The Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC) in Tseung Kwan O INNOPARK is being provided with advanced robotics technology by a driverless industrial vehicle manufacturer, making it the first autonomous forklift supplier to provide advanced logistics automation services to support high-value “innofacturing” and long-term re-industrialisation.
The AMC logistics centre receives 24-hour core logistics services from the manufacturer. AMC is equipped with an array of automated robotics equipment including automated storage and retrieval system (mobile dense racks, four-way shuttles, automatic conveyors), automatic sorting arms and autonomous forklifts, which form the core equipment for transporting goods across AMC’s eight stories.
This project uses the company’s pallet stacking autonomous forklift vehicle which is equipped with a visual positioning module, high-precision sensing module and servo motion control module. This enables autonomous path planning, self-adjusting pick-up and automatic data interaction, making the transportation of products or goods seamless and efficient.
It currently supports multiple automated production lines in automotive, electrical and mechanical manufacturing industries. It is worth noting that the VNL14 is the first vehicle in the world which has been awarded a CE certificate by global testing service provider TÜV SÜD, based on the latest safety standard for driverless industrial vehicles, ISO 3691-4:2020.
The autonomous forklift trucks have been deployed on each floor in AMC to shift materials in and out, and through the 10 lifts on both sides of the building to achieve seamless logistics flow on each floor. Early on in the project, the company developed a 3-step implementation plan via onsite survey and mapping out the complete logistics process:
An engineer from the manufacturer on-site stated that while approximately ten autonomous forklifts are deployed on the ground floor, the floor has limited space for operational movement. Goods are randomly delivered from different lifts, and then the autonomous forklifts enter the lifts to pick up the goods to transport them to the ASRS conveyor – adding to the high demands on the RCS system. In addition to information exchange and real-time interaction, scheduling was a major challenge.
It is necessary to constantly adjust the tiller wheels for steering or obstacle avoidance for under-actuated mobile robots like forklifts. This may cause multiple vehicles to lock up and interrupt the task in a limited space. The company’s scheduling algorithms were crucial in the project, achieving smooth and efficient material handling through task distribution, timing rescheduling and circumvention strategies.
The automation of AMC’s logistics has resulted in:
HKSTP’s Head of Re-industrialisation noted that the Park is committed to promoting innofacturing by nurturing talent and providing resources and infrastructure support to emerging I&T ventures. Apart from the logistics services integrated with automation and advanced smart solutions provided by our partners, AMC is well-equipped with warehousing, prototyping, low-volume assembly support and cleanroom-enabled space to further support Innofacturing which helps advanced manufacturing companies to accelerate their R&D and production processes, thus enriching the entire I&T ecosystem.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) recently successfully designed and conducted the cybersecurity exercise “Synergy” for 13 countries. The initiative is part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group, which is being led by India under the leadership of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).
The theme of the exercise was ‘Building Network Resiliency to counter Ransomware Attacks’. The exercise scenario was derived from real-life cyber incidents, in which a domestic level (limited impact) ransomware incident escalates to a global cyber security crisis. According to a press release, the specific objective of the exercise was to assess, share, and improve strategies and practices among member-states to build network resiliency against ransomware and cyber extortion attacks.
The exercise ‘Synergy’ was hosted by CERT-In on its exercise simulation platform. Each state participated as a National Crisis Management Team, which was made up of different government agencies including National CERTs/CSIRTs, law enforcement agencies (LEA), communication and IT/ICT ministries, and security agencies. The exercise was successful in meeting its objectives and provided insights for better coordination and cooperation among CRI member states to build network resiliency and counter ransomware attacks.
CERT-In was launched in 2004 by the Department of Information Technology and is currently run under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). CERT-In responds to cybersecurity incidents, reports on network vulnerabilities, and fosters effective IT security practices throughout the country. Under the provisions of the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008, CERT-In is in charge of overseeing the administration of the Act.
