Aichi Prefecture with its capital at Nagoya forms the core of the third-largest metropolitan area in Japan and one of the largest in the world. Located in Japan’s Pacific Ocean coast, Aichi is home to the world’s largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp, along with manufacturing heavyweights such as Fuji Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi, Aisin Steel, Nippon Sharyo, NGK Spark Plugs — all of which have manufacturing plants in the region. 

Aichi Prefecture has been the number one prefecture in Japan for 43 consecutive years in terms of the value of shipments of manufactured goods and the prefecture continues to lead the world in what the Japanese call “monozukuri” (manufacturing). Aichi has been traditionally strong in the automobile, aerospace, steel, and robotics industries.

As technology and startups disrupt conventional industries, Aichi Prefecture continues to challenge itself with passion for future-looking innovation. Aichi Prefecture is known for its love of new knowledge — always looking to explore, create, and disseminate new knowledge to the world. Both historically and in the present day, the prefecture continues to be driven by a mission to produce leaders with new knowledge and innovate to meet the new challenges in building sustainable cities of the future.

The co-creation challenge

The new co-creation challenge programme sponsored by Aichi Prefecture along with Singapore Innovation Ecosystem partners and ICMG as acceleration partners is on the lookout for startups interested in participating in the co-creation challenge. 

The programme will focus on co-creating with select Japanese partners, “new knowledge” on solving three broad challenges for Aichi Prefecture to build on its manufacturing expertise and lead the development of the Smart Sustainable City of the future.

Also read: IES-INCA partners with e27 to support deep tech innovators

Divided into these broad areas, the Aichi Smart Sustainable City Co-Creation challenges are aimed at searching for innovation partners who can help pave the way to a more sustainable and productive future for our cities and communities.

These three categories for entry into the sustainable city co-creation challenge are:

Industrial development in Aichi Prefecture through digital transformation

The aim is to help improve the way we work with solutions that utilise the use of Toyota Industries Corporation’s  Autonomous Mobile Robots “AiR”

In this challenge, the selected partners can co-create through utilising the capabilities of the autonomous mobile robot “AiR” developed by Toyota Industries Corporation. While currently used in the industrial sector, there is a lot of potential to expand the utilisation of AiR.

Startups who have solutions in medical care support, assistance for the elderly or people with disabilities, retail and tourist experience improvement, and more that can utilise AiR in improving public well-being and experience are invited to join the challenge.

Co-creation of a sustainable municipal policy model by diverse players for a declining population

The aim is to develop ideas for building and delivering a sustainable municipal management model in a society with a declining population.

Partner Handa City aims to improve the attractiveness of the city by taking on the challenge to make a structural shift from the current urban model. To replace the old model built on the back of population growth and a high-growth economy, they need a sustainable urban model that is appropriate for the society of the future.

Also read: Blue skies for Malaysia’s drone industry with Aerodyne

Startups who have solutions that could revitalise Handa City centre (events, activities, entertainment), reform how teachers work, offer alternative learning methods for students, improve the productivity of agriculture, make agriculture more attractive and accessible to the younger generations, offer next-generation park management, and other solutions aim to realise the goal of a Smart Sustainable City is encouraged to join the challenge.

Creating a community where everyone thrives throughout their lives with high levels of well-being

The goal is to create  IT-based detection and support for young caregivers to improve the well-being of Aichi Prefecture’s residents.

Partner NGK Spark Plug aims to transform its business portfolio by developing advanced sensing technologies as well as other solutions to aid in improving the well being of Aichi Prefecture’s residents. 

Startups with solutions – whether hardware, software, or others – that could improve elderly care in their homes with the help of technology, record and detect abuse in the home, provide quicker access to emergency assistance, connect young caregivers at an early stage with appropriate support organisations, and more are invited to join the challenge.

Scale up your solutions by joining the Aichi Co-Creation challenges

Startups who are selected would get the chance to work with the organising team in validating your solution’s product fit against an existing market’s opportunities and present to Aichi Prefectural Government for a collaboration opportunity and a chance to expand to Japan.

