SM Tharman: Keep pushing the frontiers of innovationInventing the future together was the theme of this year’s OktoberTech Asia Pacific conference in Singapore organised by Infineon Technologies. And the semiconductor giant certainly walks its talk. At the opening of the event, it inked three memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to help accelerate innovations in Singapore.
The first was with ST Engineering Land Systems and Xnergy, a startup in its inaugural batch at the Infineon Co-Innovation Space. Under the MOU, ST Engineering Land Systems arm will collaborate with Xynergy to incorporate wireless charging to the next generation of Autonomous Mobile Robot, allowing it to operate within a clean room environment at Infineon’s Smart Factory.
The first trial will take place in early 2020, allowing ST Engineering to apply its robotics system expertise in an advanced manufacturing setting.
Next was an MOU with Avnet Asia to offer startups and incubators from technology-related sectors in Southeast Asia the opportunity to accelerate development and growth.
Infineon has also teamed up with Singapore Polytechnic to set up the Singapore Polytechnic-Infineon Innovation Centre to accelerate ideas to prototype solutions focusing on IoT and robotics applications.
The Innovation Centre will enable students to conceptualise microelectronics solutions for their problem statements within a short time.
Global manufacturing recession
At the opening of OktoberTech, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister of Singapore, pointed out that the world is facing a global manufacturing recession.
“What we have to do, essentially, is to double down on developing our capabilities and keep pushing the frontiers of innovation, which is what this event is about,” he told the gathering of about 300 innovators, businessmen, academics, investors, and policy makers from around the world.
Entelechy Asia 