These deep tech technologies could soon see widespread, mainstream adoption

The Singapore government has committed S$19 billion (US$14 billion) in deep tech commercialisation in its RIE2020 plan, and with friendly Smart Nation policies, Singapore is becoming a haven for the development of deep tech startups.

But what exactly is deep science or deep technology? Startup Business defines deep tech as a “set of cutting-edge and disruptive technologies based on scientific discoveries, engineering, mathematics, physics and medicine. New technological applications that can have a profound impact on people’s and society’s lives.”

So what exactly has Singapore startups been up to in the areas of deep tech? And how do these technologies affect Singapore and the rest of the world?

Below is a glossary of deep technologies that Singapore has focused on and the applications behind them. It is not exhaustive but still a good start to give readers a simple introduction.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

The Oxford definition of Artificial intelligence is that it is “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.”

AI has been used across many various industries, from finance trading, hospital imaging systems, media, education, HR and such.

AI Singapore is a national program to anchor deep national capabilities in AI, thereby creating social and economic impacts, grow local talent, build an AI ecosystem and put Singapore on the world map.

A list of 14 AI startups in Singapore have been highlighted and their impact in various industries.

Agricultural technology (Agritech)

Agricultural technology is the use of technology in that improves various processes in agriculture, horticulture, and aquacultue. Agritech can be products, services or applications derived from agriculture that improve various input/output processes.”

Singapore imports 90 per cent of the food it eats due to land scarcity. This has led to the rise of vertical farming and improvements to the efficiency of farming practices.

Some Singapore startups include Susentir Agriculture, which uses controlled environment agriculture that uses 95 per cent less water than traditional farming; and Packet Greens, which uses hydroponics with automation to make urban farming more efficient.

Blockchain

People tend to shy away when they hear blockchain. This is due to the association to cryptocurrencies, which blockchain is the underlying technology.

Merriam Webster defines Blockchain as “a digital database containing information (such as records of financial transactions) that can be simultaneously used and shared within a large decentralized, publicly accessible network.”

Also Read: Indonesia’s startup ecosystem will be richer if unicorns begin to go public, says Takahiro Suzuki of Genesia Ventures

But Blockchain has its positive benefits when removing the cryptocurrency feature. According to a CIO report, Singapore companies have implemented blockchain technologies across the airline, food, government, education, real estate, healthcare, energy and supply chain industries.

The Singapore government has been open to the application of the technology. It has backed Tribe Accelerator, a blockchain accelerator (a unit of TRIVE), to promote further development and usage of blockchain technologies.

Cybersecurity

According to Cisco, Cybersecurity is “the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks. These cyber attacks are usually aimed at accessing, changing, or destroying sensitive information; extorting money from users; or interrupting normal business processes.”

We can all recall Singapore’s worst cybersecurity attack in 2018, where 1.5 million Singapore patients health records were assessed by cyberhackers. Data is the new oil in the Internet age, and it becomes vital to have measures to protect data from falling into wrong hands.

The Singapore government has a cybersecurity agency known as the Cybersecurity Agency of Singapore. And The Singapore Cybersecurity Consortium has been set up to promote the engagement of cybersecurity ecosystem players.

Singapore cybersecurity startups include Horangi and Centurion Information Security.

Data science

According to Technopedia, Data science is “a broad field that refers to the collective processes, theories, concepts, tools and technologies that enable the review, analysis and extraction of valuable knowledge and information from raw data. It is geared toward helping individuals and organizations make better decisions from stored, consumed and managed data.”

In 2016, Singapore’s Circle Line Mass Rapid Transit was hit by a spate of unexplained breakdowns. But through the use of data science, 3 government data scientists discovered the cause: one faulty train that was sending errant signals which confused other trains.

Data science training is a key priority of the Singapore government, where it will send 20,000 officials to be trained in data science. A Singapore Data Science Consortium has also been set up to enable Singapore to fully harness the power of data science and technology.

In anticipation of the demand for data science skills, TRIVE has invested in Upcode Academy, a training school which trains Singaporeans to learn data science. A National Data Science competition is currently ongoing.