Join the challenge and get the chance to build and launch your product to a ready market in one of the world’s most advanced economies.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by ICMG

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The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the technology industry in ways both good and bad. Which companies will thrive as we begin to put the pandemic behind us?

Surprisingly, the answer is those companies that permanently embrace the changes imposed on them by the pandemic. Tech companies that are hoping for a return to “normal” are going to be disappointed.

This is no time for nostalgia for 2019. The risks and opportunities are too great.

Organisational transformation

Transformation is the key to success in 2022 and beyond.

Yes, the pandemic accelerated digitalisation in businesses of all sorts. But digitalisation is not just about using technology, as IBM pointed out in a report about the future of business earlier this year.

The lowest-impact technologies are simple tools that enable greater efficiency at discrete tasks. Still, technology executives with more vision are going beyond such small steps to embrace solutions that enable the transformation of their entire organisations.

What does this mean in the real world? In the real estate industry, it is the difference between a virtual tour and robust CRM software. The former is just an improved version of property photos. Virtual tours add some functionality, but organisational transformation? No.

On the other hand, adopting the best CRM software, like VaultRE, a top offering from Australia, can completely transform a real estate agency. A good CRM will integrate previously siloed parts of your business, multiplies the value of your data, and frees your team members to focus on the things they most enjoy and that create the most value.

Even technology industry leaders can be myopic when it comes to digitalising their own operations. You might sell the world’s most advanced product in your field but fail to take full advantage of what technology can do for the way you run your business.

Also Read: COVID-19, the environment, and the tech ecosystem: what opportunity is available out there for us?

This is what one insider meant when he described Apple as “Jetsons on the outside and Flintstones on the inside.” Apple’s phones and computers are marvels of innovation, but it was only recently that Apple employees gained the ability to chat with one another on a tool such as Slack or Teams.

E-commerce eats the world

Famously, e-commerce giant Amazon started out selling books. E-commerce today, however, is eating the world. It is not just books or fast food anymore. In the post-pandemic era, all goods and services are moving towards e-commerce or the omnichannel model.

When I say “all goods and services,” I do mean “all.” Whether your business is fashion, architecture, or healthcare, a growing portion of your customers and clients demand the ability to buy and receive your goods or services through digital platforms.

You can embrace this change and thereby improve efficiency, profitability, and scale. Or you can resist it and lose out to competitors.

Exactly how you transition from in-person to omnichannel will depend on your business and your industry. Whatever method you adopt, make sure you focus on the key performance metrics of convenience, customer retention, and fulfilment.

Let’s look at healthcare as an example because it is the industry that most observers expected to be the last to go online. Thanks to the pandemic, the remote delivery of health care is now an everyday reality worldwide.

Consumers now expect to see their doctor or nurse when it’s convenient and safe, whether that means going to the doctor’s office, been visited at home or being served remotely.

Experts believed that patients would not be satisfied with remotely delivered healthcare because they would insist on warm interaction with another human. However, the reality of the healthcare industry is that the quality of the patient experience at healthcare visits is far below what it once was. It turns out that remotely visiting your doctor does not necessarily compromise the quality of the interaction.

Also Read: How technology and healthcare can work together in a post-pandemic world

This is why consumers using virtual visits climbed in the USA from 15 to 28 per cent between 2019 and April 2020. It’s why 80 per cent of consumers who have tried a virtual visit say they are likely to do it again, even after the pandemic makes in-person visits possible.

You may feel there is no way for your business to adopt an omnichannel model like healthcare has. However, if you don’t solve the challenge of this transition, without a doubt, one of your competitors will.

Working remotely

If your doctor can treat you remotely, then surely many of the team members you employ can also do part of their jobs from home.

A Boston Consulting Group survey in the first quarter of 2021 found that nine out of 10 people globally want to work remotely on an ongoing basis at least part of the time.

The surveyors interviewed 209,000 people in 190 countries. They found that relatively few people want to work from home full-time.

The US is the only developed country to be an exception to this rule, with more than one-third of Americans seeking 100 per cent work from home status.

