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SensorFlow Raises US$2.7 Million to Create Smart Hotels Across Southeast Asia

SensorFlow Raises US$2.7 Million to Create Smart Hotels Across Southeast Asia

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SensorFlow, a Singapore-based, smart energy management startup, announced recently that it has secured a further US$2.7 million of Series A funding to accelerate its regional growth and achieve its mission to make Asian hotels smart and energy efficient.

The company’s performance enhancing solutions deliver up to 30 percent in energy savings and up to 40 percent reduction in maintenance costs. The funds raised will boost SensorFlow’s rapidly expanding operations enabling the company to meet the needs of a growing customer base of major hotel chains in Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong. It will also help drive the company’s entry into new markets including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines which will bring the company closer to its goal of 800,000 smart hotel rooms by 2022.

The new funding is led by private investor Pierre Lorinet followed by Playfair Capital, Cocoon Capital, Entrepreneur First, 2be.lu Investments, Aurum Land and Insitu Asia Holdings. This brings the total funds raised till date to US$3.5 million. Last year’s initial seed funding was led by Cocoon Capital and followed by SG Innovate and SparkLabs under the Entrepreneur First accelerator programme.

Co-founder and CEO of SensorFlow, Saikrishnan Ranganathan, said, “With this investment we are in an even stronger position for market expansion to help more hotels within the region reach their sustainability goals. We look forward to building partnerships, pursuing opportunities with synergistic companies and working with local sustainability schemes across the region to further champion energy efficiency and make smart green hotels a standard practice in the industry. We also have our eyes set on entering Sri Lanka, India, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia within the next two years.”

Over the past year, SensorFlow started deploying property-wide solutions for The Uncharted Co’s 5footway.inn in Singapore and completed trials in three Alila Hotels & Resorts properties in Bali, driving a 30 percent reduction in energy costs. The company also tripled its staff and made key executive appointments in operations, engineering and sales. The team is currently in the midst of securing contracts with hotels and property developers in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

The SensorFlow solution solves three key challenges that earlier prevented hoteliers from implementing effective, integrated energy management solutions. The first is the large upfront costs for hardware followed by the inconvenience of a long installation period. The last key challenge has been the lack of integration options with existing systems.

“With energy consumption accounting for more than 60 percent of utility costs, hoteliers constantly seek to improve their energy efficiency. However, they often grapple with the challenge of incurring high costs and disruptions when implementing new energy solutions. This is why we created an innovative, retrofit solution that is easily installed in a matter of minutes and which seamlessly integrates into existing infrastructure. We use wireless sensors to collect real-time data and artificial intelligence (AI) to automate decision-making. This is offered in a zero-upfront cost subscription model – catering to hotels that are unable or unwilling to tap into larger capital expenditure budgets,” added Ranganathan.

According to the International Energy Agency, Southeast Asia’s energy demand is expected to grow by nearly 60 percent by 2040. With the building sector accounting for approximately 25 percent of Asia’s overall energy consumption, there is great potential for solutions that can create more sustainable energy consumption.

Funan Capitaland

Funan Set to Open Singapore’s First O&O Shopping Mall in mid-2019

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Funan is racing ahead to open Singapore’s first online-and- offline (O&O) shopping mall integrating online, offline, data and logistics aimed at empowering retailers’ omnichannel strategy and transforming the customer experience. The retail as well as its office components are now slated to open in 2Q 2019, instead of the earlier announced 3Q 2019. The opening of lyf Funan Singapore, a coliving serviced residence component within Funan, managed by The Ascott Limited, has also been brought forward from 2020 to 4Q 2019.

Owned by CapitaLand Mall Trust and managed by CapitaLand Retail, Funan recently celebrated its structural completion ahead of schedule. The topping out ceremony held at Funan Showsuite was officiated by Guest of Honour Mr Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s Minister for Finance. From groundbreaking to structural completion, Funan took about 19 months. To date, 72 percent of the overall construction has already been completed.

At the topping out event in September 2018, Minister Heng Swee Keat was given a preview of a range of digital innovations coming up at Funan. These include a smart interactive directory that uses facial recognition to provide shoppers with customised recommendations, video analytics that studies shopper traffic and crowd density and an all-in-one app for Ascott’s lyf coliving serviced residence – the first app by a serviced residence company that will allow social networking and room booking; and will also serve as a mobile key.

CapitaLand also showcased its groupwide innovations as part of its digitalisation strategy, including a merchant dashboard that enables retailers to tap consumer insights generated by CapitaLand’s CapitaStar loyalty programme and eCapitaVoucher, the digital version of CapitaVoucher – Singapore’s most popular shopping mall voucher – launching this November.