Established in 2015, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore seeks to keep the country’s cyberspace safe and secure to power a digital economy and protect its digital way of life. It maintains oversight of national cybersecurity functions and works with sector leads to protect Singapore’s critical information infrastructure. CSA also engages with various stakeholders to heighten cyber security awareness, build a vibrant cybersecurity ecosystem supported by a robust workforce, pursue international partnerships, and drive regional cybersecurity capacity-building programmes.
Recently, CSA announced it launched the Cybersecurity Industry Call for Innovation 2022 (CyberCall 2022). Cybersecurity companies are invited to participate in CyberCall to develop innovative solutions to address specific cybersecurity challenges. This year’s CyberCall is looking for solutions in artificial intelligence (AI) for cybersecurity, cloud security, operational technology (OT)/ internet of things (IoT) security, and privacy-enhancing technologies.
Cybersecurity plays an increasingly important role as the world becomes more reliant on technology. Cybersecurity forms the backbone of a strong digital society, providing a trusted environment necessary to grow digital transformation and the confidence needed to advance digital adoption. Concurrently, strong cyber capability protects the economy from losses due to cybercrimes and builds the foundational capability to grow the emerging digital technology sector.
Reports show that the global cybersecurity market size was valued at US$ 197.36 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach US$ 478.68 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 9.5% from 2021 to 2030.
Localities across Vietnam are accelerating their digital transformation to bolster the tourism sector. In the northern province of Ninh Binh, businesses provide tourism information through websites and the portal of the provincial Tourism Department, the provincial information centre for tourism promotion, and social media platforms.
According to the Director of the provincial department, Bui Van Manh, the region has plans to turn tourism into a pillar of the economy and Ninh Binh into a major tourism hub of the country. It will do this by digitalising the statistical indicator system of the sector using big data while connecting the local reporting system with inter-provincial and national ones.
Manh outlined several tech-based solutions to bolster the sector. These include raising the awareness of state officials and business owners about digital transformation, linking databases with localities, improving the quality of infrastructure and services, offering specific guidelines to localities, and training the workforce as a breakthrough to solve the problems. He said that linking state management agencies on tourism from the local to the central level and travel companies are necessary to develop a smart tourism ecosystem. Industry insiders need to understand that digital transformation is not only about technology but also about management, approaches, and marketing, he said.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the Tourism Department has launched the 2020-2030 smart tourism project. Recently, the city announced it would apply digital technology in management. Under the project, the department is building a database of tourism services and improving experiences for tourists and residents. The Deputy Director of the Tourism Department noted that the city has also launched a smart tourism application for Android and iOS devices and upgraded its portal.
Since the COVID-19 epidemic, the tourism industry has not completely recovered, and the behaviour and trends of tourists have witnessed significant changes. Creating new experiences and unique tourism products through digital transformation solutions, and optimising operations at accommodation facilities is important for the overall growth of the sector.
In August, the Da Nang Municipal Department of Tourism organised a seminar on improving digital transformation capacity and smart lighting solutions at tourist accommodation establishments, as OpenGov Asia reported.
The event was an opportunity for associations and businesses providing services to explore solutions for digital transformation, smart lighting, and convenient and smart technology. The first step in the process of tourism digital transformation is to upgrade facilities and invest in modern equipment for accommodation facilities to meet the needs of personalised experiences.
Many tourist accommodation establishments have focused on smart lighting solutions, which reduce labour, operation, and electricity costs. These solutions boost the competitiveness of tourist accommodation establishments by increasing the quality of customer experiences.
Earlier, in an attempt to increase the variety of tourist self-service tools and information channels, the Da Nang municipal Tourism Department coordinated with a private artificial intelligence (AI) developer to create and pilot Chatbot Danang Fantasticity, the first automatic tourism information search and support channel via text message conversation in Vietnam. Through it, users can learn about a wide range of attraction sites, tourist activities, and entertainment outlets around the city.
The National Library Board (NLB) has created a new mini-book with Augmented Reality (AR) features that will be available in the coming weeks at the Choa Chu Kang Public Library as part of the nature and sustainability offerings in Green Grove.