In Asia, only eight per cent of Chinese workers say they would be willing to work from home full time, and China ranks 43rd out of 45 countries on the list of fully remote work preferences. The Philippines has the highest preference for full-time or occasional remote work, with only about three per cent of the population wanting to be in the office full-time after the pandemic.

In Malaysia, two-thirds of respondents would prefer occasional remote work. Almost four out of every five respondents want to work at least part of the time remotely in nearby Singapore.

The preference is not limited to coders and consultants. Still, it is shared by people in professions where working from home has not traditionally been an option, including services, manufacturing and social care.

The lesson for technology businesses that want to thrive after the pandemic is clear. Give your workers the flexibility and autonomy to choose a schedule that lets them work from home at least part of the time.

You may be surprised by the results. According to a recent academic paper, the increase in remote work is expected to boost post-pandemic productivity in the US economy by five per cent.

Also Read: How iStore iSend builds a relationship with potential investors in this pandemic

What role will your physical office play in a world where many of your staff work two or three days a week from home? Rather than simply a warehouse for people, your office can become a space for collaborating and problem-solving.

The experience of messaging app company Slack is indicative. Slack considers the office one tool in their toolkit and suitable for getting specific work done. Their team members might come into the office three times a week with plans to meet with colleagues and brainstorm or collaborate in person.

Organisational transformation, omnichannel delivery and flexible remote working strategies are three strategies that will help nearly every technology company thrive after the pandemic in 2022 and beyond.

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VE Capital Asia, a Singapore-based management consulting and deeptech company, has announced the acquisition of three local startups — Web Imp, Cashapon, and TechVenture Pursuit (TVP) — for a total of US$37 million.

With these acquisitions, VE Capital expects its revenue to increase by US$11 million.

Founded in 2014, Web Imp guides businesses in enabling digital transformation through intuitive UX/UI design, reliable web and mobile development, and cost-effective digital marketing campaigns. This acquisition was made in May this year.

Cashapon acquires and elevates leading brands in the retail e-commerce market using AI and ML technology.

TVP is an automation builder and service provider specialising in enterprise productivity, redesign, and automation solutions. The company expects to be able to venture deeper into the region to serve companies that require scalable IT solutions.

The Cashapon and TVP deals — closed in August — aim to strengthen VE Capital in AI, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, and automation.

Also Read: S’pore budget 2021: Increased support for deeptech, enhanced venture debt programme for startups

VE Capital Asia CEO June Yong said: “As enterprises rush to digitise and stay relevant in light of this pandemic, VE Capital Asia is on track to establish itself as a trusted one-stop tech integrated solutions provider through the recent acquisitions. We are currently undergoing negotiations to acquire several deeptech firms in the region to become a leader in this space, helping companies make a smooth and cost-efficient transition into the new normal.”

VE Capital Asia supports a wide selection of corporate and SME clients, both local and international. Notable partnerships include the development of a fully optimised deep technology software and IoT & hardware automation with Sheldon Group.

Another partnership includes the development of a group-buy grocery e-commerce platform for Prime Supermarket. The platform allows the company to introduce e-commerce and group buy features to shoppers and provide the group with seamless management of offline and online sales and vendor payouts.

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Image Credit: Web Imp

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EI Industrial, a Vietnamese industry-focused B2B e-commerce platform, has raised a US$670,000 seed financing led by Cocoon Capital, with participation from Beenext.

The e-commerce firm will channel the funding to build a “faster and more user-friendly” technology platform. Besides, EI Industrial intends to expand its sales, marketing, and technology teams to drive rapid growth.

“We founded EI Industrial with the target to help develop Vietnam’s core industry through technology,” said co-founder and CEO An Phi Ho. “Vietnam has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world in recent years, and small and medium-sized private businesses are the backbone of the economy.”

Also read: Are B2B marketplaces finally entering their boom time in Asia?

Launched in 2020, EI Industrial provides a SaaS e-procurement and warehouse management system (WMS) to help manufacturers and construction businesses manage their purchasing processes. It currently focuses on the MRO (maintenance, repair and operation) and M&E (mechanical and electrical) supply sectors.

