Company revenue could easily reach 100 million yuan ($14.54 million), with applications possible in a wide range of areas including public security, customs and hospitals, said Mak, co-founder and chief technology officer of Roborn Dynamics.

Through a self-developed algorithm, four controlling sensors, and the operator’s body and finger movements, the robot can be directly controlled at the whim of the user, he said.

The technology can help in life-threatening missions as well as in rehabilitation and education. A mid-to high-end Roborn robot costs about 400,000 yuan.

Founded in 2017, Roborn started collaborating on 5G applications with telecom operator China Mobile and telecom vendor ZTE Corp in November.

Thanks to the large bandwidth and low time delays, 5G technology allows smoother robot actions and better synchronization between the operator and the robot, he said.

“Telecom operators are also promoting 5G applications. I’m optimistic about the market,” Mak said, adding that his team has promoted the products in almost all provinces in the country.

The company employs seven people in Hong Kong for project management and software development and about 50 in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, where a research and development center is located and a manufacturing facility is planned. The staff at the center is set to exceed 100 by the end of this year.

It also runs a sales and management office in Guangzhou and electric motor developing operations in Dongguan, two other cities in Guangdong.

The greater integration of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has provided greater convenience for Hong Kong startups and more flexibility to employees, Mak said, citing easier transport via a high-speed railway and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, as well as favorable personal income tax rates on Hong Kong and Macao talent working in Guangdong cities in the area.

Apart from financial support from the Hong Kong government, the company – as an entrepreneurial and innovative entity – has also received support in Guangdong such as preferential rental rates, access to an industrial fund and housing subsidies.

Such support is helpful to the company and it plans to talk with investors as it anticipates rapid business expansion, Mak said.

The outline development plan for the Greater Bay Area released in February pledges to “support young people and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises from Hong Kong and Macao to realize their development potential on the mainland, extend local entrepreneurship subsidies, (provide) support to cover eligible entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and Macao and proactively take forward the development of youth entrepreneurship and employment bases for Hong Kong and Macao”.

Roborn will draft a development blueprint closely related to 5G development in China, he said.

The company has also signed up for an entrepreneurship and innovation competition in Guangdong province.

The Community Entrepreneurs Cup competition will take place later this year with contestants from Hong Kong and Macao to attend.

Focused on serving the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the competition is meant to facilitate the commercialization of scientific and technological research results and the industrial chain in the region, it was announced at a news conference last month in preparation for the competition.

Sunti Medhavikul, managing director of UIH, said as a digital infrastructure and solution provider, UIH uses its digital infrastructure of cloud, networks and cyber security to serve customers’ demands and help them achieve digital transformation.

UIH’s infrastructure was built to serve emerging technologies such as data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain.

These emerging technologies will generate a large amount of data and they require real-time processing power. Digital infrastructure needs to restructure to become more scalable, agile, and efficient to cope up with the changes, Sunti said. “Such demand drives the higher need of cloud computing which, therefore means the higher need for decent data centres,” Sunit said. “We estimate the compound annual growth rate of data center services in Thailand will grow approximately 15 per cent from 2020 to 2025.”

Sunti said the opening of UIH BCH4, in the Benchachinda Building in Chatuchak, will enhance the company’s capability to fulfil customers’ requirements as well as lift itself to become “a data centre as a service provider” in Thailand.

“Data centres are regarded as the backbone of digital economy infrastructure in the new era. It not only helps enhance the organization’s IT system to be more reliable and flexible, but also accelerate the development of new innovation to come out to the market faster. So, the services offered through the UIH BCH4 data centre will be a foundation to enhance the organization’s ICT infrastructure to achieve digital transformation,” Sunti said.

Panitharn Payackapan, data centre services business unit head at UIH, said the UIH BCH4 comes with 300-rack capacity, design and facilities that meets international standards and is a carrier-neutral data centre. “The highlight of UIH BCH4 comprises standards, security, and connectivity,” Panitharn said.

“For co-location, UIH operates comprehensive IT facilities whereby customers can place their servers, or IT systems supported by corporate grade high-speed internet provided to its tenants as a default. Customers may go for half rack or full rack, which is equipped with fully redundant uninterrupted power systems in properly controlled environment.

“For private area, the service is to provide a metal cage surrounding the racks to offer higher security with multi-factor authentication for access control. For business continuity office, UIH offers office space with high-speed internet to customers. In case of emergencies, customers can use the facilities to smoothly run and continue their business with no interruption.

“For smart-hand service, UIH can perform basic and non-complicated tasks at customer racks on customers’ behalf based on agreed procedures. This service is offered for customers who don’t want to come to data center to perform such simple tasks.”

