EmTechAsia 2017 : The Conference on the Emerging Technologies That Matter

51 key contributors on social media

EmTech Asia is not an average tech conference. It is a curation of the world’s leading tech executives, scientists and investors.

It is a community, a network, and a meeting place for business leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and change makers worldwide who are passionate about turning ideas into innovative solutions and addressing major global issues. The mission is bold, yet the method is simple. What happens when the brightest minds in artificial intelligence, materials science, biomedicine, space (and much more) come together from around the world to share breakthrough research and discoveries? What happens when the best from academia and industry collaborate? What happens when scientists with the capability to change the world work with investors to commercialize ideas and tech executives to distribute it globally? Amazing things happen.

And we've contextually curated the conversations about what happened at EmTechAsia 2017 here.

More info @ http://emtechasia.com/

image credit @IMDASg

ps: This content is curated by eChai Team from public posts on social media platforms. In case if you have any queries, then email us at [email protected]

Smart Nation: Innovations and Collaborations by Khoong Hock Yun, Assistant Chief Executive (Development), IMDA

Entering a digital future, technology grows ever more relevant to us in all aspects. Like many countries, Singapore faces challenges of digital disruptions. Singapore’s Smart Nation aspirations have made the country a place well suited to consume and innovate new technologies – technologies that can address key issues. Innovation is crucial for the country to maintain a competitive advantage in a fast-changing world, and many opportunities have been set in place to make this happen.

Materials by Design: Creating Ultra Lightweight Resilient Materials through Nano-Architecture by Julia Greer, Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics California Institute of Technology

At Caltech, Julia's group synthesize materials with unique properties through nano-architecture. These structural meta-materials are lightweight, strong, and resilient. Her research group focuses on interplay between internal critical microstructural material length scale, nanometer-sized external dimensions, and structural design in revealing beneficial properties through material - and structure-induced size effects. The group has invented a method to create arbitrary 3-dimensional topologies with features spanning from nanometers to microns and centimeters that can mimic natural structures, like shells and bone, and offer superior energy absorption, amenability to chemical functionality, and damage tolerance. This technology may enable many currently non-existent technologies, from ultra-lightweight batteries to chemically functionalized nano-porous membranes, damage-tolerant ultra-lightweight personnel protection, tiny battery powered implantable biomedical devices, and artificial cell scaffolds.

Nanostructured Materials for Energy and Biomedical Applications by ackie Ying, Executive Director, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, A*STAR

Nanostructured materials can be designed with sophisticated features to fulfill the complex requirements of advanced material applications. In this talk, Jackie will describe the synthesis of metallic, metal oxide, semiconducting and organic nanoparticles and nanocomposites of controlled size, morphology and architecture. The nanocrystalline building blocks are used to create excellent materials for fuel cell and battery applications. Her group has also designed and functionalized nanostructured materials for drug delivery, nanomedicine, biosensor, cell culture and tissue engineering applications. The unique properties of the various nanostructured materials synthesized will be presented in this talk.

Materials Engineering: The Foundation of Innovation for the Future by Omkaram (Om) Nalamasu, Senior Vice President and CTO, Applied Materials & President, Applied Ventures

One central fact that shapes everything else about the future is this: In 2050, we are expected to have 9 billion people on planet Earth. With this unprecedented growth comes new kinds of problems that we all share, problems that we must solve at a planetary scale and, most certainly, with technology. Materials engineering – the ability to control matter at the atomic level – is at the core of solving key technological challenges that will help mankind including big data, smart vehicles, Internet-of-Things and personalized medicine. Dr. Nalamasu will address how materials engineering will help to solve some of these challenges.

#DOInnovate by Steve Leonard, Founding CEO, SGInnovate

Singapore has all the right capabilities and people to build globally relevant products and companies. However, a shift in mindset is needed for the pursuit of innovation – to embrace risks and keep evolving with each try. SGInnovate Founding CEO, Steve Leonard dives into the building blocks of start-up ecosystems and traces the journey of the entrepreneur in the deep-technology space. Steve will share how SGInnovate is working to encourage and support young innovators as they work towards impactful solutions that tackle difficult challenges, and guide them through to commercialisation.

