The event offered new members an opportunity to experience a new working style and environment while also meeting with leading global investors and venture capitals (VCs).

The activities included one-on-one consultation sessions between VCs and startups , along with networking events that allowed startups and young tech entrepreneurs to learn and share with each other.

One of the networking events was “The After Funded Stories: What To Do Next After You Get Funded”, at which Pahrada Sapprasert, the director at 500 Startups VC that has invested with more than 60 startups, shared her experience as a VC and the criteria for startups to earn financial support from VCs.

Pahrada kicked off the conversation with Thai and international startup members of True Digital Park’s startup ecosystem. She said it doesn’t matter how long startups have been operating – it’s more important that the startups are ready. In other words, the startups that VCs seek have already launched their products and had some traction in the market. Based on Pahrada’s experience, startups that have received funding could have just launched their products three weeks earlier or have entered the market two years ago.

Startups are also required to propose a clear and feasible business plan when pitching to VCs. Unfortunately, many are “thinking too small”, Pahrada said. Some startups have such a small potential market that they will soon reach saturation point, while VCs are looking for startups with the ability to scale once they get funded.

“We want to invest in startups that have the potential to do well in the next five years. They have to convince us that they can capitalise from a sizeable market with the opportunity to do business in the long run,” Pahrada said.

Thai startups who want to be a unicorn or a multi-billion-dollar firm need to equip themselves with English-language skills as much as gaining technical knowledge from their startup friends and expats. They also need to grow their networks and collaborate with other members in the startup ecosystem, she said.

The service will be made available on GeTS’ open trade blockchain (OTB) platform starting on July 5, 2019, according to a release from the company.

Chong Kok Keong , the CEO of GeTS, said a Certificate of Origin is an important trade document for cross-border trade between countries, as it certifies the origin of the imported goods.

The blockchain-based eCOs on the GeTS OTB platform will facilitate a more open and transparent digital trade economy, promote trusted connections, help establish the provenance of goods, and serve as a source of authenticity to customs agencies and importers, he said. It will also help to mitigate fraud risks or potential alteration of content by providing an audit trail while facilitating a more secure exchange of trade documents.

Roland Ng, President of Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI) said the Chamber actively helps enterprises in business development and transformation, enabling them to adapt swiftly to global changes. The partnership with GeTS will empower businesses to expand their global footprint with ease, enhance their productivity, and help their members to harness the business opportunities using a trusted, secure, borderless and seamless blockchain technology, he said.

With more than 30,000 certificates of origin being issued yearly, blockchain-based eCOs will enable trade documents to be exchanged securely on a neutral platform on OTB, improving the supply-chain efficiency. Highly compliant industries such as food, pharmaceuticals and automotive will benefit, especially when safety and health are key concerns. It allows traceability and provides transparency in the supply-chain in the event of fraud, recall or adulteration of the food, medication or goods shipped, according to the release.

“We continue to innovate and bring about critical digital transformation in the trade and logistics industry,” Eugene Wong, chainman of GeTS, said. “Blockchain will transform international trade, and the OTB platform is the perfect solution to bridge and create a neutral layer of trust among multiple stakeholders, allowing them to collaborate and to access trade documents securely.”

The result is an easy-to-use security shield specifically for Domoco customers who are building infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) environments.

Previously, customers of the Docomo Cloud Platform had to set up third-party security products manually. This new service simplifies the process and is part of plans to handle the extra security risks posed by fifth-generation (5G) internet.

Under the technical covers of this solution is Trend Micro’s Virtual Network Function Suite, tested rigorously last year in the Docomo 5G Open Cloud.

Security threats hidden in traffic of various services executed on the cloud are visualised, detected, and ultimately blocked by Trend Micro. This provides a secure 5G environment to users and protect against internet of things devices that don’t incorporate additional security.

The company is working with CAT Telecom, Thai Embedded Systems Association (TESA), the National Innovation Agency (NIA) and local tour operators to test the system in Phuket.