The company has solidified its leading position by expanding into Singapore with support from Enterprise Singapore, the government agency under the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry driving enterprise development. As part of its work, the agency also develops Singapore as a global-Asia node for startup and innovation. RISE is supported under the agency’s Startup SG Accelerator programme providing mentorship and resources to support the growth of start-ups based in Singapore. RISE’s vision is to build up the region’s capabilities and community, to exchange ideas and to internationalise both new and old businesses alike. It aims to transform Southeast Asia into one of the most productive, dynamic and vibrant global hubs for corporate innovation, global trading and start-ups ecosystem in the world.

As a Start-up SG Accelerator partner, RISE will help Singaporean start-ups to plug into Thailand’s innovation ecosystem and work with local partners to contribute solutions to the market needs and globally. This will be done through utilizsing RISE’s own network of more than 200 corporate and governmental agencies worldwide to connect and catapult start-ups into a wider international arena. This two-way relationship also means that more than 1,000 Growth-stage Start0ups in the RISE Network can make Singapore the first country to launch their business in Southeast Asia outside their home country, and reap the benefits of directly accessing one of the world’s most start-up friendly cities in the world.

With its singular blend of Eastern and Western perspectives and outlooks, Singapore an unmatched location for live testing of new ideas, products, and services. Successes and failures can be gauged quickly, and in the case of success will open a gateway to the wider Southeast and North Asia market.

“Many start-ups fail not because they lack great ideas but because they lack product-market fit. Product development should be driven by a market need and customer validation from potential users, said Jonathan Lim, Enterprise Singapore’s Director for Global Innovation Network.

“Against this backdrop, Enterprise Singapore is happy to partner with RISE in its inaugural AI program to enable startups to work closely with regional corporates to co-develop solutions targeted at resolving specific pain points and problem statements. Innovation does not occur in isolation and we need various ecosystem players such as RISE to connect people and ideas to foster collaboration.”

The new designs are aimed at bringing more diversity to the keyboard, alongside fun and exciting additions to popular categories of food, animals, activities and smiley faces, the company said.

In a major update to the Holding Hands emoji typically used to represent couples and relationships, users will now be able to select any combination of skin tone, in addition to gender, to personalise the people holding hands, opening up more than 75 possible combinations.

Following Apple’s proposal to the Unicode Consortium last year to introduce more disability-themed emoji, a new guide dog, an ear with a hearing aid, wheelchairs, a prosthetic arm and a prosthetic leg will be available in the emoji keyboard.

Many additional emoji categories are getting updates with a new smiley face for yawning, a one-piece swimsuit, new food items including a waffle, falafel, butter and garlic, and new animals like the sloth, flamingo, orangutan and skunk.

Fifty-nine new emoji designs will be available with a free software update for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, the company said. Thousands of emoji are currently available, including emotive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters, more professions, various clothing options, food types, animals, mythical creatures and more. New emoji are created based on the approved characters in Unicode 12.0.

Indications that the city is fast becoming a national and global highland for AI became evident after 20 tech giants like IBM, Microsoft, Alibaba and a research facility affiliated to Tongji University decided to set up shop in Shanghai’s AIsland, a dedicated hub in the Zhangjiang Science City in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area.

The 66,000-square-meter hub is the latest demonstration of a central government decision in May to launch the Shanghai National Pilot Area for the Innovative Development of New-Generation AI, the first of its kind nationwide.

“AI’s application requires coordinated adaptation to real-life scenarios,” said Xia Yuzhong, who oversees AI and information services at the Science and Economy Commission of Shanghai Pudong New Area.

“We hope these top-tier AI companies can lead the industrial application and innovation aggregation of AI and generate more transferable and duplicable experiences to other parts of the country.”

The AI zone, which is expected to see more than 30 application scenarios, will conduct a number of pilot programs such as smart parking, intelligent lighting, environment monitoring and unmanned convenience stores, said Han Lu, deputy general economist of Shanghai Zhangjiang Group Co Ltd, operator of the zone.

“The pilot zone should be a prototype mimicking what future cosmopolitan life should look like, “Han said, adding that the zone will feature the city’s first 5G+AI pilot zone and host over 8,000 research and development personnel.

Microsoft opened an AI and internet of things lab on the “island” in May. This is its third and largest such facility worldwide, through which the first batch of 30 clients stand to benefit from turning prototyping into products by leveraging Microsoft’s AI and internet of things (IoT) solutions, said Lin Miaojing, project director of the Microsoft AI and IoT lab.