The tech company offers purchasing officers a variety of vendors and deals available on a free-to-use platform, allowing them to digitise and maximise customer outreach across Vietnam. 

The startup also guarantees an appropriate delivery and payment route for both parties.

“EI Industrial strives to help businesses and vendors improve their productivity and profit margins,” Ho added.

The platform counts Esquel Group, Heineken, Toshiba, Olam, Aqua, Oishi, Wahl, and Central Group among its 500 clients in Vietnam. To serve the mounting demand, it also partners with more than 300 retailers, including Schneider Electric, Bosch, Honeywell, and 3M.

As per a press statement, El Industrial is on the way to accept and open hundreds of online stores for new sellers in 20 existing categories, aiming to gain over US$1 million in stock-keeping units by the end of 2021.

According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment, SMEs make up 98 per cent of all businesses, accounting for 45 per cent of the country’s GDP and 63 per cent of employment. 

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Image Credit: EI Industrial

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Surer, a Singapore-based startup providing a cloud-based platform for insurance firms and intermediaries, has raised US$1 million in seed funding.

Norwegian investor Kistefos, Markel Corporation’s insurtech investment arm Markel Digital Investments, and an unnamed angel invested.

Surer intends to use the fresh funding to bolster its core technology platform and strengthen the tech team to realise its product roadmap.

“We aim to solve the problem of a huge mismatch in demand and supply in a US$1.7 trillion general insurance industry,” said co-founder Gordon Tay.

Surer was founded in 2020 by Tay, Derren Teo, and Renfred Tay. They have earlier held different positions in PropertyGuru and Carousell. Previously, they also worked in major insurance companies, including AIG, MSIG and QBE.

Surer aims to create a fully connected digital ecosystem where insurance intermediaries and insurers can leverage its technology to streamline workflows, processes, recruitment and distribution of products.

Also read: Why now is the right time for disruption in the insurance industry?

Surer claims that it helps drive network orchestration, efficient communication and transmission of information to help intermediaries and insurers better serve the end policyholders. “That drives a ‘triple-win situation where policyholders can be served with greater quality because of a highly efficient intermediary sales force that can now scale their business without impediments,” added Tay.

Since its inception, Surer claims to have clocked 350 intermediary signups and demo requests. More than 1,000 insurance proposals have been sent, and over US$887,148 in gross written premiums are transacted on the platform.

The startup expects to achieve the GWP surpassing the US$1.5 million milestones by the end of 2021.

In 2020, global insurers suffered from a loss of around US$55 billion due to COVID-19 and looked for digitisation solutions to better serve their customers in a new context. Buoyed by this surging demand, global investors funded insurtech firms to an all-time high of US$7.5 billion last year and were expected to accelerate in the Southeast Asia market in 2021. 

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Image Credit: Surer

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Fika, an AI-powered social and dating platform in Vietnam, has secured US$1.6 million in seed funding led by Swedish firm VNV Global.

Global Founders Capital and Keith Richman’s angel fund 31 Atlantic are the co-investors in the round.

A handful of global angels also participated, including Bryan Pelz (founder of VNG), Brian Ma (from Iterative Capital and founder of new unicorn Divvy Homes), Sebastian Knutsson (founder of Swedish unicorn King), Jussi Salovaara (co-founder of Antler), Madeleine Magnerius (VP at EQT Ventures), and Therese Mannheimer (CEO at Grace Health).

With the new investment, Fika targets expanding its talent bench, developing the app’s AI capabilities, and enhancing its exposure in Vietnam. 

The startup also looks to grow into new Asian regions before expanding globally in the long run.

Also read: Is AI the future of dating in 2021?

Founded in 2020, Fika is a female-focused dating platform that prioritises safety and authenticity for users while forming and maintaining meaningful friendships. It focuses on creating an environment that is better suited to females instead of skewing towards men, who make up 75 per cent of the user base of traditional dating apps.