TRIVE also invested in NeuroTrend, a data science company that analyzes neuro-data to provide 10x the accuracy of marketing analysis of respondents. Companies like GoJek have set up a data science team in Singapore.

Energy tech

Energy efficiency tech is basically to improve on the efficiency of energy usage in products and services.

Energy usage in Singapore households have increased by 17 per cent in the last decade, due to the adoption of more household appliances. And while education is needed to change mindsets, the rising affluence of society will likely see further increases in consumption.

Beyond just household energy usage, there are many new innovative ways to improve energy efficiency. Shell IdeaRefinery, an accelerator focused on energy efficient, announced 10 startups participating in their first cohort in November 2018.

Energy tech startups are also helping to improve the environment by tackling pollution and reducing carbon emissions.

Also Read: Gobi Partners-Core Capital JV invests in Filipino startups MariaHealth, Edukasyon

While Singapore may not have significant pollution and environment damages, it still wants to maintain its focus on energy security and lowering carbon emissions. As urbanization and population increases in Asia, there would be no doubt pollution and environmental damage comes along, and Singapore will be poised to solve these issues.

Business Times reported in 2016 that there are 50 homegrown firms that have developed expertise in renewable energy and pursuing overseas projects. One such company is WEnergy Global, that provides services on renewable energy solutions.

Food science

Singapore is known to be a foodie nation, with various bubble tea and famous food joints across the world descending onto crazy Singaporeans who willingly line up to try new varieties of cuisines and food products.

The great varieties of food, given the multi-cultural landscape the country has, has turned into an advantage for food science.

According to the Institute of Food Technologies, Food science is “an attempt to better understand food processes and ultimately improve food products for the general public…food scientists study the physical, microbiological, and chemical makeup of food. By applying their findings, they are responsible for developing the safe, nutritious foods and innovative packaging that line supermarket shelves everywhere.”

An example of food tech company is Hoow Foods which created low-calorie Callerys ice-cream. Their food science tech platform addresses the missing link between the novel food ingredient industry and the consumers. Using their deep understanding of food science, they brought down the calorie intake of ice cream from 250g to 59g for a serving of vanilla ice-cream.

Recycle tech 

Singapore throws out tonnes of garbage, around 7.7 million tonnes of it in 2017. While good pre-consumer materials are well recycled, much can be improved on the recycling rates of food, plastics, textiles, which hovers around 6-17 per cent.

It is a serious concern for Singapore, as the only landfill at Semakau will be filled up by 2035. And given the 676k tonnes of unrecycled food waste, it will not be long before Singapore drowns in garbage.

But fret not. Recycling technology startups are responding to the call of improving recycling rates.

Insectta is a food waste tech company that rears Black Soldier Fly larvae. These larvae feed on food wastes to convert them into compost for plants and animal feed.

GoodforFood is another tech startup that uses a proprietary smart detection device that collects real-time, granular data on food wastage. This helps commercial kitchens to reduce their food waste, cost and environment imprint.

Plastics is another major unrecycled waste, with 763,000 tonnes in 2017. Other than banning straws at food eateries, a team of NUS scientists have converted polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into a highly insulating and absorbent material called aerogel. Aerogel uses include a lining for fire-retardant coats and better heat and insulation in buildings.

Though it will be another few years before commercialization, it gives hope that such techniques will solve the world’s problem of waste pollution.

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Christopher Quek is Managing Partner of TRIVE, which consists of a MAS-licensed Venture Capital, a pay-it-forward incubator and a government-backed blockchain accelerator.

Disclaimer: Tribe Accelerator is a unit of TRIVE. Upcode Academy, NeuroTrend are investee portfolios.

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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Indonesia-based Mapan has helped to empower 180,000 head of “arisan” groups with 2.3 million members

Following an acquisition by Indonesian ride-hailing and fintech giant Go-Jek in 2017, PT Rekan Usaha Mikro Anda (PT RUMA), which is widely known through its brand Mapan, has appointed its new CEO Hendra Tjanaka.