Thitima Suwanarat, managing director of Xsense, said the system was designed in line with the government’s safety standards and can be activated via a wristband or sensor attached to a life jacket. It notifies the Control and Command Centre immediately in case of emergencies.

The system can also be adapted based on each user’s needs and used through both computers and mobile devices.

“This project has been created to help tackle problems, so Thailand can enter international levels in tourism,” Thitima said.

Colonel Sanpachai Huvanandana, president of CAT Telecom, said CAT supports Long-Range Wide Area Networks (Lorawan) to test sensors implemented on ships and attached to life jackets on the Andaman Sea.

“We began the first pilot project in Phuket and are ready to provide the Lorawan network to cover other tourist destinations,” he said.

Watchara Chatwiriya, president of TESA, said the association was coordinating with government agencies and other partners to help test the product. “We play a key role in helping our members grow and become more competitive in the market,” he said.

Pariwat Wongsamran, director of innovate entrepreneurship development at NIA, said the system is easy to use and allows users to control and manage the system through a single window. He said it also includes a hotspot feature offering internet access to tourists even in the middle of the sea. It can support several networks, including Lora, VHM and mobile networks in Thailand.

The information-technology trade show unveils the latest innovations in online gaming and shopping for its target audience of so-called millennials – tech-savvy adults who have grown up in the Internet era. This year’s theme is “Into Futuristic Life”.

Pornchai Jantarasupasang, assistant general manager of Commart Joy 2019 organiser ARIP, said growth in Thailand’s IT market in the second half of the year is being spurred by imports of new smartphones and “smart home” devices. High demand for the cutting-edge gadgets is being driven in part by students, who want new IT devices to support their class and work.

The trade show is divided into zones, including for e-sports and games, a Commart Joy Arcade to showcase new technology related to the tourism industry, a HomePro “HomeElectric super sale”, Commart “thunder sale”, and zones catering to smart homes and smart cars.

The exhibition runs from on July 4 to July 7 at Bitec exhibition centre in the southeast district of Bangna.

Held has launched two motorbike jackets as well as a safety vest, which can be retrofitted by the motorcyclists themselves with the actively illuminated light modules from Osram.

The light strips offer up to seven hours of active lighting in continuous operation (with a 4,000 mAh battery) with the LED light modules emitting white light at the front and red light at the back. The light modules can be integrated quickly and simply by the rider into the clothing through a fabric tube, and the battery charged with ease via a USB port.

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Facebook began experiencing disruptions around 10pm, according to tracking website downdetector.com, with Instagram and WhatsApp experiencing disruptions around the same time.

The site’s outage map reflected that several parts of North America and South-east Asia were affected.

Besides Singapore, Malaysia also seemed to be affected.

Facebook later said in a statement that it was aware of the issues and was working on a fix.

“During one of our routine maintenance operations, we triggered an issue that is making it difficult for some people to upload or send photos and videos,” a Facebook representative said.

“We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and we apologise for any inconvenience.”

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We’re aware that some people are having trouble uploading or sending images, videos and other files on our apps. We’re sorry for the trouble and are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. #facebookdown

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Users took to social media platforms such as Twitter to post about the outage, adding that pictures and posts were not loading on Instagram, and they had trouble sending and receiving messages on WhatsApp.

Content including videos, status and log-in features were also disrupted.

Twitter user Karen Sam added a screenshot of Facebook’s login page and said that she was unable to access it.

Another Twitter user Stephen White stated that he was not able to move past a screen requesting him to secure his account when he logged into the application.

“I’ve also seen that I’m not the only one today so any chance you can help correct this issue,” he said, tagging Facebook’s Twitter handle in the post.

Facebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, shares systems across the three applications.

In April, users experienced a similar major disruption, with more than 12,000 incidents being reported on downdetector.com at the peak of the outage.