Meet the Innovators Under 35

Zhi Wei Seh, Research Scientist, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

Sumeet Walia, Lecturer, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)

Yong Lin Kong, Postdoctoral Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Technology for People: the Era of the Intelligent Enterprise by Paul Daugherty, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Accenture

From the internet to the advent of the smartphone, the last three decades have seen people change the way they work and live to adapt to each new technology capability coming to market. Today, changes are coming faster than ever. But increasingly, it's no longer people who are adapting to technology – the technology is adapting to us. It's not the technology itself that's driving change – it's us. We're putting technology to work to disrupt ourselves. The digital revolution we're part of today is an age of human empowerment. It's about us designing technology that conforms itself to people, putting us firmly in control of our own fate. Paul Daugherty, Accenture's Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, will provide insights on this topic from the recently-released Accenture Technology Vision for 2017, followed by a discussion with MIT Technology Review Chief Operating Officer, Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau.

After Moore's Law: A New Era for Computing

The Coming Revolution in How Computers Calculate by
John Gustafson, Former Chief Product Architect, AMD & Former Director, Intel Labs

Rethinking Processor Design for the Post Moore's Law by Era
Thomas Sohmers, CEO, REX Computing

InfiniCortex: A Supercomputer that Encompasses the World by
Marek Michalewicz, Deputy Director, Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, University of Warsaw

The Real Scorpion, Walter O'Brien, Presents Cyber Security for Whole Countries by Walter O'Brien, CEO, Scorpion Computer Services & Executive Producer, Scorpion (CBS-TV series)

The CBS television show Scorpion tells the story of an international network of super-geniuses who form the last line of defense against the complex threats of the modern age. The real-life inspiration for the show, Walter O'Brien, was a child prodigy who started Scorpion Computer Services at the age of 13. He will explain how his company applies high IQ, computer science, and artificial intelligence to mitigate risk, avoid cyber threats and solve global problems. ConciergeUp.com powered by ScorpionComputerServices.com is a global think tank for hire that provides intelligence on demand as a concierge service. For 25 years Scorpion has gathered together a team of World Class Experts that have invented and applied Artificial Intelligence engines to protect United States war fighters in Afghanistan. Scorpion has created over 150 unique technology inventions is an Irish national coding champion and competed in the Olympics in Informatics. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security certified Walter as being of National Interest to the United States and granted him an Extraordinary Abilities Visa EB1-1.

Considerations for IoT and Smart Cities by Douglas J. Gardner, CTO, Secure Technology Group, Analog Devices

The last several decades have seen tremendous growth in IT/Network processing, technologies, and the benefits derived therefrom. Moore's law has enabled their rapid expansion and the miniaturization of devices in such a way that their applications are touching every part of the society as we know it - Government, Financial, Health, Industrial, Automotive/Transportation, Energy, Consumer, and more. Furthermore, as the internet has become the preferred method for connecting the world, our ability to leverage these smart devices, sensor networks, and multiple modes of information are impacting our society and quality of life in many ways. As our reliance on and the proliferation of connectivity continues, we are moving from a content centric to a connectivity centric environment. Moving forward in this new environment, we must not make the same mistakes we have in the past. This presentation will introduce some of the strategic considerations for IoT/Smart Cities and the implications of the shift from "Content Centric" to "Connectivity Centric".

The Future of Cybersecurity: Zeroing In On Un-Hackable Data With Quantum Key Distribution by Alexander Ling, Principal Investigator, Quantum Optics, Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore

Improvements in quantum computing potentially place existing public-key cryptosystems under threat. On the other hand, the ability to generate and distribute quantum signals in the form of individual light particles has matured over the last decade. This has been utilized for the automatic distribution of encryption keys, and is known as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). Alex will discuss the benefits and challenges when implementing QKD over short and long distances.

Innovation at Scale - Why and When The Accelerator Model Works by Sean O'Sullivan, Managing Director, SOSV

Sean O'Sullivan, co-creator of street mapping on computers and co-coiner of the phrase "cloud computing", describes how his firm, SOSV, has achieved scale, becoming the third largest seed investor in the world by creating and running a handful of the world's leading accelerators in deep verticals like life sciences, hardware, and disruptive food; SOSV accelerators include IndieBio, HAX, Chinaccelerator and FOOD-X. SOSV's innovations in the accelerator model have paved its way to being recognized as the #1 global investor in hardware and life sciences, and the creator of the #1 accelerators in Asia.