He replaced previous CEO Aldi Haryopratomo, who is now holding the position of CEO at Go-Jek’s cashless payment unit Go-Pay.

Tjanaka himself joined the company four years ago as CMO.

When asked about the changes that are set to happen following his appointment as CEO, and the strategic moves that the company is going to make with Go-Jek, Tjanaka stressed that there will be no significant difference.

“Even prior to the acquisition, Mapan has worked with Go-Jek several times. We even used to share an office at Jalan Ciasem,” he said.

Also Read: Go-Jek acquires majority stake in Philippines’s blockchain fintech company Coins.ph

One of the results of their collaboration is Go-Mapan, a programme that aims to provide access to extra income for Indonesian families. The programme places the spouses of Go-Jek drivers as head of a Mapan arisan (social gathering) group. In addition to helping families secure additional income beyond the minimum regional wage, by joining Mapan arisan groups, families can help plan the purchase of their daily necessities better.

Tjanaka stressed that the two companies’ mission and commitment remain the same: To empower the Indonesian society through technological ease, in order to improve the quality of their lives through access to various services.

“Mapan calls upon its members to plan the purchases of their daily necessities through the Arisan Mapan groups. Mapan community members can also serve as a support group to learn together about family financial planning. Apart from that, the addition of Go-Pay as a payment mechanism, has enabled Indonesian families access to various services,” Tjanaka said.

Empowering SMEs in Indonesia

Mapan claimed to have empowered 180,000 arisan group heads, who had helped 2.3 million Indonesians fulfill their daily necessities. According to the company, the market has shown great interest in participating in Mapan arisan groups, in order to help plan their daily necessities fulfillment.

“As the market responds positively, in the future we want to have more Indonesians on board the Mapan arisan groups to plan their daily necessities,” Tjanaka said.

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The article Fokus Mapan Pasca Penunjukan CEO Baru was written by Yenny Yusra in Bahasa Indonesia for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

Image Credit: Mapan

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Japanese human resource platform Grooves began its Southeast Asian expansion with Malaysia

Japanese human resource platform Grooves today announced an approximately MYR3.78 million (US$920,000) funding round from PNB-INSPiRE Ethical Fund (PIEF), a sharia-compliant private equity fund in Japan.

Grooves is a human resource platform which aims to connect global talents with job opportunities in Japan.

Founded in 2004, it already has over 15 years of experience in the local market, and has over 5,000 listed Japanese corporations within its platform.

The company aims to use the new funding to support its expansion to Southeast Asia, starting with the Malaysian market.

“Malaysia was selected as our headquarters because we saw the potential in terms of its talent pool and we are confident that it would be a good starting point to penetrate the ASEAN market,” said Grooves CEO Yukihiro Ikemi in a press statement.

Also Read: Genesia Ventures launches US$80M fund for startups in Japan, Southeast Asia

“Grooves is not just a one-way bridge for Malaysian talents to penetrate the Japanese job market. The idea here is to have the local talents learn about Japan’s business ecosystem and bring back the knowledge as well as experience to their respective countries. Grooves wants to provide the opportunity for both countries to exchange work culture and skills,” he added.

The platform itself was founded to solve the talent shortage issue that Japan is facing as its population gets older.

Grooves has raised over US$10 million through multiple venture capitals (VC).

Its latest investor PIEF was incorporated in 2015 with a fund size of JPY5.1 million (US$47,000).

The firm was established to facilitate the expansion and introduction of Japanese startups to Islamic and ASEAN countries, as well as to support the expansion of Sharia-compliant businesses.

Also Read: Japan’s Aeon enlists Go-Jek’s help to acquire more online customers across Southeast Asia

Investors in the fund include Organisation for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innvovation, Japan (SMRJ), PNB Equity Resource Corporation Sdn Bhd, Oita Bank Co. Ltd., The Hiroshima Bank Ltd., and Fuyo General Lease Co. Ltd.

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Image Credit: Grooves

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Singapore-based Ecosystm has recently opened a new office in Gurgaon, India

Singapore-based tech research and advisory firm Ecosystm today announced the appointment of Manoj Menon as its Principal Advisor.