The startup uses AI technology to understand users’ interests, likes and the kinds of profiles they swipe for and against to create tailored matches, suggestions and recommendations to support long-lasting relationships. 

Besides, it also assists them from making friends to finding love and then deepening relationships through its Couple’s Version. This version serves as a private online area for the couple to plan dates, chat, and receive information about their relationships, such as birthdays and anniversaries.

Fika requires registers to pass a manual verification check to protect its users. About 40 per cent of Fika’s users were recorded to fail.

The platform currently focuses on Vietnam, a country with 100 million people and a median age of 32. 

The app has clocked over 600,000 downloads so far.

“Fika is dedicated to helping find meaningful connections. The only way such truly meaningful connections are made and maintained is by creating an environment that encourages more women, one that makes women feel safe and secure,” said CEO and co-founder Denise Sandquist.

According to a report by Statista, revenue from the online dating market in Vietnam in 2021 is expected to reach US$26 millio. It will rise at a CAGR of 10.13 per cent during the 2021-2025 period.

By 2025, the number of Vietnamese users in the online dating sector is slated to reach 4.8 million.

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Image credit: Fika

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Creative Galileo, a Singapore-based edutech startup focussing on children in the three to ten age bracket, has raised US$2.5 million in a round led by Indian VC firm Kalaari Capital.

Harish Bahl (Smile Group), Shashin Shah (Think Investments), Jinesh Patel (Integra Partners), Atul Nishar (Hexaware Technologies), Ashwin Puri (Facebook), and Giridhar Malpani, also co-invested.

The capital will be used for scaling, product development and enhancement, creating new engaging content, forging partnerships with leading animation houses, and hiring.

Also Read: Edutech is surging, but here are the 3 issues it is facing

Founded in July 2020 by Prerna Jhunjhunwala and Nikhil Naik, Creative Galileo aims to transform early learning globally. It focuses on the six learning domains — numeracy, language, arts and aesthetics, social and emotional learning, motor skills, and world discovery.

Its Kids Early Learning App is a character-based app that leverages technology to emphasise personalised needs, inquiry-based learning methods, and experiential activities via narrative videos, gamification, and personalised learning journeys.

According to the startup, this results in a fun, interactive curriculum for children and their parents. Parents can also keep track of their children’s performance via success rates and graphs to provide individualised and customised experiences.

Since its launch, the app claims to have clocked over four million downloads and over 500,000 monthly active users.

Apart from the Indian subcontinent, the app is also gaining traction in international markets, with 10 per cent downloads recorded from Nepal, Bangladesh, UAE, the US and other countries.

Creative Galileo’s immediate expansion plans will focus on scaling up in emerging markets within Southeast Asia. It will integrate local languages from the region, such as Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia, into the app.

Over the next 12-14 months, Creative Galileo aims to achieve ten million downloads across all markets.

The company has also partnered with leading industry players and studios for kids’ content such as Big Animation, Toonz Animation, Amar Chitra Katha, Shemaroo and Periwinkle to continue providing quality content, gamification, and interactive learning journeys.

Also Read: Edutech is opening up opportunities, but we need to get it right

Jhunjhunwala said: “Early childhood learning lies at the heart of kids’ future and greatly determines their long-term success. We envision providing millions of children in emerging markets in Southeast Asia with access to high-quality content for learning in their early years to provide a robust educational foundation while also keeping the process fun. Alongside enhancing our app by adding more kids’ characters and region-specific languages, the funding helps us onboard talent and enter new markets. This will propel our efforts to create more personalised, inclusive and relatable content that helps with the early development of children.”

Southeast Asia is home to 700 million people, of which 26 per cent fall within the school-attending age group. However, access to quality education is still often limited and unevenly spread across the region, a gap primarily attributed to the region’s large rural population, often inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of trained educators and funding.

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Image Credit: Creative Galileo

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Vietnam in 2020 overtook Singapore’s GDP and became the third-largest economy in ASEAN. Immediately after the new national ​leadership was elected at the Communist Party of VVietnam’s Congress in January 2021, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed a vital document entitled National Strategy on R&D and Application of Artificial Intelligence or the Strategy Document.

