Dr. Tan Sian Wee, Senior Vice President (Innovation and Enterprise), NUSX, 

Distinguished Guests, Partners, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

1    Good afternoon. I am delighted to join you for the 10th edition of the Smart Port Challenge. 

2    Since 2017, the Challenge has brought start-ups and maritime companies together to solve industry problems. It has attracted more than 2,100 proposals, including a record 586 this year, from 39 countries. 

3    The Smart Port Challenge is a key initiative of PIER71, which MPA launched with NUSX in 2018. PIER71 brings technology, talent and investment into maritime, and helps new ventures accelerate their growth. It has since supported more than 200 start-ups, which have together raised 180 million Singapore Dollars in capital. 

4    We have come a long way in ten years. Many of our companies have proven their ideas, and some are already scaling. Our task for the next decade is to turn more of these ideas into lasting businesses. To get there, I would like to share three ambitions for what our companies in the PIER71 ecosystem can become: (i) Partners of choice. (ii) Pioneers of change. (iii) Providers worldwide. 

Partners of choice

5    Our first ambition is for our companies to become partners of choice. That starts with understanding customers’ problems, and tailoring solutions to solve them.  

6    The Smart Port Challenge is built for this. This year, maritime companies put forward 20 challenges based on real-world problems they face, across next generation port, smart shipping, green technologies and digitalisation. 28 companies have also signed letters of intent to explore pilots with our start-ups. For a young company, this is a chance to understand customers’ needs, and work together with them from the start. 

7    MPA also co-funds some of these pilots through our Maritime Innovation and Technology Fund, or MINT Fund. This helps start-ups prove their solutions in real operations, so customers can adopt them with confidence. Three of our Smart Port Challenge alumni received grants recently for projects supporting energy transition and crew welfare:

a.       GILLS, for trialling its proprietary air lubrication system on a fast ferry, to improve vessels’ power efficiency.

b.       CRecTech, for advancing bio-methanol as an alternative marine fuel by working with Pertamina NRE on a pilot plant in Indonesia.

c.       Sailor’s Cart, for building a digital platform that brings together online shopping, deliveries and welfare services for seafarers calling at our port.

8    We have seen start-ups become partners of choice this way, through pilots that answered a real need. Nexus Ocean AI, a finalist in the 2024 Smart Port Challenge, is one example. After a three-month pilot of its AI platform for chartering and commercial operations, it secured an annual contract with Allianz Bulk Carriers, and is now conducting pilot projects with Pacific International Lines and Steamships.

Pioneers of change

9   Our second ambition is for our companies to be pioneers of change, continuously redefining what technology can do for our industry. 

10   This year’s finalists and semi-finalists show what is possible: robots that clean cargo holds, reducing the need for crew to enter hazardous spaces; AI that detects cyber threats on ship networks; and even molluscs used as living sensors to warn ports of oil leaks. 

11   MPA remains committed to supporting our companies as they pioneer new solutions. Building on the in-water robotic hull cleaning initiative launched this year, we selected six partners – from 19 proposals across nine countries – to develop and trial robotic hull inspection and cleaning solutions in our port. These trials are co-funded through the MINT Fund. 

a.          One such beneficiary is AliciaBots, a Singapore-headquartered PIER71 start-up whose made-in-Singapore robots have cleaned over 100 merchant ships, and which has expanded into Europe. 

b.          Another Singapore start-up, Neptune Robotics, has also received MPA funding, and is partnering commodities giant and charterer Cargill to deploy its robots here. 

12   We know that developing new technologies can require significant investment. To connect more founders with investors, PIER71 launched Venture2Capital in April. Its first edition brought together six start-ups and 11 venture capital and corporate investors. I hope more of you will tap on it to raise the capital you need, and lead the next wave of maritime innovation.

13   Maritime companies have a role to play too. This year, we introduced a new grant under our Maritime Cluster Fund for Business Development. It helps companies anchor their innovation teams in Singapore, through innovation desks or corporate venture capital arms. These teams can scout solutions, collaborate on research or invest in start-ups. They can also tap our R&D expertise, regulatory sandboxes and co-funding. 

14   If your company is looking to grow its innovation work, I invite you to do so from Singapore. 

Providers worldwide

15   Our third ambition is for our companies to become providers worldwide. Maritime is an international industry. We should therefore build solutions for global markets.

16   KinetixPro, a participant in the 2024 Smart Port Challenge,  shows what this looks like. It uses AI and computer vision to improve safety and security at ports and industrial sites. Today, it is helping the Port of Esbjerg in Denmark detect intrusions along its perimeter. It is also establishing a European base in Hamburg through Digital Hub Logistics and Commerce, one of three new PIER71 partners this year.

17   Our other two new partners are PortXL in Rotterdam and Braid Theory in Los Angeles. These partnerships, together with our Ascend programme, help start-ups enter overseas markets, with access to local networks, programmes and market-entry support. I encourage our start-ups to use these connections to take their solutions to customers worldwide.

18   Going global also works the other way. Singapore should be the place where overseas start-ups come to test and grow their ideas. Through our Landing Pad programme, four did so this year. One of them, Belgian drone company ADLC, flew a 13-kilometre cargo drone route from the Maritime Drone Estate in Singapore to Pulau Sebarok, showing how drones could one day serve our offshore facilities. 

Looking Ahead

19   Why do these ambitions matter? Given our unique circumstances, innovation has always been key to how Maritime Singapore grows. Today, we have become one of the world’s busiest ports and International Maritime Centre.  Innovation also gives us the potential to become a leading technology solution provider for the world.

20   So we are in this for the long term. Over the past 20 years, the Ministry of Transport and MPA have committed over 500 million Singapore dollars in maritime research and innovation. Over the next five years, we will commit over 100 million Singapore dollars more. 

21   Innovation will also be a dedicated pillar of the Maritime Singapore Master Plan, which we are developing with industry to guide us over the next few decades. We will announce new strategies and programmes under it next year.

Conclusion

22   Let me thank NUSX, our corporate partners, and our prize sponsors, including Columbia Group and Temasek, for helping our ventures progress.

23    To our finalists: congratulations. I look forward to your pitches. And to those not yet part of PIER71: come and join us.

24    A pier is where voyages begin. Over ten editions, we have helped many start-ups set sail. In the decade ahead, let us help our start-ups and scale-ups go further – as partners of choice, pioneers of change, and providers worldwide. 

25    I wish everyone an enjoyable afternoon ahead. Thank you.