The announcement followed the company’s recent move of appointing Anika Grant (Senior HR Director of Uber’s Global Core Business) as board advisor and launching a new office in Gurgaon, India.

“Throughout his career, Manoj has been a trendsetter. Few people can claim to have supported a global consultancy in finding its feet in the region to become a veritable behemoth – Manoj understands the nuances of Asia’s various markets inside out, and will play an integral role in Ecosystm’s expansion roadmap. He will bring value to the firm as a technology thought leader as much as a business leader, with his depth and breadth of expertise in helping organisations and companies leverage on innovation to grow,” Ecosystm Founder and CEO Amit Gupta said in a press statement.

Also Read: Beyond the Valley, innovative blockchain tech is emerging from 5 powerful tech hubs around the globe

Prior to joining Ecosystm, Menon was the Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Senior Partner at global consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

He was also the Founder and Managing Director at Twimbit, a research think tank which assists organisations and government bodies in solving some of the biggest challenges facing humanity.

He is also a Certified Coach for Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centred Coaching and serves as a board member for SP Jain School of Global Management.

Apart from that, Menon is also a professional keynote speaker and angel investor.

Founded in 2016, Ecosystm aims to democratise data availability and accessibility for technology buyers, vendors, and analysts globally by using a ‘research as a service’ model.

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Image Credit: rawpixel on Unsplash

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In the competitive world of trade and commerce, how is one company helping businesses actively close sales?

According to the book “The Conversion Code” by Chris Smith, an online lead contacted within five minutes has 8 times better chances of qualifying compared to an online lead contacted after thirty minutes. This is only one of the many factors that ultimately determines a sale.

Of the biggest hurdles people in sales often come across, lead management takes the cake. While there are existing platforms that cater to sales and marketing management, there isn’t a single one out there that enables salespeople to effortlessly capture and respond to enquiries that come through various digital platforms, and to respond to them at the same time they are submitted in order to improve chances of closing sales.

In a traditional sales and marketing environment, when a digital marketing campaign is launched, sales managers will consolidate the enquiries from various gateways and distribute them to salespeople manually. This process usually takes days to complete and when the leads finally reach the salesperson, the golden hours of qualifying would have already passed.

Salespeople on the other hand, upon receiving the leads, are expected to carry out the first contact immediately and update the lead status in a separate system.

Due to the inconvenient and tedious nature of the traditional sales and marketing environment, coupled with a lack of incentives for salespeople to promote transparency, tracking efforts for leads are often delayed or end up incomplete, making it difficult for sales managers to effectively manage the sales process and ensure productivity.

Without getting sufficient insights from the sales data to accurately measure the effectiveness of each advertising effort, marketing teams miss opportunities to improve the return of investment for their advertising campaigns.

 

Having experienced and witnessed these issues first hand from their clients, Stanley Chee and Jeffry Chan decided to create SalesCandy: a mobile app that picks up leads generated through multiple traditional and digital channels and routes them instantly to the salespeople’s mobile phone the moment they submit an enquiry, allowing them to be contacted immediately.

How SalesCandy provides solution to a common pain point in businesses

SalesCandy operates primarily around the sales, marketing, productivity and lead management space. Stanley and Jeffry, who both ran performance marketing agencies, realized that in a company, there is often misunderstanding between the Sales and Marketing departments.

“The Sales department would blame the Marketing department or agency for generating leads of bad quality, while the Marketing department would blame the Sales department for not being prompt enough with their follow ups,” said Stanley and Jeffry. Such frictions are products of a flawed and inefficient lead management.

The solution? An Uber-style lead routing system. What SalesCandy does is instantly connect online leads from any lead source directly to salespeople’s mobile phones to be attended immediately. Pushing this innovative platform further, their product works in a way where unattended leads are automatically rerouted to the next available salesperson after 45 seconds.

 

 

It doesn’t stop there. SalesCandy also believes that prospective clients have to be treated like VIPs, and the most potent way to achieve that is through a prompt response system.

One thing prospective buyers hate is waiting long periods of time. It is proven that in sales, prompt follow-ups often lead to the best of first impressions, ultimately strengthening customer relations and increasing chances of lead conversion.