Shanghai is dedicated to making AI and smart manufacturing two key pillars to drive its economy, of which 70 percent comes from modern services.

To shore up growth in the real economy, Shanghai has pledged to build two world-class smart manufacturing industrial clusters focusing on automobile and electronics information, as the city strives to achieve 100 indigenous breakthroughs in core technologies by 2021.

The city’s Three-Year Plan on Smart Manufacturing, which was officially approved by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization on Tuesday, has put forward a goal to make intelligent manufacturing equipment a 130-billion-yuan ($18.9 billion) industry, recording a compound annual growth rate of 15 percent.

Among them, robotics and related systems are expected to account for 60 billion yuan, ranking first nationwide.

The commission, which is responsible for the plan’s implementation, said it will prioritize the nurturing of a batch of unicorn firms and “hidden champion” companies on critical equipment and core components.

These include fostering 10 listed companies on the country’s technology-focused board, the STAR Market, leading the formulation of over 50 standards on smart manufacturing, as well as nurturing the establishment of two to three national and three to five public service platforms of industrial influence.

It will promote the adoption of 5G communications, AI and big data in the application of smart manufacturing. It is also eyeing to create industrial synergies across the Yangtze River Delta Region.

On the implementation front, the municipality has vowed to establish 100 national level pilot smart factories, 1,000 pilot plants that received mutual recognition among the Yangtze Delta Region, and promote the intelligent transformation of 10,000 factories.

Jupiter Chain allows users to keep their personal data private by encrypting the data and requiring consent before other parties can access the necessary information to conduct Big Data analytics projects. The team behind it envisions a future where users can get customised healthcare plans from their aggregated medical data, while the data remains secure and private to them. Assessors only gain permission to analyse the relevant data when individuals give consent, and are unable to access the raw data.

The company said healthcare business owners will also no longer have to be custodians to user data, avoiding hiccups in securing sensitive data. At its full potential in the healthcare ecosystem, this eliminates the risks of data sharing and increases the benefits to consumers and researchers.

“With Jupiter Chain, JEDTrade hopes to fundamentally change the way we handle data. From day-to-day interactions to large-scale processes, enterprise blockchain technology will change the way we live, with new industries hungry for solutions. We are ready, and look forward to delivering them,” said Dr Ernie Teo, CTO of JEDTrade.

Cloud Practice Builder is designed to eliminate the guesswork and financial risk for IT solution providers who are entering next-generation technology markets like cloud, security, IoT, analytics and mobility.

It offers providers with a single source for growing diversified cloud practices by quickly assessing, mapping and building expanded practice or solution focus areas.

The aim of the joint project is to promote technology ecosystem collaboration among members from both platforms including Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. This will facilitate innovation, international networks, business opportunities as well as increase media channels and activities. Experts in each of the countries can serve at the centre of high-quality human resources in technology, the partners say.

Open-Tec is a tech knowledge-sharing platform operated by TCC Technology Group, an integrated technology infrastructure provider in Thailand. It is  ready to collaborate with W.Media Pte Ltd, a global B2B technology marketing agency that specialises in public relations, media and events for four major mutual interests:

● Cross-border activities: Co-developing country members in terms of technology skills and knowledge updates on technology trends in the digital era.

● Cross-ecosystem: Co-creating new methods to connect the ecosystem for long-term collaborative learning according to country members’ needs as well as publicizing change of directions in each country member.

● Cross-platform: Levelling up the body of tech knowledge between trustful platforms to build trust and success in various industries.

● Cross-media: Promoting  communications with the public about members’ digital strategies, initiatives and workforce capability.

“Open-Tec is a platform created from TCC Technology Group that is intent on collecting and sharing knowledge of technology to build organizational innovation for TCC Group’s employees as well as startups, corporates and students in Thailand,” said Waleeporn Sayasit, corporate communications director of TCC Technology Co., Ltd. (TCCtech).

“ We are delighted to announce the collaboration between Open-Tec and W.Media that leads us on to a challenging goal in increasing benefits for the people in the region. Each country is striving to build a strategic alliance with international organizations for new collaborations. “To increase positive impact on business and social sustainability, this can be done through tech knowledge sharing and learning in the international arena which is another alternative way to integrated sustainable development.”

Vincent Liew, co-founder and director of W.Media Pte Ltd, said: “Asean  nations are expected to become the fourth largest economy in the world by 2030 and digital transformation to Industry 4.0 can be accelerated by combining ideas and resources.”

Reinforcing MediaTek’s leadership in edge AI, the i700 platform can be applied in a wide range of scenarios, including smart city, smart building and smart manufacturing. As an integrated platform encompassing CPU, GPU, ISP and a dedicated AI processing unit, it enables customers to accelerate the development of AI-enabled consumer IoT products.