The mini book, called “Green Grove: Augmented Reality Books,” has excerpts from six books about Singapore’s plants and animals that are in the NLB’s collection and can be found in public libraries. These are:
The image excerpts from the books serve as AR markers that people can scan with NLB’s new AR Books app to see the images come to life in 3D. They can watch dolphins swim, pangolins curl up, kingfishers fly, and more. People may also want to check out the full versions of the books from our public libraries to learn more about the different subjects each book covers.
This is the first mini-AR book by NLB that has been made available online and in public libraries. Patrons can expect to see more content in this new format in the upcoming months as part of NLB’s ongoing efforts to reimagine the libraries and archives under the Libraries and Archives Blueprint 2025 (LAB25) vision of a Learning Marketplace. The next mini-book will include books on famous Singapore locations like Gardens by the Bay and kampongs.
Meanwhile, the Singapore Computer Society (SCS) and the NLB recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). They will work together to inspire and enable the public to learn more about information technology (IT), IT trends and innovations, and their application in everyday life through resources on NLB and SCS physical and digital platforms, programmes and events, and SCS members’ support of NLB’s learning communities.
The collaboration of NLB and SCS will complement the national priority of preparing citizens for a smart nation, as well as NLB’s LAB25 Equaliser role in bridging societal gaps and empowering everyone with digital knowledge and skills.
Furthermore, the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre bestowed the Champions of Good Award on the NLB in recognition of its unwavering corporate giving and partnership initiatives to create an enriching and vibrant learning community for all.
With the goal of developing and enabling meaningful and fruitful reading and learning opportunities for all Singaporeans across the country, NLB has collaborated with partners to provide a diverse range of resources, programmes, and initiatives through our public libraries, archives, and digital platforms.
Among the community programmes and initiatives are:
NLB’s nationwide reading programme, kidsREAD aims to encourage a love of reading in four- to eight-year-old children from disadvantaged families.
These initiatives augment the Equalizer role in the NLB’s LAB25 by creating and bringing more learning and advancement opportunities to everyone, including children, seniors, underprivileged communities, and individuals with disabilities.
According to NLB’s Chief Executive Officer, Ng Cher Pong, NLB is honoured to be recognised for their strong community efforts and partnerships, and they would like to express their gratitude to their partners, sponsors, and volunteers who have worked with them over the years. NLB would also like to invite additional organisations and individuals to collaborate with them on LAB25 and create more enriching learning opportunities.
From developing work-ready skills, and improving health services to improving access to digital technology, regional youth will be empowered to build their future through an AU$ 40 million investment by the NSW Government. The Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW recently announced the new AU$40 million ‘Our Region, Our Voice’ program, aimed at supporting regional youth to create their future.
He noted that this is an investment that has been shaped by youth for youth. 2000 young people in regional communities across the state were engaged in order to understand what matters to them and to ensure this investment will meet the needs of the next generation, now and into the future.
It is known that young people experience challenges differ depending on where they live, and the ‘Our Region, Our Voice’ Regional Youth Investment Program is about empowering regional youth to drive local solutions to local issues.
Grants worth as much as AU$3 million will be delivered for targeted local initiatives that ensure regional youth can reach their full potential in their local communities. The Minister for Regional Youth said the funding will be allocated across nine areas identified as high priorities by the Regional Youth Taskforce and Regional Youth Insights – the largest regional youth research project ever commissioned by the NSW Government.
He said that from more mental health support and improved career pathways to greater recreational activities and reliable public transport, this research told us exactly what our regional youth want and need.
He added that the record investment allows the NSW Government to deliver targeted and collaborative support measures that build on the work we are already doing to ensure regional youth reach their full potential, without having to move to a major city.
The ‘Our Region, Our Voice’ has funding available for projects to:
The $40 million package is part of the NSW Government’s record investment in regional youth through the 2022-23 NSW Budget. Applications for the Regional Youth Investment Program are now open and will close on 4 October 2022.
