Have you recently visited a local automobile workshop to service your car?

Chances are that you may have recently discovered that your friendly local technician now proposes to repair a faulty component, instead of just replacing it with a brand-new OEM part.

Fixing as the only option

In the past decade before the emergence of China as the world’s factory, fixing was the only option available for budget-conscious consumers. Fixing itself is a time-consuming process that requires specific skill sets not available to the less-experienced labour.

These specialists in repair work tend to take the form of senior technicians who have dedicated their whole life to particular machinery and have well adapted to its demanding and uncompromising nature.

The years spent tinkering and troubleshooting with the same type of machinery are just part of the pure devotion given towards a fix. In short, it takes a whole lot of patience to achieve such mastery.

Besides that, machinery used in the past was most likely imported from the UK or US and was long-lasting, durable and obviously more reliable. One could imagine the cost of importing a new part from the UK or US back then, along with the host of communication challenges and extensive non-digital paperwork needed to clear the customs.

Hence, the pricing was kept high as the quality of parts was of a higher grade. Just imagine if a product part manufacturer based in the UK had to factor in returns for faulty goods back in the 80s to Singapore? It surely would take a long time and a whole lot of money just to get these parts replaced under warranty.

Many senior citizens in the present age may well understand the cost implications in the past and perhaps this is why they may tend to always consider repairing something when it breaks down rather than replacing it.

However, the younger generation may assume that such emotions are all pure sentimental or to a certain extent suggest that they are having a borderline hoarder mentality especially when the older generation clings on to broken down machines despite having a new replacement unit at home.

The assumptions based on my research point to their past experiences in purchasing behaviour and after-sales challenges which tend to give them this different approach towards fixes if compared to the current generation.

Also Read: Asia-led global supply chain needs to reinvent itself to address climate change

Even my own parents had just in the past week requested to repair our 10-year-old branded washing machine at home without even knowing that the cost to replace it with a new lesser-known brand was just about the same.

The rise of the world’s factory

Since the dawn of the new millennium, a cheap brand-new OEM part from China has become the best plug-and-play solution that supposedly “fixes” the issue at hand at a relatively affordable pricing point.

Even technicians during the peak of the just-replace-it era when consulted would rather nod their heads in agreement to convince you that you would be better off by just replacing a broken part rather than fixing it.

The winning argument, such parts do come with their own limited warranty which extends your peace of mind, and labour costs for installation would be lesser. Furthermore, such parts were relatively cheap, reliable for a minimum of one to two years and were available instantly due to the proximity of China.

So yes, when your local automobile technician suddenly proposes a fix rather than a replacement, this is a sign of changing times. The reality we are facing as we enter a new norm is that global procurement and also shipping lines are greatly affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Such extreme lockdown measures are taken by the world’s factory severely impacts supply chains, causing long delays in the sourcing of new parts and shipping them to your local automobile workshop.

Furthermore, the rise of labour costs in China has also impacted the prices of goods sold which no longer provides the benefit of being cheaper. With such a dilemma in hand, the new breed of technicians is now forced to learn again how to fix things and undertake repair work, thus ditching their just-replace-it mindset, perhaps temporarily until the situation improves.

Embracing the circular economy

The silver lining in the cloud, actual repair work and the awareness of preventive maintenance are on the rise again. The significance of this is that eventually, it will reduce consumption and unnecessary wastage of resources.

The world would see a huge drop in waste production and unnecessary industrial pollution with the reduction in the manufacturing of these cheap OEM goods. The recycling industry would also potentially see lesser volume over time.

Also Read: Base.vn founder’s new SaaS startup True Platform attracts US$3.5M seed funding

In line with the adoption of a new circular economy model being embraced by our current generation, perhaps this shift could mark a new era with the reopening of workshops dedicated to repairing work including consumer electronics, automobiles, fashion ware and even furniture repairs (IKEA 2.0).

No more cheap consumer goods with inferior parts, perhaps signalling the end of fast fashion. Cars that were once meant to last a decade (or a lifetime) would possibly also return back to showrooms. You can read more about the TESLA million-mile battery here.

Increase in higher quality products

By moving away from this just-replace-it mentality, I believe that consumers would demand better quality products in future while corporations are also forced to reduce their huge margins by providing more value in the products sold, but at the same price.

Ideally, businesses that once thrived with brand loyalty by selling overpriced but subpar goods should certainly take the cue in increasing their quality of goods. This includes the replacements for single-use plastics.

As an advocate of fixing and tinkering with machinery since my early childhood and my devotion towards engineering maintenance over the past decade, I gathered some preliminary research on the industry before embarking on launching Rezpon.com as a tool that promotes faster response to maintenance issues.