Funan’s innovation journey has scored several “firsts” in Singapore. These include the first to deploy automated guided vehicles to provide shoppers with a hands-free shopping experience and the first to utilise a robotic arm for its twenty-four-hour drive-through click-and-collect service. As part of Funan’s tech-enabled user experience, building users can also expect conveniences such as app-based booking of facilities within the development, video-based smart carparking facilities and facial recognition turnstiles at its office towers.

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Colourland Paints

AkzoNobel Acquires Malaysia’s Colourland Paints Business

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AkzoNobel has strengthened its business in Asia by acquiring 100 percent shares in Colourland Paints Sdn Bhd and Colourland Paints (Marketing) Sdn Bhd – both referred to as “Colourland Paints” – a home- grown paints and coatings manufacturer with wide distribution across Malaysia.

The acquisition enhances AkzoNobel’s global portfolio with a much-loved local brand. It also means the company will be able to provide an improved customer experience through an expanded product offering and distribution network. Financial details were not disclosed.

“As a leading global paints and coatings company, we are proud to add the well-established brands and expertise of Colourland Paints to our business,” said AkzoNobel CEO Thierry Vanlancker. “We are looking forward to unlocking the value it will bring as we accelerate our Winning together: 15 by 20 strategy and increase our footprint in this fast-growing region.”

Added Oscar Wezenbeek, Managing Director of AkzoNobel Decorative Paints in the region: “This deal marks another milestone in ensuring that we continue to deliver the best brand and customer experience. The combination of global and local expertise is also an excellent strategic fit and will accelerate our development as we further build on our strong market position in Malaysia.”

The transaction includes all relevant technologies, patents, trademarks and assets of Colourland.

Strong Bidding for EC Site at Anchorvale Crescent Underpinned by Favourable Fundamentals

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According to Mr Ong Teck Hui, National Director, Research & Consultancy, the Executive Condominium (EC) site at Anchorvale Crescent with a permissible GFA of 51,411.9 sqm was launched for tender on 10 August 2018.

The tender closed recently, attracting seven bidders, with Evia Real Estate (8) Pte Ltd & Gamuda (Singapore) Pte Ltd putting in the top bid of $318,888,899 or $576.24 psf/pr

The top bid at $318,888,889 was only a hair breadth higher than the second highest bid at $318,888,000, reflecting the neck-to-neck tussle to secure the site. After tendering for the Sumang Walk and Canberra Link EC sites previously and failing to secure them, Evia Real Estate and Gamuda seems to have redoubled its efforts in today’s tender by bidding more robustly at $576.24 psf/pr. It is 3.2 percent higher than the top bid of $558.22 psf/pr for the Canberra Link EC site whose tender closed  on 4 September, 2018.

The EC primary market remains a bright spot in the residential sector while the rest of the private home market has been cautious after the announcement of tightened cooling measures on 5 July. Supply in the EC sales pipeline remain limited, consisting of only the Sumang Walk and Canberra Link projects while demand from new EC buyers has been strong. The 628-unit Rivercove Residences which was launched in April is practically sold out at a median price of $973 ps.

Sunseap Group Launches New Subsidiary Called Sunseap Solutions

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Sunseap Group, Singapore’s leading integrated clean energy solutions provider, recently announced the launch of its newest fully-owned subsidiary, Sunseap Solutions Pte Ltd.

The new entity provides integrated efficient energy solutions through energy audits, Green Mark consultancy and energy performance contracting. Sunseap Solutions’ energy performance contracting focuses on LED lighting retrofits.

This will eventually expand to include other forms of M&E equipment (e.g. chiller plants, pumps and lifts). Under the energy performance contracting scheme, lighting retrofits will be fully financed by the Sunseap Group and clients will co-share the energy savings. The equipment will be maintained and warrantied by Sunseap Solutions during the contract period.

Sunseap Solutions also offers the full range of Optigreen green roof solutions and components. The launch of the new business unit is part of Sunseap Group’s plan to provide all-rounded sustainable solutions for its clients. The Group’s other entities are Sunseap Leasing, which provides rooftop solar solutions to the masses, Sunseap International, which is responsible for the group’s regional activities outside of Singapore, and Sunseap Energy, Singapore’s largest clean energy retailer.

Mr Laurence Kwan, Director of Sunseap Energy, said: “We are excited that the Sunseap Group is about to embark on the next phase of its development with the formation of Sunseap Solutions. We are now able to provide the full spectrum of green solutions to our clients with the convenience of a single point of contact.

“This is in line with the Group’s vision of providing affordable sustainable solutions to the masses and is an important step to decarbonising.”

To date, Sunseap has more than 160 megawatts (MWp) of contracted solar project capacity in Singapore, which has been deployed or is in the course of being deployed. Some of its clients include Apple, Housing Development Board, Singapore American School, Raffles Institution, the United Technologies Group and ABB.

