, namely Koh Boon Hwee, Tan Chow Boon, Seow Kiat Wang, Gavin Teo and Dave Ng.

Altara has made seven investments to date, including Tonik (the Philippines), Stashfin (Singapore), Sampingan (Indonesia), Clevai (Vietnam), PolicyStreet (Malaysia), and Senseye and FreeAgent CRM (both in the US). On Wednesday, Tonik announced the completion of its US$131 million Series B equity funding round.

Also Read: Koh Boon Hwee-backed US$100M+ VC fund Altara Ventures to invest in 20-25 firms in SEA

It will continue to actively deploy capital into Series A- and B-stage investments in fintech, consumer, enterprise software, logistics, healthcare and education technology.

The firm expects 2022 to be an exciting year ahead; it is already in the process of leading and closing another three new investments in Q1.

Altara Ventures was launched in September 2020. On the sidelines of the launch, General Partner Dave Ng told e27 said that it planned to support a total of 20-25 companies operating primarily in the Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines markets.

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