My endeavours partly stemmed out of curiosity to understand more about cost-cutting measures taken by industries and facility managers in adopting a new preventive maintenance strategy.

This change in approach to prioritise preventive maintenance will ultimately reduce unscheduled breakdowns, predict system malfunction and prevent system outages beforehand to ensure zero downtime in operations.

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Blockchain has a diversity problem, globally. Women are significantly under-represented in the industry, with few females holding key roles, especially in Asia.

To take this problem head-on, a group of multi-talented individuals with experience in blockchain, fintech, design, banking, and market development came together and launched a non-profit.

Titled Women In Blockchain Asia (WIBA), the Kuala Lumpur-based organisation is led by Ida Mok (President), Poesy Liang (VP), Jasmine Ng, Surina Shukri (former MDEC CEO), Farah Jaafar, Ivy Fung, Chezka Gonzales, Belinda Lim, and George Wong.

Also Read: The 27 Web3 startups in Singapore that show crypto is more than Terra Luna and stablecoins

The WIBA aims to open a new chapter in the development and participation of women in digital technology, with a specific focus on blockchain development, curation of Web3 solutions, and expanding the understanding of distributed ledger technology.

e27 spoke to Jasmine Ng, Co-Founder of the WIBA, Founder of Wahine Capital and the former CRO of iPay88.

Edited Excerpts:

What was the motivation to launch the WIBA? What are the key objectives of the organisation?

There is a “conscious lack” of Asian female talent in the space. We believe there is a lot of misconception about the industry amongst women.

Our vision is to be part of the movement that creates an inclusive new economy with women in Asia as leaders in the blockchain industry and a force for change and social good.

The objective is to raise a generation of Asian female leaders, builders, thought leaders and decision-makers in the space, focusing on talent, skills, education, resource and support. We initiate and deploy this through three pillars — projects, education and skills applications.

Blockchain has a diversity problem and is painfully homogenous. According to a global Quartz survey, of the 378 VCs-backed cryptocurrency startups founded between 2012 and 2018, only 8.5 per cent had a female founder or co-founder. Why so?

Women in technology are already highly under-represented, and the situation is worse in blockchain. We believe this is because women feel the subject matter is too geeky and technical for them.

Many women hold a view that it is a prerequisite to know coding and programming — at the minimum, to be able to script and blog. This misconception is entirely inaccurate and untrue, and we aim to correct and reset it.

Studies show women are more risk-averse than men in behavioural science studies. Is it also a reason for this lack of diversity?

It is a fact that women are generally cautious, which is actually our strength which should be translated and transferred to the blockchain space. The space is so wild west and scammy partly because people are not thinking logically and using proper thought processes in assessing investments.

Do men also play a role in keeping women away from blockchain?

Some men do, but not all.

Indeed, a growing majority of people now realise that diversity and inclusion are a must. At Women In Blockchain Asia, we believe in this, which is why male-allyship is welcomed. The Women in Blockchain Asia has men participating in the founding team. So, while some men may still be misogynistic in their approach, the progressive ones are creating a more inclusive and safe space for greater adoption and acceptance of the technology.

What are the different initiatives taken by WIBA to inspire and encourage more women to come out and embrace blockchain?

1) Enabling through projects: initiating and collaborating on blockchain-related projects where women can participate and work on under the Women In Blockchain Asia.

Also Read: ‘I have seen the future, and it works.’ But is it Web3?

2) Educate: partnering with protocols starting with Algorand and local universities to teach smart contract coding to raise a generation of competent developers in Asia and, from there, build and raise a generation of female developers and coders in the blockchain. Through all these activities, encourage more women thought leaders in the space.

3) Enable with skills application: partnering with blockchain protocol providers and solutions and services through an internship, mentoring and support within the industry.

What is the situation outside of Asia, particularly the west? Does it also have a diversity problem?

It is better in comparison, but the struggle is still the same. Recognition and opportunities are not readily available. Women still need to fight for it. Investing in women is still low, yet adoption of the crypto element is rising amongst female participants.

Who are WIBA’s key partner organisations? What are the roles of the Algorand Foundation and others here?

We partner with protocols, universities, enterprises, VCs, blockchain projects and more to create the community and ecosystem around encouraging women’s participation in the blockchain industry.

We have been very fortunate to have universities ready to explore a training partnership with the Women In Blockchain Asia for more diversity in their students’ learning experiences. One of our early partners, the Algorand Foundation, already runs a programme suited for quick deployment and applicability. It fulfils the second and third pillars that we spoke of earlier.