Representing a new generation of AI IoT solutions, the i700 platform is powered by an octa-core CPU, which includes two 2.2GHz ARM Cortex-A75 cores and six 2.0GHz ARM Cortex-A55 cores, operating alongside an IMG 9XM-HP8 ISP that is clocked at 970MHz. The new AI IoT platform supports CorePilot, which ensures processing resources are allocated efficiently across all cores for maximum performance and battery efficiency.

An improved AI engine comprising a dedicated dual-core AI processor, AI Accelerator and AI Face Detection Engine is embedded in the i700 platform. Combined, the new components enable the platform to perform AI computations five times faster than its predecessor, the i500. In addition, i700 supports MediaTek’s NeuroPilot SDK. Compatible with Google’s Android Neural Networks API, it provides an open platform for customers and device manufacturers to take full advantage of common industry frameworks including TensorFlow, TF Lite, Caffe and Caffe2 when developing new applications.

“With the arrival of 5G networks, smart devices are driving the demand for better edge AI and IoT performance,” noted Jerry Yu, senior corporate vice president of MediaTek’s Intelligent Devices business unit.

“As the most direct way for us to interact with devices, image recognition technology has already been widely adopted in various industries. The latest MediaTek i700 platform is an integrated solution combining MediaTek’s wide breath of expertise such as in multimedia, wireless communications and AI. Not only does it provide our customers with a sophisticated platform to develop on, but also it underpins our efforts to support the AI IoT ecosystem for a truly hyperconnected future.”

The powerful i700 supports camera configurations of up to a single 32MP camera or a 24MP+16MP dual-camera setup. It also supports accurate, zero-latency image recognition on 30fps videos shot on a 32MP camera, as well as high speed recognition on high resolution 120fps slow motion videos. Furthermore, the upgraded tri-core ISP supports 14-bit RAW and 10-bit YUV processing, while the AI Face Detection engine enables fast facial recognition.

According to the Talent Trends 2019: Upskilling for a Digital World report, chief executives in Japan (95%) and Central and Eastern Europe (89%) are the most worried, whereas their peers in Italy (55%) and Turkey (45%) are the least anxious about skills. Of those most worried, 55 per cent say their business is not able to innovate effectively as a result, while 52 per cent said it is pushing up their people costs faster than expected.

The survey found that CEOs are shifting how they fill talent gaps. Almost half – 46 per cent – of chief executives globally say significant retraining/upskilling is the most important initiative to close a potential skills gap, versus just 18 per cent who say it’s hiring from outside their industry.

This is in contrast to surveys conducted in previous years, which have shown CEOs exploring the idea of hiring from other sectors – particularly industries that are further along the innovation journey – and using “gig economy” workers.

The refocusing on upskilling is taking place against a background of rising use of automation and artificial intelligence (AI). While these technologies will inevitably displace some workers, CEOs’ opinions vary on the scale and speed.

What’s clear is that investment in digital upskilling is just one part of what’s needed to create the workforce of the future, PwC said, because engaging workers to acquire new skills also requires a strong learning culture to be inextricably woven into a high-quality workplace.

Pirata Phakdeesattayaphong, Consulting Partner, PwC Thailand, said that when it comes to a shortage of skilled digital workers, Thai organisations share a similar concern with their global peers. Talented employees in data analytics, cloud computing, machine learning and data privacy skills are particularly in high demand.

“Thai companies are not passive about this issue. Many have increasingly invested in their workforce. For instance, many have adopted cloud ERP solutions for human resources while offering digital upskilling programmes for employees to close the skills gap and reduce growing concerns over jobs being replaced by technology,” she said.

To create good work, organisations will need first-rate workforce data, PwC said. While 86 per cent of CEOs say the right people data is vital, only 29 per cent believe the data they currently receive is adequate.

CEOs are also aware that the impact of automation on the workforce has implications for public trust. Half of the respondents see a lack of trust in business as a threat to growth, and they know that how they handle automation will publicly test that narrative.

In light of this, the survey shows CEOs are divided on where the responsibility for workers displaced by automation and AI should fall: 66 per cent believe the government should provide incentives for the development and use of AI, while 56 per cent think it should provide a safety net for displaced workers.

“Employers need to satisfy the growing desire for ‘good work’ – a fulfilling, rewarding experience that meets a set of high-quality values,” said Carol Stubbings, joint leader for Global People & Organisation at PwC UK. “Technology brings opportunities for efficiencies and cost management, but it also brings the opportunity to make working lives more productive and fulfilling,” she added.