The 5-day round-the-clock Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) and the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH), which ended on 12 December, drew some 3.5 million views across the world, including live and on-demand views of sessions on the online event platform, as well as social media. It attracted 60,000 participants from over 160 countries with more than 2000 speakers, over 1300 exhibitors, 27 international pavilions, and 45 satellite events hosted by partner cities across the world. More than 4400 business meetings were facilitated through SFF x SWITCH, including over 1000 virtual meetings between technology seekers and providers conducted through IPI’s Tech Innovation platform. The 14 themed playlists for SFF 2020 covered AI, 5G, and Quantum Computing, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, Digital Infrastructure, Economic, Founders, Green Finance, Inclusion, Insurance and Pensions, Investment, Payments, Policy, SMEs, and Talent. The twin-event was jointly organized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG). Several industry initiatives were announced at the event, including the Asian Institute of Digital Finance, hosted by the National University of Singapore, and backed by MAS and the National Research Foundation (NRF), to develop capabilities for digital financial services in Asia, the S$12 million Singapore Blockchain Innovation Program by ESG, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), NRF, and supported by MAS, to strengthen Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem, the Singapore Financial Data Exchange, jointly developed by MAS and the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group, together with the key retail banks in Singapore, to enable individuals to consolidate their financial information residing in different banks and government agencies and a pilot for a technology platform by MAS, the Ministry of Health, and the Integrated Health Information Systems, in collaboration with the insurance and healthcare sectors, to securely share data with the patient’s consent to enable more efficient claims processing for hospitalization.
The event also saw the launch of a first-of-its-kind national faster payment systems linkage between Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay to go live by mid-2021, allowing users to send money directly between the two countries instantly, securely, at competitive rates, and at any time of the day.
An agreement was concluded between MAS and the Magyar Nemzeti Bank to strengthen cooperation in fintech innovation between Singapore and Hungary and facilitate joint innovation projects between MAS and MNB.
Some of the new open innovation challenges launched at the event include the Food Waste National Innovation Challenge led by the National Environment Agency, JTC Corporation, and ESG to address the sustainable and automated segregation, disposal, and treatment of food waste, as well as a first-of-its-kind Southeast Asia Open Innovation Challenge involving five regional corporate partners.
SLINGSHOT 2020 was another highlight of the event, where startups competed for honours and 16 emerged as winners, from over 7,500 applications from 159 countries, with Singapore-based startup NextBillion.ai being declared as the grand winner. SLINGSHOT also featured a new covid challenge to uncover solutions that help support businesses in adapting to the changes and challenges brought by the pandemic.