We will start our Educate pillar initiatives with the deployment of this programme that increases the students’ hire-ability rate.

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The Taiwan-based Asia Pacific Telecom 5G (APT 5G) Accelerator programme expands towards an international outlook in 2022. APT believes that mutual promotion and international exchanges have long overtaken network competition. In line with this, cross-industry connections and collaborations are vital to creating innovations in industries. The APT 5G Challenge will allow startups from across the globe to observe each other and broaden their network. The programme aims to ultimately create new opportunities for 5G through innovative business models and business ventures. 

Expanding Tech Innovations in the Asia Pacific

By linking up local startups to international investors—and vice versa—the connections built through the Accelerator programme are expected to build up towards a robust 5G industry in the Asia Pacific region. Among the technologies being looked into this year are Virtual Reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud software, and Big Data, in industries like entertainment, education, and gaming. 

Also read: Sentient.io: Empowering businesses in the region by making AI adoption easy and affordable

All of these technologies are based on 5G innovative application services which move across and challenge traditional knowledge of tech and how it can operate in businesses and in our daily lives. The range of the selected startups will hopefully diversify the tech landscape in the region and introduce new technologies that will generate even more innovation. 

Introducing the startup Participants 

Here are the seven judges for the APT 5G Challenge 2022 — Mark Cheng, APT 5G Startup Project Manager at  APT 5G Accelerator, Melvin Jeffrey C. Chan, VP and Head of Enterprise Innovations and IoT Business Development at PLDT, Bookyung Kim, Associate at KK Fund, Jeremy Soh, Investment Associate at Qualgro VC, Kevin Wu, Chief Operations Officer at NuMiner, Jack Yang, Business Development Director of Greater China at TMY Technology Inc. and Jeff Chuang, Investment Manager at AVA Angels.

On the demo day, May 26, 2022, the following startups will be pitching to these top Telcos and Venture Capitals in the region. 

• Asiania – This startup offers a quick one-stop shop for all event organising-related matters. The platform is able to host events and guide organisers through the process, with a long-term goal of becoming more integrated with digital through VR/AR in the future.
• MyWay Tech – The company offers a number of services to improve business decision-making and system integration. Among these include thermal devices, AI line bot integration, app development, and face recognition technology. Easily customisable, MyWay Tech’s offerings offer seamless integration for users and clients.
• Tenderdigi – Inspired by the use of brainwaves in technology, Tenderdigi’s founders seek to help regulate emotional and psychological troubles in children and adults alike, including children with hyperactivity, and adults having difficulty with sleep.
• Findcompany – T-Leap offers technology that allows telepresence. Even if you’re geographically far from clients or your businesses, stay connected through this technology. Composed of a speaker, microphone, and a 360-degree camera, T-Leap allows users to stay present despite the distance.
• Mishkan Limited – Focusing on handling and managing artists’ image in the digital age, Mishkan provides a data-driven approach that cuts across multiple online platforms. Apart from sentiment analysis and social listening, the company also allows artists or their managers to promote organically overseas through all-in-one campaign management. However, at the moment, this function is still only available to Chinese-speaking regions.

Also read: PikoHANA: Helping Singapore startups scale through fractional finance

• It’s Alive Studio – This CGI studio and IT research team aims to produce diverse and high-quality animated digital humans and clothing. It’s Alive Studio is bridging the gap between reality and the metaverse by introducing realistic AI-generated images in a more cost-effective manner. The startup eyes gaming, advertising and art, and B2C communication among its target markets.
• Fantopy – Established in 2013, Fantopy promotes itself as the only multi-league fantasy game in Southeast Asia, and the first blockchain-powered football fantasy game in the region. The play-to-earn game provides a simple step-by-step overview of how to get started, mainly focusing on Thai and Indonesian Football Leagues at first, but aims to expand to the rest of Southeast Asia later on.
• Quest Edtech – At the heart of Quest Edtech/duPhonics is the concept of providing telenannies for children in the new normal. The startup acknowledges the hectic lives of new normal parents and provides them with some space to both care for their child and themselves through a telenanny. Through its goal of empowering parenthood in Southeast Asia, duPhonics’ goal is to see revenue of USD3 million by 2023.
• Seashore Networks – With IoT expanding at increasing speed, companies need to keep up. Seashore Networks provides a solution through increased connectivity and security in its services. Their software is also easily upgradeable and has a larger coverage area than WiFi. Through this, the company has penetrated the Top 30 spot in the India 5G Hackathon.

