EmTech Asia wraps on a high note with insightful discussions that inspire and motivate

SINGAPORE – The EmTech Asia 2016 conference, co-organized by MIT Technology Review and Koelnmesse Pte Ltd, closed on a high note. Insightful discussions were led by some of the world’s greatest minds leading research on emerging technology in the areas of machine learning, robotics, digital, health and food technology, transportation, fintech, gaming and augmented reality.

Some 600 delegates from over 20 countries attended EmTech Asia 2016. They were riveted by the breadth, sheer creativity and depth of discussions this year.

“The diversity of topics is pretty great. We’ve heard from Interpol talking about cybersecurity, a young woman talking about studying RNA and an incredible talk about high-throughput DNA sequencing and the enormous change in speed in which we can analyse genome sequencing, all in one afternoon, so I really enjoyed it. The mix in sessions have been great. There are so many people here; people from government, people from companies, entrepreneurs, scientists like myself. Everybody willing to talk to each other and everybody pretty amazed from what they’ve heard.” said Sir David Lane, Chief Scientist, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), pictured above.

Mattias Boström, Director of Product Management at Sensavis, a company that developed the 3D Classroom, said that they participated in EmTech Asia as a speaker and exhibitor to raise awareness that classrooms can be brought to life as well as to make new connections in the region. “If you are a company that wants to change something in the world, or wants to produce something in a way it has never been produced before, I would really recommend EmTech. [It represents] the future of technology.”

Key sponsors and partners of EmTech Asia this year included Host Partner Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Innovation Partner Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), Partners MIT Sloan Executive Education, Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) and Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). Sponsors included L’Oréal Research and Innovation, Analog Devices, MIT Professional Education and The Stakeholder Company. Sensavis, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Patsnap were the Technology Showcase Partners; CNBC was the Official Broadcast Partner. 

This year EmTech Asia featured a panel on The Future of Money, where speakers discussed fintech, biometrics and cybersecurity including Bitcoin as the Internet of money. The Tech Attracting Smart Money session was moderated by CNBC’s correspondent Akiko Fujita and was highly interactive with speakers talking about funding startups for commercialization and beyond. By the end of the second day, the audience was on the edge of their seats riveted by insightful discussions on the evolution of augmented realities brought about by games by Google’s Director of Games, RJ Mical and the impact of biofeedback in producing games by Flying Mollusk’s, Founder and Creative Director, Erin Reynolds.

EmTech Asia celebrated the 10 young innovators under the age of 35, recognised on the 2015 regional ‘Innovators under 35’ list by MIT Technology Review. Their inventions and research were found to be most ground breaking and exciting of more than 100 nominations from Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The 10 innovators selected presented a three-minute elevator pitch at the conference.

Pulkit Jaiswal, the Founder and CEO of SwarmX, as well as one of the TR35 honorees said, “Overall I had a really great experience at EmTech. You don’t really come across a lot of conferences where you see emerging technology at such a grassroots level. I especially enjoyed conversations with the guy who created Google Brain and another talk that was about creating relationship networks by The Stakeholder Company and I think those two talks really sold the show for me. It feels really good to be part of an elite group of people who are innovating at such a basic level and fundamentally changing their field.”

EmTech Asia will return in January 2017. Visit www.emtechasia.com to learn more.

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About EmTech Asia
EmTech Asia is where technology, business, and culture converge. It is the showcase for emerging technologies with the greatest potential to change our lives. It is an access point to the most innovative people and companies in the world. Most of all, it is a place of inspiration — an opportunity to glimpse the future and begin to understand the technologies that matter and how they will change the face of business and drive the new global economy. www.emtechasia.com

About MIT Technology Review
MIT Technology Review (www.technologyreview.com), which is wholly owned by MIT, creates award-winning technology-related editorial content on a variety of platforms for an audience of millions of business leaders, innovators, and thought leaders, in six languages and in 147 countries. At www.technologyreview.com readers access daily news and analysis, and the award-winning MIT Technology Review magazine has set the standard for technology publications since 1899. In addition to producing engaging live events, the company manages the global entrepreneurial organization MIT Enterprise Forum.

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About Koelnmesse
Koelnmesse Pte Ltd is one of the world's largest trade fair companies. Its more than 70 trade fairs and exhibitions have the broadest international scope in the industry, as 60 percent of the exhibitors and 40 percent of the visitors come from outside Germany. The Koelnmesse events include the leading global trade fairs for 25 sectors, such as Imm cologne, Anuga, IDS, INTERMOT, Interzum Cologne, Photokina, Gamescom, and the International Hardware Fair Cologne. Koelnmesse is MIT Technology Review’s local partner for EmTech Asia.