When a potential lead makes a web enquiry, a generated SMS is automatically sent to him/her from the salesperson’s phone, followed by a phone call straight from the salesperson. What SalesCandy does is digitally automate responses while reminding salespeople to make follow up calls over the course of the transaction.

This encourages promptness in the lead management system, helping salespeople break out from the vicious cycle of closing fewer sales, requiring more leads, and slow response times from sales.

Proven and tested

“SalesCandy has helped us in streamlining our leads management process. It used to take almost 24 hours before we were able to contact any leads generated by our social media and now it takes less than 1 minute to do so,” said one satisfied SalesCandy client.

In the cut-throat world of sales where every second counts, this makes SalesCandy an important component to any business model. More than speed, however, SalesCandy also provides efficiency and security, since the platform essentially automates conventionally manual work.

“Prior to using SalesCandy, there was a lot of manual work. We needed to chase the salespeople for reports in Excel sheets which was very tiring and time consuming,” said the Agency Director of Manulife Financial. “Life is so much easier now that I am able to monitor the sales progress daily with the SalesCandy Manager Portal. With the SalesCandy app and reporting system, we are able to monitor the salespeople’s leads statuses anytime.”

On the other hand, Hap Seng Land Deputy Sales Manager said, “now, we have organized enquiries, records that can be tracked, and clients who are impressed with our shortened response time.”

 

What they are most impressed about isn’t only how it grants businesses the ability to monitor staff performances, but also the great impression they give their potential customers whenever they call only minutes after the enquiry.

Because of these results, SalesCandy is confident enough with their solution’s propensity for closing sales, that if clients do not see any improvement within 60 days, they would return their money.

What the future holds for SalesCandy and lead management in Southeast Asia as a whole

One major challenge they faced early on was rejection from a lot of their peers. A perennial comment that was made is that the SalesCandy solution is something that the biggest CRM players have already created.

However, SalesCandy powered through not only by proving the reality behind the pain points they managed to figure out, but also by creating a completely unique LMS that helps clients deliver first 5-minute response time to leads using patent pending real-time rerouting and action-based leads update — a unique solution that remains unrivalled.

According to Stanley and Jeffry, we can already map out what the lead generation trend in Southeast Asia looks like. In 2010, the success of marketing campaigns was measured based on cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM).

This evolved to cost per click (CPC) in 2012, cost per lead (CPL) in 2016, and cost per sale (CPS) in 2019.

The trajectory, therefore, that SalesCandy will take will also be anchored on these trends, amplified by plans to hyper-localise the markets they are currently in, which are Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia. Currently, they already provide language support of four different languages within five different countries: English, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, and Vietnamese.

In the coming years, we can expect SalesCandy to come up with more features and products to help businesses close more sales across a series of diverse verticals: real estate, private education, banks, insurance, and automotive.

Machine learning and adoption of AI technology are certainly within the realm of possibilities, especially since SalesCandy is looking to analyse raw sales activity data in order to predict sales outcomes—all well within the confines of their mission, which is fundamentally to help clients close as many sales as they possibly can.

Interested companies can get in touch with SalesCandy here.

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The company is positioning itself as a premier product and is targetting advanced bookings

The Thailand taxi company Howa announced today the launch of a new app called HaHa, meant to provide an alternative to Grab and Go-Jek in the country, according to the Bangkok Post.

The cool part of the app is that it will come with a Digital Metering Terminal, rather than the upfront fee of Grab or Go-Jek. Overcharging is a major problem that drives people towards ride booking apps which makes the the digital metering system a clever idea.

Howa wants to be to go-to app for advanced booking (three or more hours in advance). Thus, it will start by targetting hospitals, 5-star hotels and department stores.

HaHa is positioning itself as a high-class booking service.

Also Read: The e27 Southeast Asia Startup Ecosystem Report 2018 is here

Howa also wants to implement a booking fee to incentivise drivers to pick up passengers. It would have a ceiling of THB100 (US$3.15).