The 14-page document outlines plans and initiatives for Vietnam to “promote research, development and application of AI, making it an important technology of Vietnam in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Vietnam aims to become “the centre for innovation, development of AI solutions and applications in ASEAN and worldwide” by 2030.

The strategy document provides some directions to where Vietnam should go in the next decade with ambitious goals.

Vietnam follows China’s and other Asian countries’ footsteps in becoming a techno-developmental state which takes advantage of technological changes for economic developments.

It outlines what 16 ministries and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology need to do in the next 10 years. But the document does not show how other players such as startup founders, civil society, and the primary beneficiaries of AI –i.e. everyday users in Vietnam’s AI economy– should do.

It also has no mention of the role of AI ethics in this development.

Without any consideration to important ethical issues such as privacy and surveillance, bias and discrimination, and the role of human judgment, AI development in the country might only benefit a small group of people and possibly bring harm to others.

Also Read: Leveraging AI, big data and blockchain to build your dream home

Funding

AI developments need a large amount of funding from various sources such as international venture capital firms, local venture capitalists, government fundings, or companies’ profits.

Funding of AI development in Vietnam is lagging behind other Southeast Asian countries. In 2019, Vietnam’s AI investment per capita was under US$1, while the Southeast Asian leader Singapore has US$68 worth of AI investment per capita.

VC investment suffered in the first half of 2020 due to COVID-19. However, with the government’s assistance, there has been some sign of improvement regarding fundings shortly.

At the Vietnam Venture Summit 2020, both foreign and domestic investors pledged to invest US$800 million in Vietnam’s startup ecosystem.

According to Crunchbase, currently, there are 155 venture capital investors with investments in the country.  

Tech startups that received the most investments are in e-commerce, fintech and AI. The government also provided state funding at the national and city level to encourage entrepreneurship.

As a result, the startup ecosystem in cities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi thrived in 2020, before the fourth wave of COVID-19 hit the country in April 2021. 

The strategy document outlines the role of the Ministry of Planning and Investment to “attract venture capital funds to innovative AI startups in Vietnam.” The question remains open as to what the plans to bring international capital for domestic technological development are; which specific areas of AI should be the main areas of investment; how would the money be distributed, and will there be any accountability mechanisms, and who are these accountability entities?

Businesses

The development of AI in Vietnam has been driven primarily by private businesses. The strategy document outlines a push towards digitisation and industry 4.0 to create incentives for companies to become more aware of the potential of data science and AI.

Vietnamese companies are still in the early stage of development.

Also Read: Why is Vietnam going to emerge the strongest post-COVID-19?

Only a few large corporations are prominent in the AI space, notably FPT, Vingroup, and Zalo, who have the resources to invest in AI research, development, and deployment.

From our conversations with professionals in the space, smaller companies run into a critical challenge: product-market fit. To what extent is the Vietnamese public willing to adopt new AI solutions as opposed to existing solutions?

As Nam Nguyen, the CTO of an e-commerce company in Ho Chi Minh City puts it: “fit takes a lot of money to invest in AI, but its economic benefits are not yet significant. Businesses in Vietnam will not jump on this AI bandwagon. Only big companies with extra capital can be in this AI playing field.” This problem is also prevalent in countries where AI is more mature. Many companies in the US, for example, are still struggling to scale AI solutions where AI was developed before finding customers who are willing to adopt it.

Vietnamese companies also have to compete against foreign or imported AI solutions and the lack of venture capital from domestic and foreign funds. Future strategy documents should address these particular issues in detail. 

Talent pool

There is no shortage of technical talent, but AI education is relatively new in Vietnam. Most of the tech workforce is still working in outsourcing.

The talent pool is young and specialised: young because the majority of the talent pool is IT graduates, working data scientists, or software engineers with few years of experience, and specialised because there is a strong affinity to acquire a technical skillset in niche machine-learning areas (e.g. deep learning, GANs, reinforcement learning)— as opposed to a more general product or project management skillset.

