Speech By Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, at the Pier71™ Great Circle 2024

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

1.     Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me to the PIER71 Smart Port Challenge Grand Final today.   

2.     This year marks the 8^th edition of the Smart Port Challenge, which began with the launch of the Challenge Statements in May. I am glad to be joined today by representatives from the startup and research communities, maritime industry, and venture capitalists (VCs).  

Overview of PIER71’s achievements 

3.     First, I would like to congratulate our 8 Grand Finalists today, many of whom are already in talks with maritime companies for further proof-of-concepts or pilot projects.  

4.     Since 2018, PIER71 has been instrumental in the growth of the Marinetech scene in Singapore. 

a.     PIER71 has nurtured over 140 local and international MarineTech start-ups in collaboration with more than 60 maritime corporate partners and 11 VCs.  

b.     We are also making good progress towards our target of supporting 150 marinetech startups by 2025. 

5.     This year, the Smart Port Challenge featured 14 challenge statements in the areas of Maritime Green Technologies, Next Generation Ports, Smart Shipping, and Digitalisation.   

a.     Close to 200 proposals were submitted for the Smart Port Challenge, the largest number of submissions since inception.  

b.     From this pool, 28 startups were shortlisted for our PIER71 Accelerate Programme.  

Enabling the Start-up environment 

6.      Innovation and technology are critical to addressing the challenges faced by the maritime industry.  

a.     Ongoing geopolitical uncertainties have reinforced the need for our ports and supply chains to be adaptable, resilient, and efficient.  

b.     As the international shipping community outlines mid-term measures for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships, we need new technology for vessels to run more efficiently and on new types of fuels, and to enable our seafarers and maritime workers to adapt to the green transition. 

7.     PIER71 remains a critical pillar of our marinetech scene today. As a collaborative platform for maritime companies to grow their innovation capabilities and for startups to access the maritime sector, PIER71 has enabled the commercialisation and deployment of at least 27 innovative solutions in the maritime industry to date.  

a.     For example, MagicPort, our 2021 PIER71 alumni, is building a digital marketplace and collaboration platform, to provide operational visibility and coordination between suppliers and services at our port. They are also working with the Coastal Sustainability Alliance, to develop and implement a vessel scheduling and fleet deployment algorithm, which would ensure more efficient deployment of electric harbour craft.  

b.     Another alumni, Avetics Global from our 2022 cohort supported Singapore’s methanol bunkering trials this year. Avetics drones are equipped with a volatile organic compound detector and infrared camera to detect leaks, allowing MPA staff in the Emergency Operations Centre to supervise trials remotely. The technology has brought us closer to preparing for a safe multi-fuel bunkering future. 

c.     Our start-ups have also provided solutions to pressing real-world problems. One such start-up is mVizn, which has deployed its deep-learning machine vision solutions at Tuas Port, to support the safety of crane operations by helping to identify obstacles and hazards in the surroundings. When the City Terminals were reopened to ease port congestion earlier this year, mVizn’s solution was quickly deployed there as well to ensure operational safety, supporting the resilience of our port. So there are real, practical and useful solutions from PIER71 that has been implemented right here at our port. 

Increased flow of growth capital  

8.     Our PIER71 start-ups have also been able to secure venture capital to accelerate their growth.  

a.     To date, PIER71 start-ups have raised over S$80m in investments globally.  

b.     I would like to congratulate Portcast, our Smart Port Challenge and scale-up programme alumni from 2018, which has successfully completed its Series A funding round, raising over S$8 million. 

c.     Headquartered in Singapore, Portcast’s supply chain visibility and demand forecasting solution now has a data network of over 5,000 vessels and over 12,000 ports globally. With presence in over 15 countries, they are continuing to expand their global presence in Japan this year, recently establishing their presence at NUS Enterprise’ BLOCK71 Nagoya. 

9.     This morning, we held a closed-door investor circle for our 2024 Finalists to pitch their solutions to VCs. I look forward to more of our start-ups securing the necessary capital to kickstart and expand their enterprises.  

Stronger Partnership with Corporates 

10.    The success of our startups would not be possible without the strong support of our maritime corporate partners, who sponsored 14 innovation challenge statements. Our startup cohorts are also mentored by industry veterans, who guided in understanding industry needs better, and helped open doors into Maritime Singapore.   

11.    I would like to extend my appreciation to our three corporate prize sponsors – Amazon Web Services, OCBC Bank, and PSA. This is the inaugural year for industry-sponsored prizes. I hope more will come. 

a.      The prizes will be awarded to selected promising startups in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Maritime Sustainability, and Smart Port. 

b.     We hope more companies will come onboard with PIER71 to provide strong support to the startups and entrepreneurs.   

Internationalisation 

12.    On the international front, PIER71 has also strengthened its partnerships with startup ecosystems around the world.  

a.     For the first time this year, the Smart Port Challenge was launched in Singapore and at eight international roadshows. More than 70 percent of our proposals received were from companies outside of Singapore. 

b.     Singapore, as a global hub port and international maritime centre, has the potential to serve as a landing pad for global start-ups in the maritime sphere to expand in Asia and beyond.  

c.     In September 2024, I was pleased to witness the signing of the PIER71-Digihub MOU between PIER71/NUS Enterprise and Hamburg Digital Hub Logistics, focusing on start-up exchanges, such as mutual promotion of business opportunities within Singapore and Hamburg for start-ups. 

d.     Through our Green and Digital Shipping Corridor partners and MPA overseas offices, our ecosystem will build strong innovation networks with international maritime centres across Europe, US, China, Japan, Australia and more. We look forward to building more partnerships, synergies and solutions internationally, to provide even more opportunities for our start-ups. 

Conclusion 

13.    On that note, I would like to once again congratulate our Smart Port Challenge Grand Finalists, the eight Grand Finalists. I look forward to your pitches later. Thank you.