Meet the Innovators Under 35

Prateek Saxena, Dean's Chair Assistant Professor, School of Computing, National University of Singapore (NUS)

Simon Gross, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University

Dawn Tan, Assistant Professor, Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)

Virtual Reality, Augmented Life : Visualizing the Inside: From Martian Meteorites to Mummies by Anders Ynnerman, Director, Norrköping Visualization Center

Data visualization combined with interactive multi-touch tables and intuitive user interfaces can be used to provide public visitor venues, such as museums, science centres and zoos with unique interactive learning experiences. Visitors can conduct guided browsing of scanned large volumetric image data and themselves become the explorers of the normally invisible interior of unique artefacts and subjects. A live demo will show visualization of the human body, exotic animals, and natural history subjects. Examples will also show how objects such as jewellery from mummies can be virtually extracted and 3D printed to create realistic replicas.

CRISPR Genome Engineering Technology: Application and Intersection with Genomics Analysis by Le Cong, Postdoctoral Fellow, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Advances in genome sequencing and related technology have led to unprecedented pace in identifying genomic and epigenetic changes associated with human health and disease. Nonetheless, validating their biological functions and exploring them as potential drug targets remain time and cost consuming. Exciting advances on genome editing tools using CRISPR system can be employed for this purpose. Here Le will discuss the exciting genome engineering technology that can be deployed as versatile discovery and therapeutics tool for precision medicine. He will highlight how genomics analysis could be integrated to transform our ability to understand and treat complex diseases such as cancer.

Resolution-Revolution in Cryo-EM by Daniela Rhodes, Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a powerful technique for structure determination of isolated macromolecular complexes. Several important recent developments have contributed to the recent “resolution revolution” in cryo-EM. These include super-resolution direct electron detectors and automatic high-throughput data collection and processing. These breakthroughs have allowed cryo-EM to reach atomic resolution, previously only possible by X-ray crystallography. At this resolution, we see clear densities for protein side chains, can build de-novo atomic models, dock ligands and structure-based drug design. This is a game-changer in structural biology. I will illustrate the use of cryo-EM to determine the structure of medically important complexes.

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics : GPU Deep Learning Powering A New Computing Model by Marc Hamilton, Vice President of Solutions Architecture and Engineering, NVIDIA

AI is broadly regarded as the next major technology change in IT. At the core of today's new style of computing, AI based tools like Microsoft Cortana and Google Now rely on GPU Deep Learning for their super-human accuracy. Earlier changes such as the advent of low cost Linux servers or cloud computing often took years to become mainstream. What's different today is the speed of adoption. With the availability of GPUs in all major public clouds and open source DL frameworks like Caffe and TensorFlow, GPU Deep Learning has quickly established itself as a new computing model.

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics : Future of Supply Chain: Robotics and Automation by Samay Kohli, CEO and Cofounder, GreyOrange

Managing a supply chain with proliferating SKUs and channels, supply stress and demand unpredictability at minimum cost, in least time and with zero errors makes automating the only choice. The future vision of a swarm of connected hardware agents, evolving in dexterity and autonomy, governed by a self-learning software layer drawing intelligence from an extended supply and demand ecosystem, is coming true as we speak. The supply chain accounts for 10-15% of national GDPs for most economies, and is flush with inefficiencies.

Panel discussion: MIT Hacking Medicine Robotics : Moderated by Howard Califano, Director, SMART Innovation Centre

On February 10th-12th, MIT Hacking Medicine will host a healthcare robotics hackathon in partnership with SGInnovate and SMART in Singapore. The winning teams will come on stage at EmTech Asia to highlight the most innovative solutions developed during the hackathon.

The Story and The Prototype : Mike North, Host, Prototype This!, Discovery Channel

In a world where technology rides an exponential growth curve, products need to be brought to market as fast as possible. In order to deliver cohesive products that keep pace with technology requires making large innovation jumps riding on the back of a compelling story. To accomplish this prototype development must be a holistic combination of design, technology, and story. In this talk Doc North shares his rapid prototyping philosophy of designing story and prototype, testing them as fast as possible, seeing where they work and fail, and then iterating to deliver well branded relevant products.