Skilled talents often look for professional opportunities abroad, where salaries would be drastically higher.

Furthermore, these opportunities would enable them to actively participate in the research, development, and deployment of state-of-the-art AI technologies in more AI-mature countries.

Given this landscape, there are challenging conditions to retain talents in Vietnam effectively:

• Salaries have to be competitive, compared to regional (i.e. Southeast Asia) and global markets.
• There have to be professional development opportunities for talent (e.g. courses, international conferences, etc.) to keep up-to-date with the latest trends and practices in AI development.

As Tuan Anh, a research scientist at VinAI, claims: “We need to attract Vietnamese scientists back to Vietnam. The key issue is still the salary. It’s difficult for a Vietnamese-based company to compete with Google, DeepMind, Microsoft when it comes to salary.” It is worth mentioning that there is also a language barrier to learning AI. As AI education material is predominantly in English, it is crucial to enable young talents with the necessary language learning support and more technical education in AI.

Also Read: Why BNPL will change the payment landscape in Vietnam?

“Students in special programmes have English curricula. However, it only accepts 50-60 students per year,” says Khoat Than, a professor at Hanoi University of Science & Technology.

Public perception of AI and the missing ethics conversation

In Vietnam, AI is viewed overwhelmingly positively. It is regarded as a catalytic force for economic and technological advancement. In the public mind, the concept of what AI is, how it is used, and who it affects are not as clear.

Due to the push towards digitization and industry 4.0, the Vietnamese may see AI only as a tool reserved for industries. Some implementation of natural language processing and computer vision is used to further business objectives.

However, these cases are only among many AI applications that the public has already been using in their everyday lives. It might not be immediately apparent that the routes that Grab drivers use to navigate the heterogeneous street network in Saigon are selected by an algorithm, or that the discounted products they see as they log onto e-commerce websites such as Shopee or Tiki may be recommended to them by an algorithm.

This acute awareness is essential because it expands the public’s perspective on the role AI plays in benefiting or harming their lives.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, “rice ATMs,” the automatic rice dispensing machines, were invented and deployed in many cities to provide rice both contactless and free-of-charge to low-income communities. What is often left out in the reports of this story is that facial recognition was also used to ensure compliance with the authorities.

This critical emphasis on AI involvement is the first step in shaping the conversation around AI and its impacts in Vietnam as a part of the much larger global discourse.

The public needs to start having the many conversations about AI around privacy, trust, bias, cybersecurity, and ethics, as well as the nuances, risks, and trade-offs of these aspects (e.g. privacy paradox).

AI ethics is an emergent field concerning the moral agency of machines and humans who design, develop, and deploy them. In practice, AI ethics is understood as a set of ethical principles, informs designers and developers about the harms of AI systems.

Specifically, the harms pertain to various areas: bias (e.g. gender bias in computer-aided health diagnosis), transparency, explainability, and sustainability (e.g. carbon emission of training large language models), among many others.

Also Read: Vietnam’s audiobook app Fonos raises US$1.1M seed round to become “super app”

The responsibilities of creating ethical AI systems and mitigating harms caused by these systems have fallen onto both corporate and societal organisations. Furthermore, ethical issues and impacts of AI are discussed widely among media, the public, policymakers, academia, and industry, thus establishing a dynamic and interdisciplinary environment where AI systems are created and criticised.

In Vietnam, not only is AI ethics absent from media and public policy discussions but it is also missing in engineering education.

Than, a professor at Hanoi University of Science & Technology notes: “I ethics at the college level lacks for engineering students. What students learn at universities are still ethics in computer science.” Colleges and universities should invest in not only learning from the learning and teaching of this curriculum,  adopting terminologies from the global discourse; they should also invest in doing research, particularly social science, that examines societal impacts of technology in Vietnam.”

At the governmental level, Vietnam can look to other Asian countries which have drafted national strategy documents that created a framework to make AI. One example is the Responsible AI for All Strategy Document, recently published by Niti Aayog, a premier think-tank by the Indian government.

