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In Tokyo, Singapore, HR & People Engagement

Four Companies Collaborate to Support DX in Manufacturing

Fujitsu, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., SAP Japan Co., Ltd. and Skillnote Corporation plan to collaborate on the development of platform services supporting digital transformation (DX) in the manufacturing industry, with a focus on the manufacturing of aircraft, railways, ships and large machinery.

Finding ways to respond flexibly to rapid changes in the global economy, including a dramatic reduction in the working age population in many developed countries, represents an ongoing challenge for the manufacturing industry.

To this end, the demand for measures to ensure business continuity throughout the supply chain and to standardize and systemize technologies and skills is gaining increasing importance.

Many on-site production management tasks still rely on manual labor, however, and especially small and medium-sized manufacturers often face barriers to DX adoption, including trouble securing skilled workers and difficulty in calculating the return on investment.

There also remain concerns that the local digitization and systematization of individual companies may create organizational silos that hinder overall optimization of the entire supply chain and operations linked to the engineering chain.

To address these challenges and to provide a basis for efficient, continuous high-quality manufacturing by using common data and information, Fujitsu, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, SAP Japan and Skillnote plan to develop manufacturing platform services “co-created” with users.

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In Singapore, Featured, Announcements, Foundries

SAP.iO Foundry Singapore and HCLTech Launch Intelligent Enterprise Program

November 25, 2022 — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) and HCLTech launched a virtual startup program focused on the Intelligent Enterprise at SAP.iO Foundry Singapore. Five international startups have been selected by a jury of experts from SAP and HCLTech to join the program. These startups are building innovative solutions for companies in the following areas: Industry 4.0, sustainability, and the metaverse.

The long-term future of companies depends on their ability to proactively respond to today’s challenging, unprecedented market conditions. To compete in a highly disruptive and rapidly evolving world, companies must be able to rewire their organizations to create efficient, automated business processes – applying advanced technologies to transform static, siloed processes into agile, intelligent workflows.

“Asia is home to some of the most innovative countries in the world. Along with a huge and rapidly growing young talent pool, we are also seeing significant investments flowing into the region, making it a hotbed for startup innovation, said Paul Marriott, President, SAP Asia Pacific and Japan. “Through this collaboration with HCLTech, we are bringing together the right technology, support, and insight to further accelerate startup innovation and introduce game-changing solutions – especially in the areas most essential in building future-readiness – to more of our customers, more quickly.”

The 13-week program, in collaboration with HCLTech’s SAP Ecosystem Unit and eSTiPTM, its flagship open innovation platform and program, offers startups access to curated mentorship from SAP and HCLTech executives, exposure to SAP® technology and application programming interfaces (APIs), and opportunities to collaborate with SAP and HCLTech customers around the world.

“HCLTech is a catalyst for change, and our commitment to innovation only strengthens with this program that we are driving in collaboration with SAP.iO. We jointly aspire for accelerated growth for our customers, leveraging niche and meaningful innovations. We are keen to establish our thought leadership in the areas of sustainability and Industry 4.0, and this collaboration is a step towards that”, said Kalyan Kumar, Chief Technology Officer and Head, Ecosystems at HCLTech. 

The following startups are participating in the program:

  1. H3 Dynamics combines machine learning, remote telerobotics and off-grid capabilities for drone services that can deploy and manage commercial condition monitoring, security and safety solutions.
  2. DeepBrain specializes in humanizing digital customer service and bridging the gap between enterprises and their customers.
  3. Invigilo enhances workplace safety culture by enabling real-time and continuous monitoring using AI-video analytics.
  4. WeavAir enables companies to measure carbon emissions based on energy consumed by real estate and transportation assets.
  5. Versafleet automates modern supply chains with route optimization, electronic proof-of-delivery, instant notifications and real-time job-status tracking.

For program developments and opportunities to participate in innovation workshops with the selected startups, look out for updates on https://sap.io/sgp-f22/.

