The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS), launched the Smart Port Challenge (SPC) 2020.
The project calls technology start-ups to submit proposals based on any of the 17 innovation opportunities that have been curated in collaboration with 15 maritime corporates and other partners this year.
It is stated that an innovation opportunity is focusing on maritime decarbonization.
Start-ups participating in this year’s challenge will have direct access to Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined @ BLOCK71 (PIER71) Venture Capital (VC) partner network for investment advice and opportunities. Also, PIER71 VC partners include Bernhard Schulte INNOPORT, PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH), Pacific Carriers Limited (PCL), PSA unboXed and TNB Aura.
The project aims to bridge opportunities in the shipping sector with innovative solutions that will be able to accelerate transformation within the industry, especially in the context of COVID-19.
Quah Ley Hoon, Chief Executive of MPA commented that
COVID-19 brings with it supply chain disruptions, but it also brings about opportunities for greater collaboration and partnership, both internally and externally … We now need to prepare for the new normal. And this leads to my second message – seize opportunities to accelerate digitalisation and innovative solutions.
Recently, MPA in collaboration with the National University of Singapore awarded 12 start-ups with $600,000 to implement and test-bed smart port-related prototypes and solutions.
Concluding, more than 400 technology start-ups from Singapore, China, Japan, Denmark, Netherlands to US have participated in SPC to date, with 32 of them receiving grant funding of over S$1.5 million in total to develop and test-bed their solutions.