Howa operates about 4,000 taxis and had been an ally of Uber before the American ride-hailing company left Southeast Asia. Howa had built its business on call-in booking and using a radio system for communication. Since the explosion of ride-hailing apps in Southeast Asia, Howa has seen its business model crumble.

4,000 taxis is clearly not sufficient to genuinely challenge Grab. Thus, Howa plans to scale the metering system, which the company hopes to have 20,000 drivers using in the future.

For drivers to get onboard the system, they need to pay a hefty THB30,000 (US$946) one time fee and then a THB3,500 (US$110) annual service fee.

Also Read: Grooves gets US$920K to connect Southeast Asians with jobs opportunities in Japan

Riders can use a debit or credit card to pay and it is the first ride-hailing app in Thailand to use the Mastercard Masterpass digital payments system.

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Photo by Hanny Naibaho on Unsplash

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In a bid to ensure digital inclusion for all, Grab partners with Warung Pintar, connected by ASEAN Impact Challenge

Grab announced yesterday that it has partnered with Indonesia-based Warung Pintar, a micro retail technology startup company. The partnership was made possible by ASEAN Impact Challenge (AIC), and it seeks to empower grassroots community in Indonesia to migrate to the digital economy.

Grab and Warung Pintar formalised their partnership with an MoU signing session.

ASEAN Impact Challenge (AIC) is a regional platform specified to discover innovators and entrepreneurs from Southeast Asia. It follows the mission of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Also Read: Retrenched and dejected, this entrepreneur proved that a lot can happen over coffee

With Grab, AIC created the inaugural GrabImpact Award in 2018 that supports Southeast Asia’s innovators to help them scale technologies that will solve the challenge of mobility, O2O and payments in the region. It was Warung Pintar that won the award in November last year, beating around 500 other participants.

“Tech innovators have the biggest potential to create social impact at scale. AIC is looking to play a pivotal role in bringing together technology companies such as Grab, with innovators such as Warung Pintar to catalyse partnerships that can bring about greater social impact in the region,” said Era Natasha, Programme Lead of AIC.

Since winning the award and US$10,000 worth of Grab services for a year, Warung Pintar has been brought into the Grab Ventures Velocity accelerator. This is one of the developments of Grab Ventures’ dedicated US$250 million fund for Indonesian tech startups looking to scale business across the region.

Grab Ventures Velocity is a scale-up programme, bringing both public and private sector partner to provide startup partners with regional market access, mentorship, a proof of concept leveraging Grab Platform and where suitable, strategic investments.

Also Read: Indonesian tech media rates top female founders, executives based on their beauty, popularity

“Our goal is to empower 100 million microentrepreneurs in the region by 2020. We look forward to working hand-in-hand with Warung Pintar to uplift those in need, helping them to develop new skill sets and improving their livelihoods,” said Chris Yeo, Head of Grab Ventures.

Warung Pintar recently raised a US$27.5 million financing round.
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Image Credit: AIC

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A series of articles by Teknologi.id put top Indonesian startup founders and executives in a list that judged them based on looks and public persona

Indonesian tech media Teknologi.id landed in hot water when it published a series of articles about Indonesian women in the tech industry that rated them based on factors that included physical looks. These people included startup founders, executives at leading local startups such as Go-Jek, Traveloka and Bukalapak to employees at global tech giants like Tesla and Google.

Published on December 1, 27, and 28, the three-part series included a short biography of the founders and executives, listing their career journey and achievements, before giving them scores on the following factors: Brain, Beauty, Popularity (on social media platforms), and Experience.

At the end, the article ranked the founders and executives based on who had the highest scores.

Each article contained profiles of five to six founders or executives.

By the time this article was published, the second part of the series had reached the top of the site’s trending articles.

Also Read: The startup world’s moments of ignominy; chronicling the sexual harassment cases that shamed the industry in 2017

Aulia “Llia” Halimatussadiah, the Storial.co and NulisBuku.com co-founder who was listed in the article, commented,

“For a tech media like Teknologi.id, I think there is no context of beauty rating in their article about women in technology.”

She had also shared the link to the article to encourage discussion about it.