Digital tech to deliver benefits across the economy and society
The opportunities afforded by digital technologies are not constrained to technology-based companies and start-ups – they can add value across all parts of the economy.
For businesses, these technologies have the potential to help develop new products, access new markets, work more efficiently and improve the bottom line, better target consumer preferences through the use of data, and deliver safer working environments.
To enable this, the Australian Government is working to boost inclusion. The Government believes all Australians should have the opportunity to acquire digital skills regardless of their age, level of education or previous experience. The Government will collaborate with key stakeholders to explore initiatives to reduce the digital inclusion divide and support greater lifelong engagement in evolving technological resources.
The government believes that young people in Ho Chi Minh City will play a valuable role in digital transformation. According to the Deputy Director of the province’s Department of Information and Communication, Nguyen Gia Phong, community-based digital technology groups have been set up across the province with key members being young people. The groups have been giving guidance to each people in their community on how to use digital platforms.
He was speaking at a recent forum organised by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU), which aimed to help local youth adapt to and develop in a world where social life is undergoing strong digital transformation. It also looked to promote the key and pioneering role of HCYU chapters at all levels in the process of digital transformation and application of modern technology.
Participants at the event assessed the implementation of the Creative Youth initiative, which focuses on encouraging digital transformation, the development of the digital economy, and activities supporting start-ups by young people. They also shared experiences and good practices in the movement.
Currently, there are 209 community-based digital technology groups at communal levels and 1,891 groups at the village level, with a total of 9,950 members. The establishment of those groups was inspired by the community-based anti-COVID-19 groups, Phong noted. He said the Department of Information and Communication has asked the provincial HCYU committee to work together with local administrations in setting up and maintaining the operation of community-based digital technology groups.
A representative from the HCYU committee of Luc Ngan district shared the results of the application of digital technology to selling farm produce amid the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bac Giang in 2021. The committee coordinated with the provincial HCYU committee to conduct a programme, under which HCYU members volunteered to help local farmers sell lychees through digital trade platforms or business matching activities. This year, the Luc Ngan HCYU committee has continued to work with digital trade platforms like state-run Postmart and Voso for lychee selling. 823 tonnes of lychee have been sold through this channel.
Regarding young people’s role in community-based digital technology groups, they face problems such as local farmers not having smartphones or computers, and limited access to an Internet connection in remote areas. Delegates proposed that relevant agencies should invest more in digital infrastructure for public use such as Internet transmission lines, Wi-Fi networks, and computers serving digital transformation in localities.
A crucial task to recover and develop its local economy in the post-pandemic era is to promote all-around digital transformation. Ho Chi Minh City’s digitisation programme, issued in July 2020, aims for the digital economy to contribute 25% to its gross regional domestic product (GRDP) by 2025, and 40% by 2030. This year, the city wants to raise the digital economy’s proportion in the GRDP to 15%. It has prioritised ten sectors for digitisation: healthcare, education, transport, finance/banking, tourism, agriculture, logistics, environment, energy, and human resources training.
Many financial institutions invested in digital platforms and solutions well before 2020 to respond quickly to VUCA or the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity environment.
The digital transition was justified in retrospect as companies try to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, corporate leaders should think about a few key things and take steps to not only respond to severe business shocks but also reshape their businesses and plan for their recovery.
Global companies must be predictive and proactive in their decision-making to preserve business continuity and build enterprise resilience as businesses should simply turn up their speed and agility when a crisis arises so they can seize the chance.
Companies must also show agility in a crisis so that they can shift to similar or completely different product domains. Hence, the demonstration of speed has led to hopes for faster changes in the future and a new way of looking at past efforts, which are now seen as lacking a real driver for speed.
Optimised and creative digital user experiences are business necessities in today’s financial services firms, but they can’t be made with outdated technologies, organisational techniques, and legacy infrastructure.
Because of these changes, there was a “shift to digital,” which mostly confirmed what institutions already knew about the future of customer engagement. Instead, the most useful insight is probably how flexible the industry has been and how that has changed the way executives think about past and future transformation strategies.