About HCLTech

HCLTech is a global technology company, home to 219,000+ people across 54 countries, delivering industry-leading capabilities centered around digital, engineering and cloud, powered by a broad portfolio of technology services and products. We work with clients across all major verticals, providing industry solutions for Financial Services, Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Technology and Services, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG, and Public Services. Consolidated revenues as of 12 months ending September 2022 totaled $12.1 billion. To learn how we can supercharge progress for you, visit hcltech.com.

About SAP.iO

SAP.iO delivers new partnerships and products for SAP by accelerating and scaling startup innovation as well as incubating employee ventures. SAP.iO brings together innovators from every region, industry, and line of business to transform how businesses run. Since 2017, SAP.iO has helped 450+ external startups and internal ventures accelerate their growth while enabling thousands of SAP customers to access innovation. For more information, visit http://sap.io/.

In Singapore, HR & People Engagement

Skillnote Goes Global with Manufacturing Skills Management on SAP Store

When you fire up your laptop or switch on your car, you probably don’t think much about the manufacturing involved in these great inventions of modern life or the human skills required to produce them. Sure, automation and robotics and all manner of technology are employed; but it’s people with specialized capabilities that are the brains behind it. This is the domain of Skillnote, a popular app on SAP Store that helps manufacturers manage employee skills, qualifications, and certifications. Why is this such a big deal? In short, because precise skills and training management are necessary to meet customer requirements and international standards for quality assurance. That’s how manufacturers ensure that your indispensable devices work reliably as finely tuned machines.

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In Singapore, Funding Announcement

Delivery Hero Ventures backs Staple’s seed round

Staple, a SaaS data management firm based in Singapore, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from Delivery Hero Ventures.

The company, founded in 2018 by its CEO Ben Stein and Josh Kettlewell, helps businesses automate document processing using AI.

According to Stein, Staple’s software interprets and reorganizes data, helping companies deal with large volumes of unstructured information such as transactional documents and tax filings when communicating with other organizations.

The firm currently serves a diverse set of enterprises – financial institutions, online grocery retailers, and professional services firms.

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In Singapore, Sustainability

iO in Style: The SAP Fashion Customer Council Recap

The latest SAP Fashion Customer Council took place online on April 7th, 2022, where 25 of SAP’s strategic customers in fashion came together to discuss the industry’s latest innovations and pain points, with sustainability front and center on the runway. SAP.iO startups CarbonClick and Shippeo were chosen to present their comprehensive solutions that are solving SAP fashion customers’ biggest challenges, and most importantly, shared how their solutions are leading the way to a more sustainable future.

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In HR & People Engagement, Singapore, Funding Announcement

wagely nets additional $8.3m in oversubscribed pre-series A funding

wagely, Asia’s fastest-growing financial wellness platform has raised $8.3 million in an oversubscribed pre-series A funding as the company scales its platform to help workers access their earned salaries on demand in Indonesia and Bangladesh. The funding comes in just seven months after securing its seed funding.

The oversubscribed round was led by East Ventures (Growth Fund) with participation from existing backers, including Integra Partners, the Asian Development Bank, Global Founders Capital, Trihill Capital, Blauwpark Partners, and 1982 Ventures which brings the total funding raised to $14 million in less than two years.

wagely also disclosed that it secured the backing of Central Capital Ventura, the VC arm of Indonesia’s largest private bank, Bank Central Asia (“BCA”). The investment into wagely underpins the commitment to expand the digital financial ecosystem and drive financial wellness solutions across Indonesia.

With stagnant incomes, rising costs of living, and lack of savings, workers are under daily pressure staying afloat financially. The options for this segment are very limited when faced with an urgent need for cash. The result is a vicious cycle of repeated reliance on payday loans and other costly financial products leading to omnipresent financial stress among the workforce. Launched in 2020, wagely is building a holistic financial wellness platform with earned wage access (“EWA”) at its core that lets workers of partner employers access their earned wages in real-time. The concept, which has been proven in several markets across the globe, has been adopted by some of the most renowned organizations, including Walmart, Pizza Hut, and Visa, to reduce turnover, enhance productivity, and increase business savings.

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In Singapore, Supply Chain Management

Sustainable AI Turns Small Data Into Huge Results For Manufacturers And Researchers

Sparse modeling AI is edging out traditional deep learning to become the technology of choice for product manufacturers and medical researchers because it ticks off all the boxes for modern quality control: explainability, energy efficiency, and speed. Just ask some of the customers from Hacarus, a Japan-based startup that’s developed a standout AI-fueled visual inspection solution.

