The sixth edition of EmTech Asia, the much-anticipated conference on emerging technologies, was held in Singapore on 22 and 23 January 2019.
Over 700 industry professionals from 30 countries converged at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre to “discover the emerging technologies that will change the world.”
EmTech Asia is an opportunity to glimpse the future and begin to understand the technologies that matter and how they will change the face of business and drive the new global economy.”
Jointly organised by world-renowned media company MIT Technology Review and trade fair company Koelnmesse, the 2019 edition of EmTech Asia showcased 50 of the world’s most influential leaders and innovators from Facebook, Rolls Royce, The Rockefeller Foundation, Dolby Laboratories, and Harvard University among others.
EmTech Asia gives attendees a unique opportunity to be surrounded by impressive speakers from many branches of technology and the chance to cross-pollinate ideas across different sectors and these collisions often create inspiration. It also allows us to network and make connections, especially in the Asia region, so that we are able to collaborate with each other in the future.”
– Juan L. Aparicio Ojea, Siemens.
The conference saw experts driving the next generation of technological breakthroughs, speaking on topics ranging from artificial intelligence and robotics to sustainability, blockchain, bioengineering, virtual reality, and 3D printing.
Below are some of the highlights at this year’s edition:
Tech for Humanity
One of the key topics this year was Tech for Humanity: Energy, Food and Water for All.
- PET plastic-eating enzymes open up exciting opportunities for the global plastic pollution crisis.
- Fusion power is set to transform the way the world is energised, providing an on-demand source of clean energy.
- Infrastructure-free distributed water technology promises to be a life changer for millions of people around the globe.
Electricity-generating windows to answer the increasing amounts of non-renewable fuels for future cities. - Hawaii leads the way in renewable energy generation and storage.
Liberal Arts Education in the Age of AI
Soulless STEM must be enriched by humanities to answer new challenges brought by technological advances.
We must enrich our students’ education journey with humanities. We need to understand people and machines, not make people into machines”
– Professor Roland Chin, Hong Kong Baptist University
Blockchain Beyond Finance
Other highlights include sessions on blockchain and the impact this technology will have beyond the finance industry.
Until next year!
If EmTech Asia, sounds like your cup of tea, the two-day conference will return in February 2020.