To know more information about the APT 5G Challenge 2022, visit the official website here.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by Asia IOA

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The pandemic has shown us how we can clean up the planet. Many climate activists and governmental bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that we must reduce emissions so that global warming is limited to 1.5°C.

But actions to limit warming have fallen short of this goal. However, there is hope. In the first half of 2020, global CO2 emissions actually dropped enough to put us on this path, declining by 17 per cent in April 2020.

Unfortunately, experts are expecting that we will reach pre-pandemic levels of emissions once again, putting us back on the path of three or more degrees of warming.

Here’s one example that awaits us in the post-pandemic world, revenge travel, sparked by the pent-up demand of many to finally board a plane again. With the first lockdowns, air travel dropped by around 40 per cent, preventing 915 million tonnes of carbon from being emitted.

As borders reopen, spending on tourism and quick-fire flight bookings surge as people try to make up for the perceived lost time. Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority is receiving about 6,000 passport applications daily, triple the daily average of 2,000 from just two years ago.

At Amasia, the venture capital firm where I am a partner, we strongly believe that we don’t have to bound back to our old behaviours. There is immense, under-recognised potential for bottom-up behaviour change that will help us fight this climate crisis.

How we got here

Lockdowns due to the pandemic have led to an unprecedented “digital migration” in every aspect of life, work, entertainment, learning, and shopping. When people stayed home and bought less, our seemingly unachievable climate goals were suddenly not so remote.

Also Read: Climate tech is in a chicken-and-egg situation in Southeast Asia

Research supports this seemingly simple observation. But as we proceed into the new normal, how can we ensure that we are not bringing our most destructive habits back from the dead, too?

First, we need to know what spurs these bad habits in the first place.

“Mimetic desire,” or making decisions based on the desires of the people around us, has led to runaway overconsumption and the ravaging of the planet. We want more not because we need more, but rather because we are heavily influenced by our social environment.

This is fuelling an unfulfilling and damaging behavioural cycle of wanting to own, yet being less satisfied while owning more things.

The rise of new digital media and hyper-targeted advertising techniques further reinforce the idea that well-being comes from material wealth and from owning the latest products. This mindset has to change and that needs to happen now.

At the onset of the pandemic, we saw that dramatic behaviour change with a positive impact on the environment is, in fact, possible. So what if we strive to not return to pre-COVID-19 habits and instead retain some of that more environmentally-friendly life of the past two years?

Take the revenge travel example. Instead of immediately taking the next travel opportunity, consumers can be more aware of their impulses and try to moderate them to avoid further damage to the environment. The potential impact is massive.

Mass consumer behaviour change has accomplished far more in less time than international agreements, corporate pledges, or political legislation alone could ever hope to achieve. One could argue that the behaviour during the pandemic was the result of mandatory policies that confined people at home and closed businesses.

Then, how can we now encourage people to voluntarily adopt more sustainable consumer behaviours to get closer to the 1.5°C targets?

What this means for us

There are a few solutions here. NGOs and governments need to meet consumers where they currently are and help make sustainable living an easier, “no-brainer” choice.

Also Read: There’s a mismatch of investment and entrepreneur focus in SEA’s climate tech: Steve Melhuish

Brands must be held accountable for leading customers astray and for pursuing practices that run against a healthy amount of consumption. For politicians and decision-makers, now is the opportunity to implement bipartisan measures which will more organically encourage more sustainable behaviours, even if these imply higher costs.

For example, Singapore has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by or around mid-century, and it is currently on track to reach its 2030 targets, promoting green technologies and alternative low-carbon solutions.

Change is predominantly needed in affluent nations, with the top 10 per cent accounting for 52 per cent of carbon emissions. The rich serve as role models, so it is essential for them to moderate their consumption first. We’re not asking people to live in huts, but rather to eliminate the more astounding aspects of their exorbitant lifestyles.

Policy interventions such as raising carbon taxes can deter businesses and individuals from overconsumption, encouraging them to take actions to moderate their emissions. With Singapore toughening on its carbon tax, with a view to reaching SG$50 (US$36.35) to SG$80 (US$58.17) per tonne by 2030, those with the highest carbon usage will be taxed commensurately to their output.

We need a dramatically different vision for this world and our society if we are to save our planet. The world we are aiming for is one in which we engage in much less business travel and have fewer things that last a long time.

It’s a world in which our homes and cars have been “right-sized” and where we eat less and waste less food. In this world, most things that can be digitised are digitised, and we realise that physical proximity is no longer the key requirement to getting to know people in faraway lands. It’s a world in which we spend more time in our own locality, neighbourhood, or city.