“Sparse modeling AI is a surprising revelation for our clients that need to innovate faster while meeting high-quality standards, whether it’s electric vehicles, luxury watches, or drug discovery,” said Kenshin Fujiwara, CEO and founder of Hacarus. “They’re amazed at how we’re tackling traditional AI’s dirty secret, reducing the high energy costs of data collection and training, which saves time and our planet’s resources.”

A green, explainable AI alternative

According to some studies, training a single AI model using traditional machine learning (ML) can equal the carbon emissions of five cars across their entire lifecycles. That’s because ML algorithms attempt to “understand” every detail gleaned from huge amounts of data from scratch. In contrast, sparse modeling doesn’t require training from tens of thousands of images to yield a strong model for prediction. Because it starts with built-in assumptions, restrictions, and hypotheses, sparse modeling saves time by ignoring what’s already known. This reduces computational time and energy consumption.

On the factory floor, manufacturers need far fewer samples of both good and bad product parts to train the AI model, speeding up visual product inspections to detect defects and anomalies without sacrificing sustainability. Inside research labs, sparse modeling yields more explainable AI. For example, scientists exploring new drug treatments can more easily distinguish chemical compound reactions. In one pilot project with a pharmaceutical company in Japan, Hacarus’ solution performed 56 times faster than a deep learning algorithm.

“Sparse modeling is ideal for any precision engineering equipment or research company developing advanced products with less data,” Fujiwara. “Electric vehicle parts are a great example because it’s a brand new sector. Automakers and suppliers can create a reliable, AI-based model with as little as 20 images. It delivers the equivalent results of deep learning in a fraction of the time and energy.”

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In Foundries, Singapore, HR & People Engagement

SAP Startup Spotlight: Accredify

Quah Zheng Wei is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Accredify. Zheng Wei leads the team in establishing the company’s strategic vision and direction, focusing on business development, partnerships, and sales. He started his career in BNP Paribas Investment Banking where he worked on corporate finance deals in the Energy and Natural Resources team. He later joined FOMO Pay, a payments fintech startup as the Chief Partnership Officer, and helped them grow from 120 to 2000 clients within 12 months. In this interview, he talks about what Accredify has to offer, how its solution works, and what’s next for the startup.

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In Singapore, Funding Announcement, Supply Chain Management

Smart IoT tracking startup Tag-n-Trac launches with $10M in new funding

“Internet of things” tracking startup Tag-n-Trac Inc. today launched out of stealth with $10 million in new funding.

Dell Technologies led the Series A round, with Merck Global Innovation Fund and Aerosafe Global also participating. Including the new funding, Tag-n-Trac has raised $11.8 million to date, according to data from Crunchbase.

Founded in 2020, Tag-n-Trac was founded with the goal of modernizing the entire logistics lifecycle. The company offers a full-stack IoT solution that integrates multiple modes of hardware, software and data technology to build smarter solutions that solve complex problems. The founding team consists of senior executives with engineering leadership experience in WiFi, Bluetooth, sensors and positioning technologies.

Tag-n-Trac says its platform offers complete, real-time visibility into the entire global supply chain ecosystem. The company’s technology combines low-cost “printable” hardware sensors and a sensor-agnostic software-asa-serivce platform to help shippers, logistics providers and manufacturers track goods’ location, status and condition from manufacturing to shipping to delivery.

The Tag-n-Trac platform, powered by wireless Bluetooth and cellular smart label technologies, grants a complete end-to-end view to help efficiently address production obstacles such as temperature excursions, tamper detection and potential diversions. Usable in various verticals, Tag-n-Trac works with supply chain partners, including multi-modal third-party logistics, enterprise resource planning, business intelligence software providers, and packaging and labeling manufacturers.

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In Supply Chain Management, Singapore

For the Botsync team, collaborative automation will be key to accelerating digitalization in logistics

Digital transformation is playing a big part in the strategy and operations of businesses today. The market size for digital transformation will grow from $1.5 trillion annually this year to $2.8 trillion by 2025. And yet some businesses might find challenges in complexity, manpower, and resources.