It outlines potential ethical issues that AI would create and that many of those issues need new legal frameworks that different governmental bodies need to work together to address. 

Conclusion

Vietnam has entered the early phase of AI development; the strategy document is by no means the last that the government would produce.

We recommend the new leadership consider other aspects of AI development, including ethical considerations, legal frameworks, and creating partnerships with investors, civil society, and common users to create frameworks to address ethical problems native to Vietnamese community.

Vietnam should be conversing with global AI technologists and ethicists as AI development is truly a global phenomenon. 

This article is co-written by Khoa Lam, For Humanity.

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InnoVen Capital, a debt provider to venture-backed tech companies, today announced a new Southeast Asia-focussed fund: InnoVen SEA Fund.

The fund has completed its first close of US$50 million with InnoVen Capital and will be seeking additional investors to participate in the fund. It will be led by Partners Paul Ong and Ben Cheah. Its launch followed the recent launch of its US$100 million InnoVen Capital India Fund in September.

“The Southeast Asia venture ecosystem is maturing, with a record number of unicorns minted, notable exit activities and significant global investment capital inflows observed this year. We have laid the foundations for a franchise that is synonymous with venture debt in the region, and the new fund will help us deepen our engagement and collaborations, and strengthen our continuity in supporting the region’s technology companies and its talented founders,” said Ong.

Also Read: A horse of another: Here’s the full list of Southeast Asia’s 24 unicorns

InnoVen Capital is a joint venture between Seviora, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek, and United Overseas Bank. With presence in India, China, and Singapore, it has worked with leading names in the SEA startup ecosystem such as Carsome, Ruangguru, Tiki, Akulaku and eFishery, with cumulative loan disbursements of more than US$180 million.

A typically sector-agnostic fund, InnoVen Capital seeks to work with tech companies that have raised capital from VCs and other institutional investors.

Mainly focussing on Series A and beyond, the firm also looks at seed and Pre-Series A deals selectively. They also provide follow-up loans to existing portfolio companies as it continues to grow.

Cheah said, “Venture debt in Southeast Asia has come a long way from being relatively unknown five years ago to being an integral part of the entrepreneur’s fundraising toolkit. As the Southeast Asian ecosystem continues to mature, we expect the demand for venture debt to increase as more companies take advantage of less dilutive capital to grow even faster.”

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AUM Biosciences, a Singapore-based global clinical-stage biotech company, has completed its US$27 million Series A financing round.

The round was co-led by Singapore-based Everlife (an analytical, medical and lab devices market access and distribution platform) and health sciences VC firm SPRIM Global Investments.

Upon receiving the funding, AUM will expedite the clinical development and business growth of oncology therapies, particularly for cancers with a clear genetic marker.

According to a press statement, the proceeds from this round will be used to immediately initiate the startup’s phase II programmes for oncology drugs — MNK and TRK inhibitors.

Also read: Are biomedicine and healthcare coming of age? 

Founded in 2018 by industry veterans Vishal Doshi (CEO) and Harish Dave (CMO), AUM develops innovative and affordable oncology therapeutics for Asia. It focuses on drugging what might be considered the undruggable targets and addresses the need to delay and overcome resistance to targeted drugs in oncology.

AUM claims that it has clocked annual peak sales up to US$3 billion, contributing to the development of several currently marketed oncology treatments.

Leveraging its in-house research capabilities, the firm leads a multi-modality lineup of small molecule targeted therapies — one antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) and four biologics.

Earlier this year, AUM formed a strategic collaboration with two Korea-based pharmaceuticals manufacturers — Handok and CMG Pharmaceutical. It also seeks more strategic associations in the coming two quarters, with an upcoming partnership with Singapore’s healthcare company MSD and Handoc.

AUM Biosciences and Newsoara Biopharma also announced a 5-year transformational strategic partnership in 2020 to co-develop and co-discover next-generation cancer therapeutics.

The pandemic has been a boon for Singapore’s biotech startups, which attracted total funding of US$360 million only during the first half of 2021.

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