With this, AIOps platforms are essential to modern digital infrastructure. They improve IT operations by using analytics and machine learning (ML) to make sure services are always secure, reliable, and high performing. AIOps takes data from different IT operations tools and uses AI/ML analytics to automatically find and fix problems as they happen.
The OpenGov Breakfast Insight on 1 September 2022 offered the latest information to top-level financial services industry leaders in Singapore on successful AIOps in the financial sector.
Leveraging AIOps in the Finance Industry
Kicking off the session, Mohit Sagar, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, acknowledges that the Platforms for AI for IT Operations (AIOps) are important parts of modern digital infrastructure in the FSI.
Mohit believes that an organisation would gain a competitive advantage with a platform that supports operational intelligence and automatic services with the ability to deliver innovative AI, ML and automation. “When data provide genuine insights, you can take action that can make people understand and support.”
In the current VUCA (volatility, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) environment, Mohit explains, there are intrinsic characteristics that make a situation or condition difficult to analyse, respond to, or plan for. Understanding how to mitigate these characteristics can significantly enhance a leader’s strategic abilities and result in improved outcomes.
In this scenario, when correctly implemented, actionable intelligence provides a company with a strategic advantage over its competitors.
The term “actionable” indicates that the information is such that it offers the potential to be acted on – and should be used to act. When an organisation desires to act based on past experiences or behaviours, actionable intelligence comes into play. When organisations improve their market position because of actionable intelligence analysis, they gain competitive intelligence.
Actionable intelligence is frequently gathered in the context of big data, where there are enormous amounts of information and this information is used to make extremely precise decisions. Whereas actionable intelligence aids in future planning for a company and can boost market performance.
Citing Singapore as an example, Mohit observes that it has established itself as a centre for vaccine production and distribution because of the pandemic. It used the black swan event to reconsider how it can operate more efficiently. Singapore adapted to the changes brought about by COVID-19 TO develop into a smarter nation.
Eventually, many financial institutions are expanding their online offerings to strengthen their digital presence and meet their customers’ growing reliance on online banking. As a result, AIOps are essential for remaining competitive in today’s finance industry.
AIOps technologies help to prevent customer-impacting downtime by quickly locating and identifying problems within a system and determining their root cause. “AIOps can help protect against cybercrime and its possible disastrous financial effects on businesses, such as falling stock prices, damage to their reputations, and legal action, on top of the known financial losses.”
As more people get used to virtual experiences and the flexibility of always-on digital solutions, more people will use digital banking. But financial institutions must get ready for this change while also dealing with rising cybersecurity risks and higher customer expectations for uptime and cutting-edge technology.
AIOps are necessary to solve these problems and gain a competitive edge in the highly competitive financial industry.
Leading Successful AIOps for Financial Services
To deal with the huge growth in monitoring, data, complexity and user expectations, IT teams need to set up an AIOps platform that allows service-driven, autonomous remediation, according to Ravi Bedi, Head & Practice Lead, AI-Led Solutions, NEXT Solutions, NCS Group.
As the financial services industry moves toward digitalisation, it needs to be able to provide more business-critical services in hybrid environments. Ravi feels that IT operations are the most important part of any business in the modern world. Every year, new technologies, tools, and ways of doing things come out, which makes operations more complicated. Thus, “the IT team should be more collaborative.”
IT operations that rely heavily on cloud infrastructure need to deploy agile development methods. To keep up with the changing trends, IT operations need to scale up to meet the demand and keep innovating for better service.
On the other hand, cloud orchestration organises, manages and provides cloud components to a host of users. It helps organisations manage their IT operations in a cloud-heavy environment. With this, finding the right cloud strategy can transform and boost an enterprise.
In the current financial services industry, the quality of end-to-end digital experiences is what gives organisations a competitive edge and distinguishes great leaders from others. However, as IT systems become more complex, dynamic, diverse and hybrid, it becomes increasingly difficult for IT operations teams to meet deliverables, objectives, and mandates.