Asset optimization software company Aspen Technology has released a new version of its aspenOne software and says Version 11 has been specifically designed to breaks down barriers between engineers, planners, schedulers and maintenance professionals while enabling customers to leverage analytics to streamline operations and boost profitability. With Version 11 customers can also realise higher operational efficiencies and throughput.

The Version 11 features innovations across aspenONE Asset Performance Management (APM), aspenONE Engineering, aspenONE Manufacturing and Supply Chain software suites and introduces Aspen GDOT dynamic optimization software, which unifies production optimization for energy and bulk chemical companies in complex industrial environments.

Peter Reynolds, senior analyst at ARC Advisory Group, commented: “Multi-unit optimization has always been difficult for many refining and petrochemical companies due to the inherent complexity of plant-wide models. The Aspen GDOT multi-unit dynamic coordination solution uses a simpler approach with dynamic data reconciliation and parameter estimation that should help owner-operators reduce current gaps in planning and scheduling.”

“AspenTech is committed to delivering solutions that can help to increase the profitability of our customers,” added Antonio Pietri, president and chief executive of AspenTech.

Acquired by McKinsey in 2015, QuantumBlack will set up offices in Singapore to serve clients across Southeast Asia.
Having started off as an adviser to Formula 1 race teams a decade ago, QuantumBlack offers deep understanding and data-driven performance optimisation to help businesses identify, measure and act on operational improvements and strategic growth.
“The opportunity in Asia is truly exciting. Some of the world’s most digitally sophisticated companies are here and within Southeast Asia, Singapore’s data-rich environment is leading experimentation across multiple industries. I look forward to growing our regional footprint and helping clients here better use their data to hone their competitive edge and improve their long-term performance,” said Jeremy Palmer, CEO of London-based QuantumBlack.
According to a 2018 McKinsey study based on conversations with more than 100 business executives in Asia, many organisations struggle to pinpoint the most valuable cases for data analytics.
“The digital economy presents tremendous opportunities for Singapore to transcend limitations of size and geography and take our businesses and workers to the next frontier. The launch of QuantumBlack in Singapore is testament to our efforts to foster a vibrant and innovative digital ecosystem in Singapore,” said Chan Chun Sing, Singapore’s minister for trade and industry, who participated in the opening plenary discussion with Grab co-founder, Tan Hooi Ling, and group head for DBS institutional banking, Tan Su Shan.
Supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), QuantumBlack’s new priorities in Southeast Asia include:
* Supporting organisations to enhance performance and drive growth.
* Building a vibrant and sustainable data science and machine learning community to nurture the data science and analytics talent pool in the region and foster knowledge exchange with global experts in the field.
* Advocating for ethical and explainable Artificial Intelligence that bridges the gap between performance and interpretability, which will strengthen trust from users and allow more complex models to be implemented.
“Our study shows that making meaningful use of data remains a key challenge for many business leaders in the region. With QuantumBlack’s proven expertise in using data analytics to achieve sustainable performance improvements, we look forward to helping clients here overcome that challenge. Their capabilities combined with McKinsey’s deep domain expertise and management experience enable us to become stronger impact partners to our clients,” said Vinayak HV, senior partner and leader of McKinsey Digital, Southeast Asia.

With Version 11 customers can also realise higher operational efficiencies and throughput.

The Version 11 features innovations across aspenONE Asset Performance Management (APM), aspenONE Engineering, aspenONE Manufacturing and Supply Chain software suites and introduces Aspen GDOT dynamic optimization software, which unifies production optimization for energy and bulk chemical companies in complex industrial environments.

Peter Reynolds, senior analyst at ARC Advisory Group, commented: “Multi-unit optimization has always been difficult for many refining and petrochemical companies due to the inherent complexity of plant-wide models. The Aspen GDOT multi-unit dynamic coordination solution uses a simpler approach with dynamic data reconciliation and parameter estimation that should help owner-operators reduce current gaps in planning and scheduling.”

“AspenTech is committed to delivering solutions that can help to increase the profitability of our customers,” added Antonio Pietri, president and chief executive of AspenTech.