Participants Laud the Inaugural EmTech Singapore Event

3 February 2014 – SINGAPORE – EmTech Singapore, hosted by MIT Technology Review magazine and co-organized and managed by Koelnmesse Pte Ltd wrapped up recently to enthusiastic praise. Some 400 participants, including 42 speakers attended the event. EmTech Singapore brought together people from countries as diverse as Australia, Cambodia, China, Dubai, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, United States and Singapore to discuss the latest trends in emerging and disruptive technologies.

“Everything worked out perfectly and expectations were clearly met” said Howard Califano, President of the EmTech Singapore’s Steering Committee, and Director of the Innovation Centre at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research & Technology (SMART).

The agenda was divided up into themes spread across the two days. Multiple speakers delivered content pertinent to each theme in a rapid-fire format of 15-20 minutes per presentation. The themes explored emerging technologies in healthcare, big data, robotics, 3D printing and urban development. Speakers represented MIT, McLaren Applied Technologies, Twitter, Microsoft and The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), among others.

Participants were impressed and inspired by the agenda:

Tan Geok Leng, Executive Director of the Science and Engineering Research Council at A*STAR, an organization which encouraged 35 of its researchers and management staff to participate, commented, “We are always on the lookout for innovative forums that spark new research ideas. I came to this place to get inspired, and am always interested to benchmark other emerging technologies against  A*STAR’s research developments. It is also an opportunity for A*STAR to share our strengths and capabilities with the global research community, such as we did with the Urban Systems Initiative this year.”

Matthew Romaine, co-founder of Gengo, Inc remarked that "I think it's been really fascinating. I love the breadth of the subject matter, from the healthcare discussed yesterday to the 4D printing; even the Twitter presentation this morning was really cool. I got to ask a question around translation, since that is the space that I am in, and the answer was interesting".

Adrienne Ravez, Co Founder of Endorphine Concept Digital Agency said that she was “invited because I collaborate with different entities in Cambodia and I try to bring as much information as possible about technology and innovation. I was very surprised, because at first I came to get information about technology, but I scored many other things, like learning about innovation, agriculture, and I think (EmTech) is really interesting. I would love to attend again. If next year the program is as exciting, I will come back for sure.”

Govindharaju Venkidachalam, Vice President - Technology at Hyflux Ltd said "I attended because I could see some interesting things, like (the SUTD presentation on) plants used for water treatment - these technologies are relevant to me."

About EmTech Singapore

EmTech Singapore in 2014 was organized by by MIT Technology Review and Koelnmesse Pte Ltd.  This year’s host partner was the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). Agensi Innovasi Malaysia was a Gold sponsor and other sponsors included Net App, Softsource, IPI Singapore, Microsoft and SMART. The official broadcast partner of the inaugural event was CNBC.

EmTech Singapore will be held again in January 2015 and will feature emerging technology in themes such as energy, telecommunications, manufacturing and engineering, computer technology, health science and urban development.