Meet the Innovators Under 35

Angela Wu, Assistant Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) & Founding Member, Agenovir Corporation
Dhesi Raja, Chief Scientist and Cofounder, Artificial Intelligence in Medical Epidemiology (AIME)
Gang Wang, Associate Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
John Ho, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS)

Democratizing Space: Recent Developments in Miniaturized Satellites : Kay Soon Low, Professor/Director of Satellite Technology And Research (STAR) Centre, National University of Singapore

Since the introduction of the CubeSat standard in 1999 as a form of miniaturized satellite for University's space research, it has gained popularity and we have seen many such satellites built and launched into the orbit. A basic CubeSat is a satellite that has a volume of one litre (10cm cube) and a mass of less than 1.33 kilograms. This is known as 1u CubeSat. The latest standard allows up to 27u and also defines the electronic connection between subsystems. This encourages commercial companies to develop products that can be used as a standard subsystem and helps to lower the developmental cost and time. In the past few years, there are many sophisticated miniaturized satellites that have been built. In this presentation, we review some of these developments and their potential applications in the future.

The Future of Global Space Traffic Management : Matthew Bold, Principle Researcher, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company Advanced Technology Center

Space is not as big as it used to be. The rate at which new spacecraft are launched is increasing, and most of what has been launched in the last fifty plus years is still orbiting the Earth. Society depends on space for many critical services including communications, time synchronization for GPS and banking, and remote sensing for weather monitoring, resource planning and disaster recovery. This talk will discuss the global response necessary for continued space safety and security, a response which will increasing rely on civil and commercial players and a new business and technology paradigm.

Unlocking high bandwidth communications for the next generation of space applications : Rohit Jha, Engineer and CEO, Transcelestial

Advancements in the silicon industry have unlocked exponential improvements in our current electronics and photonics systems enabling better cameras, better sensors, more powerful processors and more connected devices. This has placed extreme demands on the bandwidth needed to pull all the information down. Last year an estimated one-third (~27%) of satellites were not able to beam down all of the data generated by their instruments and with satellite industry growing at ~4%, we can see this effect multiplied sooner than later. The congested RF spectrum in space is unable to support the next generation of our technological advancement alone. From a network communications point of view on a terrestrial level these needs have been enabled by fiber optics. The same step needs to be taken in space to unlock high bandwidth communications.

Solar System Exploration: How JPL Turns Dreams into Reality : David Oh, Project Systems Engineer and Former Lead Flight Director, Curiosity Mars Rover, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab

From the Curiosity Mars rover to the Cassini orbiter at Saturn, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a long history creating, building and flying missions that explore our solar system. In January 2017, Psyche, a mission led by Arizona State University (ASU) and managed and built by JPL, was selected as the latest addition to NASA's Discovery program. Psyche will explore a unique body in our solar system: a 200 km diameter world made almost entirely of metal. David Oh, former lead flight director for the Curiosity Rover and Project Systems engineer for Psyche, will describe how JPL creates unique missions like Psyche, taking wild ideas from initial conception through development to the decision to fund for flight. David will also describe how innovation can occur within a risk averse environment, and how Psyche's unique architecture brings advanced commercial space technology to NASA's deep space missions.

Humanity’s Exploration: From Outer to Inner Space - Dava Newman, Apollo Program Professor Chair, MIT

Recent space science missions to Pluto and Jupiter along with earth observation missions of Spaceship earth will be highlighted. Humanity will become interplanetary, and is on a journey to Mars. We are closer to reaching the Red Planet with human explorers than we have ever been in our history. Space agencies, academia and industry are working right now on the technologies and missions that will enable human “boots on Mars” in the 2030s. We are testing advanced technologies for the next giant leaps of exploration. From solar electric propulsion to cutting edge life support systems, to the first crops grown in space, the journey to Mars is already unfolding in tangible ways today for tomorrow. A three stage plan will be highlighted – from missions close to Earth involving commercial partners and the International Space Station, advancing to missions in Earth–Moon orbit, or deep space, using the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, and finally moving on to Mars, where explorers will be practically independent from spaceship Earth. The innovation required to achieve a human mission to Mars cuts across science, human exploration and technology. It builds on what has gone before, while driving the next advances. The presentation concludes with an inclusive message on STEAMD (science-technology-engineering-arts-math-design) and the urgency to recruit the Mars Generation, including the artists, designers, poets and makers.