The article had also received comments from Facebook users on her page, who are calling it “inappropriate” and “the lowest.”

e27 has reached out to Teknologi.id for their comments on the issue and will update accordingly.

Basically everywhere in the world, women face discrimination, harassment, and objectification when working in the tech industry.

As recent as October 2018, the New York Times published a report on how the tech giant Google covered up sexual harassment cases by its executives.

The case led to a global walk-out by Google employees around the world, demanding for better ways to handle harassment cases.

In Southeast Asia, Cheryl Yeoh, Founding CEO of the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), had also spoken up about being assaulted by 500 Startups Founder Dave McClure.

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Image Credit: Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash

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HACKBDGWEATHER is a hackathon that challenges participants to build solutions that require the use of weather data

On January 24, Indonesian internet service provider PT Cyberindo Aditama (CBN) and infrastructure service provider PT Mega Akses Persada (FiberStar) named the three winners of its hackathon event HACKBDGWEATHER in Bandung, Indonesia.

The hackathon challenges participants to build solutions that require the use of weather data, which includes temperature, humidity, rain precipitation, wind speed, sunlight and UV ray radiation.

Held at coworking space chain Block71 Bandung, the event was the result of the two companies’ partnership with the Communications and Informatics Agency of Bandung and West Java.

The winners are:

1. Permanent BetaDev
The team built a platform called Seedplan, which recommends the best time to start farming based on weather data.

2. NaviCuaca
The team built a platform of the same name that combined Google Maps with weather data.

3. NiteLogin
The team built KUSMANA, a traffic congestion control system based on weather monitoring.

Also Read: With latest AI hackathon by Girls in Tech Singapore and Citi, we take a peek into the bank’s corporate innovation journey

Winners of the competition received awards given by Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, Director General of Informatics Application, Ministry of Communications and Informatics.

A total of 38 teams from all over Indonesia applied to join the hackathon, with 15 teams being shortlisted as finalists. The teams were being given 10 hours to develop their tech solutions, followed by a presentation and live demo sessions.

According to Budi Rahardjo, INDO CISC CIO and head of the panel of judges, the winners are being chosen based on originality, coherence between the solutions and the categories that the participants have chosen, benefits, UI and UX experience, presentation skills, and use of API.

The hackathon itself is part of a CSR programme by CBN and FiberStar, who had donated several Weather IP tools to the government agency, in order to support Bandung’s smart city plan.

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Image Credit: HACKBDGWEATHER

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It is all part of our plan to get the best startups at #Echelon2019

Don’t need to be convinced? Apply to TOP100 here for your chance to be crowned the top startup at #Echelon2019

Pitching competitions tend to be different feathers from the same bird. The host gathers an audience of community members, investors are nominated as judges and about a dozen companies take turns pitching their companies.

The problem with this setup is two-fold.

First, a lot of people are just politely waiting for the after-event networking. Phones are open, gazes are long and sometimes eyes are drooping. It is not the ideal environment to spark inspiration.

More importantly, this is not how the industry works. There is no audience when pitching for real investment, real customers and real partnerships. Public pitching is conveying the marketing strategy of the company, which is fine, but it never gets beyond the PR-approved angle.

We want the TOP100 startups to get the most out of their pitches, and this means revealing crucial company information, answering probing questions from investors and breaking down the math behind the thesis.

This is why we are making our TOP100 pitching competitions a private affair

We hope private pitching allows startups to get the most out of their TOP100 experience. They get to meet valuable stakeholders, but then while waiting they can chat with other startups and get work done.

The other hope is that, by not seeing the other pitches, startups get less caught-up in what the other people are doing and can focus on themselves.

This year, THE TOP100 pitching competition will be a no-distraction affair where the region’s best young Founders make their case to the people who matter most.

But don’t think we forgot about the networking and evening activities!

Echelon Roadshow will happen a few hours after the pitches in every city. During this event, we will bring together the local community, engage in fantastic conversation with thought leaders and create a friendly environment to meet peers (and hopefully future business partners).

Excited to see your company as a TOP100 startup at #Echelon2019? Apply here!

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