MPA, Partners Eye "Disruptive Innovation" and Digital Transformation with Smart Port Challenge

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday June 6, 2017

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and its partners are hoping for "disruptive innovation" and digital transformation through the Smart Port Challenge 2017.

MPA launched the first SPC 2017 Monday in an event said to have been attended by nearly 190 participants from the technology, start-up, and the venture capital (VC) community as part of an effort to develop innovation.

"Digital transformation has a key role to play in our competitiveness as a global maritime hub. SPC 2017 will bring together new and existing start-ups to research and develop innovative applications for IT solutions in the maritime sector and is part of our wider industry transformation effort to develop an innovative maritime start-up ecosystem to take advantage of the growing applications of automation, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and data analytics in the maritime industry," said Andrew Tan, CEO of MPA.

"We are also collaborating with ports such as the Port of Rotterdam which has embarked on similar port hackathons to develop innovative solutions for their port. Through such partnerships, we hope to encourage more solutions that are scalable and applicable across the entire port value chain."

SPC 2017 is a six-month programme intended to encourage further collaboration between organisations and start-ups to advance digital transformation in the maritime industry.

"Start-ups bring grit, agility and potentially disruptive innovation into an industry that is steeped in tradition and inefficiencies," said Kelvin Ong, partner of TNB Ventures.

"The collaborative effort amongst MPA and their industry partners in turn offers deep domain expertise and is a great opportunity for start-ups to penetrate a relatively untapped and under-served market in a win-win."

SPC 2017 partners include Hong Lam Marine, Batam Fast, CMA CGM S.A., Jurong Port, Kanlian, NYK Line, Pacific International Lines, Port of Rotterdam, PSA Marine, PSA unboXed, Symphony Creative Solutions, and Synergy Marine Group.