In this TechNode Global Q&A with the founding team at Botsync, we learn how collaborative automation is geared toward addressing these challenges. The company is a robotics startup founded in Singapore that specializes in AMR-based (Autonomous Mobile Robot) automation solutions. Botsync has journeyed from seed funding and accelerator programs to securing a co-created innovation project with Bollore Logistics Singapore to transform its conventional warehouse handling with an AMR-based automation solution.

What are the key trends driving innovation in the logistics industry?

  1. Digitalization: Companies more than ever before are looking at digitalizing their entire supply chain starting at the factory floor. Having this level of transparency is key to making quick decisions to respond effectively to severe market conditions and staying competitive
  2. The increasing complexity of logistics: The complexity of logistics has grown significantly with the growth in e-commerce. Faster delivery expectations and every increasing type and size of parts being handled warrant significant growth in the entire logistics process.
  3. Minimizing contact points: In recent times, it is becoming critical to evaluate operations and find ways to ensure minimum human contact. With growing economic opportunities present in today’s digital age, the availability of general workers for manual logistics operations is decreasing all over the world. And with the bulk of logistics operations still dependent on manual labor, automation and digitalization will soon become crucial factors to ensure business continuity.
  4. Collaborative automation: With companies increasingly looking at automation implementations, automation systems need to be able to co-exist with other manual processes on the warehouse and factory. This is critical as most companies cannot afford a complete transition to an automated facility, hence collaborative robotics will be key to ensure a successful transition to automation.

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In Singapore, Supply Chain Management

H3 Dynamics Launches World’s Most Advanced Drone Charging Station

H3 Dynamics announces the launch of DBX-G7, a brand new vertiport system for autonomous drone operations. Smarter, faster, and multi-modal with 5G and 4G, DBX was designed to scale on-going digitization efforts in safety compliance, maintenance and crisis management.

Applications range from smart cities across Asia to various types of industrial sites worldwide.

Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, DBX-G7 is a direct response to the new telepresence and remote work paradigm. DBX performs all the functions of an on-site drone pilot: navigation, docking, stowing, battery charging, data retrieval, transmission, and cloud-based processing. Autonomous systems such as DBX help reduce the need for on-site presence and can help alleviate rising labour shortage pressures.

“With accelerating digitization, the need for structural scans is also growing while pilot availability is limited. We are looking to close the gap with our DBX autonomous drone stations.” Says Samuel Chauffaille, head of H3 Dynamics’ robotics systems division.

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In Singapore, Funding Announcement, Supply Chain Management

NavVis Adds Fresh Funding To Fulfill Its Mission To Digitize Commercial Buildings And Assets

NavVis is a global leader in end-to-end solutions for reality capture and digital twins. The company is on a mission to bridge the gap between the physical and digital world by enabling immediate access to building information, anytime, anywhere. The NavVis product offering includes the world’s most advanced reality capture solution, which allows for rapid digitization of buildings and assets, and cloud-based digital twin software for the manufacturing and construction sector.

NavVis announced that they have received 25€m of fresh equity funding that complements the recent 20€m debt funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), raising the total investment to 85€m. The round was led by Cipio Partners, with additional capital from previous investors, BayBG, MIG, Target Partners, Digital+ Partners, and Kozo Keikaku Engineering, making NavVis one of the best-funded deep tech startups in Europe.

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In Sustainability, Announcements, Singapore, Featured

SAP.iO Foundry Singapore Launches Sustainability Startup Program in Asia-Pacific and Japan

November 25, 2021 — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today launched a sustainability-focused virtual startup program at SAP.iO Foundry Singapore. Six international startups have been selected by a jury of SAP experts and partners to join the program.

New ideas and innovative solutions are essential to uncover the impact of emissions and waste across every facet of a business. The selected startups use next generation technologies to drive sustainability outcomes for companies across Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ), in areas such as climate action, circular economy, and socially responsible supply chains.