Legacy systems are frequently found at the core of traditional enterprise IT operations. This is primarily due to end-users’ extreme level of comfort with the current system, despite its obvious flaws.
Consequently, the cloud-first strategy is the optimal solution. The agility provided by modern, cloud-based IT operations management tools enables rapid organisation expansion. Hence, a cloud-based IT operations model enhances the security of an organisation’s IT infrastructure. In lieu of risking damage to the production environment, they can configure virtual machines to deploy applications.
With this, IT professionals are empowered to understand tools thoroughly and to detect and resolve problems before they occur. In addition to choosing the appropriate technology, it’s crucial to make sure that the company culture is in line with the new course and that the teams can support the new digital strategy.
A company’s culture is created by the individuals hired, the procedures used and the values upheld. These cultural factors interact with the modifications brought about by digital transformation. “Your digital transformation will suffer if these factors don’t change to accommodate impending change,” Ravi is firmly convinced.
A company may see slow user adoption and productivity loss if its digital transformation is not in line with its culture. “Therefore, whenever your organisational culture runs counter to the mindset of digital transformation or your specific project objectives, we advise changing it.”
Powering Service Level and Operational Efficiency Breakthroughs in Financial Services using AIOps
According to Pravat Sutar, Vice President – Data Architect, Great Eastern Singapore, new technologies like cloud computing, virtualisation, and the Internet of Things (IoT) present new challenges for IT organisations.
“As these organisations expand their IT infrastructure, they must also modify their operations management processes to meet the demands of the business for performance, security, and cost control,” Pravat opines.
Most IT infrastructures have grown organically, and as a result, there are frequently significant gaps between various technologies and systems. In IT operations management, AI has a clear advantage as AIOps use artificial intelligence to streamline IT operations and speed up, automate, and solve issues in challenging modern-day IT environments.
Moreover, by mitigating risks, increasing operational efficiency and accelerating growth and innovation, AI enables businesses to achieve profitable digital transformations.
Pravat stated that AIOps in financial services could lead to identifying and preventing fraud, cost reduction and better customer service. “Indeed! AI plays a vital role in the digital economy.”
AIOps can identify a data breach in a matter of seconds, in real-time, as opposed to traditional technology and manual processes, which can take up to 6 months. AI can also lessen the possibility of false positives in traditional fraud detection techniques. It can track spending and deposit patterns over time, notify staff of anomalies, and halt payments in their tracks.
In addition, the combination of machine learning and data analytics drastically reduced errors and enhanced the quality of the financial services provided. The predictive analytics of AIOps provide early warnings through alerts that diagnose problems; reduce downtime, and save businesses thousands of dollars.
AIOps can also supplement or even replace several existing IT operations processes. AIOps builds upon Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Automation of IT processes (ITPA) to automate rule-based and repetitive tasks by combining big data with AI and machine learning.
Pravat thinks that customers’ daily use of digital channels has a significant impact on the quality of the experience they have in terms of delivering superior customer service. Bank customers need to be able to see transactions in real-time. Fraud departments need both real-time access to transaction data to build strong predictive models and proactive ways to spot outliers that could be signs of illegal activity.
Stop downtime that affects customers by quickly finding and identifying problems in a system and figuring out their root causes. As a result, service assurance gets better and the mean time to remediation, or MTTR, gets shorter. This makes customers happy.
Pravat believes that small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Singapore are switching to AI-based IT operation tools to improve service quality and meet changing customer needs in an agile way. So, the growing number of deployments and shorter development cycles have forced SMEs to use both DevOps and AIOps to stay competitive in the market.
According to Phillip Wu, Director, APEX Solutions, Dell Technologies, “the future should be a self-driving data centre.” Attitudes and behaviours that allow people and organisations to see how data, algorithms and AI create new opportunities begin with an open mindset. And with this, an organisation’s technology adoption will occur.
“An outcome-based private cloud can be much more flexible, and we can deliver an outcome for you using AIOPs,” Phillip recommends.