Our role models are folks who want to build this kind of world. We need to get there if we are to avoid climate catastrophe.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) announced on Friday the 11 maritime tech startups that have received the Maritime Innovation and Technology (MINT)-STARTUP grant for prototype development and test-bedding, bringing the total number of grant recipients to 50 and the total funding disbursed since 2017 to over S$2.45 million (US$1.78 million).

These startups are collaborating with maritime corporate partners from PIER71 –the result of a collaboration between MPA and NUS Enterprise– on pilot projects that focus on the use of smart sensors, vision and data analytics, artificial intelligence and wearables amongst others.

The companies are:

EcoWorth Tech

A project that builds an enhanced oil removal solution to provide better marine oil spill response. According to a statement, the project aims to develop a prototype that would put Carbon Fibre Aerogel (CFA) material into the optimal form that is suited for the industrial needs in the maritime industry. This would allow validation of CFA in comparison to other competitive products in the market. Based on laboratory tests, the CFA is at least 100 per cent more absorbent on a per weight basis than traditional single-use absorbents.

EnvironSens

A project that builds technology for robust testing and monitoring of drinking water quality onboard vessels. The current manual process requires human expertise and interference in the steps of filtration, staining and colorimetric analysis, which is not feasible for vessel usage. This technology aims to automate the manual processes of their current bacterial monitoring sensor system.

Eupnoos

A technology to enable lung function test for occupational disease by allowing shipyard workers to check for the first signs of lung disease by blowing into the
microphone of their device. The AI model will identify symptoms associated with disease and flag the results to the user. It can be used as a tool to support smoking cessation efforts.

Also Read: Greywing attracts US$2.5M seed funding to tackle maritime industry’s carbon impact

eyeGauge

A non-invasive online condition monitoring for high-speed passenger ferries in real-time. It will extract and digitise analogue signals from the main engine, electrical generators, and other onboard equipment to guide maintenance activities for the ferries and improve asset availability for utilisation.

FlexoSense

FlexoSense developed a patent-pending pressure sensor technology for insoles to promote worker safety and productivity. Through the project, the company aims to enhance and tweak their smart in-sole for the maritime and marine and offshore sector to detect Slips, Trips and Falls (STF).

ITAAS

A product to monitor and provide early detection of health conditions.

The startup aims to redesign its current in-ear wearable technology to aid in the detection of cardiovascular-related health conditions to enable early intervention in a marine environment. The solution will also provide supervisors with real-time visibility of their crew’s health conditions.

MAGES Studio

Building games to facilitate seafarer’s onboarding training. In this level-based game, the boat will be travelling from point A to B and the player will face multiple emergency situations along the way. The player must resolve the emergency situations by performing the correct actions in the right order and ensuring smooth sailing throughout the journey.

MagicPort Digital

Procurement and collaboration platform for ship supplies and services. It includes a digital marketplace and collaboration platform for ship owners and ship
managers; a comprehensive directory that provides information on ports, suppliers and services providers, vessels, and owners; and work on the Request For Quotation processor which can help ship suppliers automate the process of preparing the quotations.

Also Read: How Signal Ventures aims to sail towards new opportunities in global maritime tech scene

Temus

Detection and prevention of near-miss workplace fall injuries without Vision Analytics. To leverage on their existing Connected Worker System (CWS) platform suite, which consists of TAGU and NaviSafe and enhance their wearable device so that it can detect Slips, Trips & Falls (STFs) or Fall From height (FFH) accurately. TAGU is an IoT wearable device, while NaviSafe is a software application hosted on the cloud.

Vilota

The startup builds a 3D vision-based solution for Rebars Distance Management, leveraging their proprietary 360-degree vision-based sensor and developing a prototype to provide recognition and counting with high accuracy, a diameter measurement of rebars, and information for automated tallying within a port environment.

WeavAir

A loss prevention platform that aims to create value for ship owners, ship managers and marine insurers by developing a digital portal which can improve benchmarking, accelerate decisions, improve forecasting, and risk rating. The digital portal will help ship owners and ship managers simplify the data collection process for marine incidents that required by marine insurers.

In the same event, MPA and NUS Enterprise also announced the launch of Smart Port Challenge (SPC) 2022 under Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined
@ BLOCK71 (PIER71).

Tech startups based in Singapore or abroad are invited to submit proposals on solutions to any of the challenge statements spanning across the 15 areas or in other areas related to the maritime sector in an Open Category. The closing date for the submission of proposals is July 8.

Shortlisted startups will be mentored under the PIER71 Accelerate programme and might be eligible for a MINT-STARTUP grant of up to S$50,000 (US$36,000)

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Image Credit: PIER71

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