Over the next 13 weeks, the startups will have access to curated mentorship from SAP executives, exposure to SAP® technology and application programming interfaces (APIs), and opportunities to collaborate with SAP customers around the world.

“Achieving our sustainability goals will require all of us to work together at pace, as our planet’s time is running out,” says Paul Marriott, President SAP Asia Pacific and Japan. “Initiatives such as this SAP.iO Foundry program are critical in identifying, enabling, and promoting innovative solutions that can change how our customers’ business is run, and ultimately the impact we have on the world. This program not only helps start-ups accelerate their growth, but it’s also one of the quickest ways to bring the latest innovation to thousands of our customers globally.”

The following startups are participating in the sustainability in APJ program:

  • Ambee helps people to breathe clean air using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to analyze air quality, soil, micro weather, pollen, and more.
  • CarbonClick is a carbon credits marketplace that allows customers to purchase audited carbon offsets, as well as measure and reduce their carbon footprint.
  • givvable helps businesses to discover and track sustainability credentials, attributes and initiatives of suppliers.
  • Resync is a cloud energy management company which manages renewable assets, building energy and industrial energy.
  • Unabiz drives data-driven business efficiency through sensors, manufacturing and cloud platform services for smart metering, smart facilities management, smart logistics and supply chain.
  • WePower connects corporate energy buyers and retailers with green energy generators so all businesses, regardless of size, can purchase locally produced green energy at competitive rates with full transparency.

About SAP.iO
SAP.iO delivers new partnerships and products for SAP by accelerating and scaling startup innovation as well as incubating employee ventures. SAP.iO brings together innovators from every region, industry, and line of business to transform how businesses run. Since 2017, SAP.iO has helped 330+ external startups and internal ventures accelerate their growth while enabling thousands of SAP customers to access innovation. For more information, visit https://sap.io/.

In Singapore, Supply Chain Management

H3 Dynamics Launches World’s Most Advanced Drone Charging Station

H3 Dynamics announces the launch of DBX-G7, a brand new vertiport system for autonomous drone operations. Smarter, faster, and multi-modal with 5G and 4G, DBX was designed to scale on-going digitization efforts in safety compliance, maintenance and crisis management. Applications range from smart cities across Asia to various types of industrial sites worldwide.

Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, DBX-G7 is a direct response to the new tele-presence and remote work paradigm. DBX performs all the functions of an on-site drone pilot: navigation, docking, stowing, battery charging, data retrieval, transmission, and cloud-based processing. Autonomous systems such as DBX help reduce the need for on-site presence, and can help alleviate rising labor shortage pressures.

“With accelerating digitization, the need for structural scans is also growing while pilot availability is limited. We are looking to close the gap with our DBX autonomous drone stations.” Says Samuel Chauffaille, head of H3 Dynamics’ robotics systems division.

H3 Dynamics has been deploying its AI-enabled digital inspection solutions to address the many thousands of high-rise buildings that require regular inspections in Singapore, most of which use using piloted drone operations. The company has expanded its solution through strategic partnerships, including on a SAP connectivity to send repair work orders directly from H3 Dynamics’ digital platform (see video). Enterprise software giant SAP and H3 Dynamics are now working together on an increasing number of industrial use cases.

Full Article found at : H3 Dynamics Launches World’s Most Advanced Drone Charging Station – UASweekly.com

 

 

In Singapore, Funding Announcement, Supply Chain Management

H3 Dynamics closes US$26M Series B to introduce long-range hydrogen-air logistics solutions

Singapore-headquartered advanced aerial mobility company, H3 Dynamics Holdings, has completed its US$26 million Series B investment round led by Japan’s SPARX Mirai Creation Fund (backed by Toyota Motor and SMBC).

Singapore’s EDBI, ACA investors, Capital Management Group, the Grosvenor Group, Audacy Ventures, Ascent Hydrogen Fund, and French strategic investors ATEQ also joined the round.

“Our investors recognise that this is a long journey and that we must first address our immediate markets while solving key technical and regulatory challenges before adding more complexity,” said H3 Dynamics founder and CEO Taras Wankewycz.

In June 2019, e27 reported that the startup was in the process of closing a US$16 million Series B round, led by SPARX Mirai Creation Fund.

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