Clients could use the best-of-breed Dell Technologies innovation, giving them the flexibility, they need to adapt and thrive. He also introduced “multi-cloud on your terms,” which delivers a straightforward and consistent cloud experience.
“We recommend cloud services to meet a variety of data and workload needs, allowing clients to streamline transformation, adjust to changing circumstances, and maintain control over their data,” says Phillip.
Mohit acknowledges that a growth mindset culture begins with leadership behaviour, and leaders must work on themselves to aid in organisational transformation. “Cloud is the future of IT” as it gives businesses a way to get technology that is more flexible, scalable and cost-transparent.
Cloud adoption is a way for businesses to use the internet to improve the scalability of their database capabilities while lowering costs and risks. Cloud technology lets companies grow and change quickly, speed up innovation, make businesses more flexible and streamline operations.
“Cloud-based technologies have almost completely changed the game in the IT world, and because individuals and organisations have varying business needs and requirements, they require custom cloud solutions tailored to their business specifications,” Mohit concludes.
Three enterprises have been chosen to improve animal welfare, productivity, and guest experience in Singapore’s wildlife parks. They triumphed in an innovation competition run by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and an organisation dedicated to protecting wildlife.
“IMDA believes that any and every organisation can tap digital innovation to transform and unlock new opportunities for business growth,” says Justin Ang, Assistant Chief Executive, Media, Innovation, Communications & Marketing, IMDA.
He continued by saying that they are helping the wildlife reserves group’s innovation journey by diagnosing business challenges, defining problem statements, and crowdsourcing solutions. He also expressed excitement for other partner groups to develop their digital transformation roadmap.
The innovation programme is housed on IMDA’s Open Innovation Platform (OIP), a digital platform for crowdsourcing that connects actual business problems with cutting-edge technological solutions. This will start the creation of a prototype and give them the chance to show how desirable, feasible, and viable their solutions are.
The management of wildlife precincts and animal care, on the other hand, typically uses less developed digital and technological solutions, according to the wildlife reserves group. The group began working with IMDA to tap into the technology ecosystem for creative solutions that would help improve welfare, facilitate the unique challenges of zoo operations, and unlock innovative new ways for the experience of the visitors as part of the group’s digital transformation towards smart, integrated wildlife park experiences and operations.
Since June 2021, the organisation for wildlife reserves has collaborated closely with IMDA, using the OIP to crowdsource solutions. The organisation took part in three innovation calls on the national digital innovation platform over the past year, which attracted 60 submissions and ultimately produced three proof-of-concept developments with promising outcomes.
One of the projects focused on the management and upkeep of the wildlife park’s aviary meshing, which is heavily dependent on manual inspections to find breaches and may be subject to human error. There are inherent restrictions from visual inspections, including the inability to examine the mesh above a certain height because of the average aviary’s size and height of 3,000 square metres and 35 metres, respectively.
The wildlife reserves group discovered through OIP an automated method that checks the integrity of the aviary mesh and detects any potential breaches more precisely while minimising human error. This method uses a vibration sensor network. Testing of the suggested fix is currently taking place.
As of now, OIP has helped solve problems in industries like manufacturing, financial services, and healthcare using technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and augmented reality and virtual reality.
Meanwhile, the Singapore National Parks Board (NParks) together with its partners recently revealed the release of Fin Finder, the first mobile app in Asia that uses AI to visually identify shark and ray species that are being traded illegally.
Officers from the Singapore National Parks Board will use the app to combat the illegal wildlife trade. They are currently required to collect the fins from each shipment for DNA testing to identify the species, which can take up to a week to complete.
Thus, by enabling officers to take photos of fins that will be compared against a database of more than 15,000 images of shark and ray fins via an AI-driven algorithm in the app, Fin Finder streamlines this procedure.
The AI-powered app provides visual identification of shark and ray species on-site in a matter of seconds and will also enable officers to quickly flag suspicious fin shipments for additional DNA testing to stop the illegal trade in shark and ray fins.
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