Regionally, it is also one of the largest and most established players in the solar energy industry. It has a pipeline of projects in Cambodia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Australia, including a 168 MWp solar farm in Vietnam, the largest in the country, a 62 MWp utility scale farm in the Philippines and a 10 MWp utility scale farm in Cambodia.

NOON Capital Launches Southeast Asia’s First Blockchain-Backed Real Estate Project

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NOON Capital, a Southeast Asia-based property investment platform, has announced plans to establish strategic real estate investments in tier-two Southeast Asia cities.

Its first two properties have an accumulated value of US$20 million. One has been completed and is fully operational, while the second is due for completion in 2019. NOON Capital is also shifting the financing and management of new investments onto blockchain – making it the first real estate developer in Southeast Asia to build, manage and drive individual and institutional investment through blockchain technology.

NOON Capital’s investment mantra is to focus on tier two Southeast Asian cities, where there is more room for bringing market efficiencies, lower barriers to entry and more room for growth and value creation for shareholders.

“Thailand has a stable currency, low inflation, a strong banking system, and is embracing blockchain technology. It has great infrastructure for both our investors and tenants,” said Luca Dotti, Managing Partner of NOON Capital. “This makes rapidly developing cities such as Phuket an attractive proposition, because it has the safety and structure of a developed country, while also having immense real estate potential for investment and development.”

According to The World Bank, Thailand has moved from a low-income country to an upper-income country in less than a generation. The country has articulated its long-term economic goals in its 20-Year National Strategy (2017 – 2036) focused on growth of Tier 2 cities, including Phuket and Chiang Mai. These cities are particularly interesting for the country’s rapidly growing middle-class.

The domestic disposable income is growing at 5 per cent a year, and the strong demographics is likely to foster further urbanization dynamics and wage increases. With its increased spending power, Thailand’s middle-class is looking towards convenient, pricier housing solutions that still offer value for money.

A Track Record in Innovation
Claudia Zeisberger Academic Director of INSEAD Global Private Equity Initiative, has also joined NOON Capital’s advisory board to support its business expansion with her vast experience in private equity, and her insights around blockchain developments. This follows other senior appointments at NOON Capital as it builds its portfolio and grows from strength to strength.

NOON Capital’s Tower Phase I was the first project completed in December 2016, featuring a 74-unit condominium tower located at the heart of Chalong, the main residential district of Phuket. In its first ten months, it has reached an impressive 90 per cent occupancy rate.

Following this, the company is also venturing into the development of Spazio NOON, a network of co-living spaces in Thailand which won the Patrick Turner Award at the INSEAD Venture Capital Competition – awarded to projects with large potential social impact. The construction of its first outpost in Phuket is due to commence in the second part of the year.

By integrating blockchain technology into its investment processes and housing upkeep, NOON Capital is aiming to secure funding from investors through digital certificates backed by its project. The interconnectivity of these applications onto the same blockchain (Ethereum) creates a seamless, efficient and transparent investment process.

It also provides quick updates, such as distributing a small dividend to investors in real-time every time NOON Capital receives a monthly rental payment. For housing purposes, tenants can also use digital wallets to pay regular monthly bills such as basic utilities and rental.

Singaporean Students Lauded At National Engineers Day 2018 For Creating Life-Transforming, Smart Solutions

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(images courtesy of the The Institution of Engineers, Singapore – IES)

The National Engineers Day (NED) 2018 event in July 2018 celebrated the best of youthful creativity and passion in making a difference to the society through engineering. Mr. Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Finance presented the Energy Innovation Challenge (EIC) 2018 and the IES Innovation Challenge for the Community 2018 awards to winning students at the NED 2018 Prize Presentation Ceremony as the event guest-of-honour. He also witnessed the launched of the “I am a Young Engineer” Badge.

EIC 2018 Winners
EIC 2018 challenges students to design smart engineering solutions for health, living, mobility and services. This year’s EIC saw 120 teams participating across four categories, compared to only 73 teams in its inaugural year in 2015. This includes 18 overseas teams from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines for Category 4 (Local and Overseas Universities).

After a networking party in March 2018, participating students from Category 1 to 3 went through a series of workshops and camps that equipped them with design, finance, marketing, logistics management and technical skills to build their solutions. They also had the unique opportunity to be personally guided by professional engineers as mentors over a four-month learning journey.

The judges had shortlisted 80 teams of more than 252 students for the final rounds of judging, whereby participants had to display their projects at NED 2018 from 26 to 28 July, 2018. The four champion teams who eventually emerged are:

  • Category 1 (Secondary Schools): Team (S-24) – River Valley High School – An Eco- Friendly Barbecue Pit System
  • Category 2 (Junior Colleges): Team (J-10) – Dunman High School – Micro Energy Harvesting (μ-EH) and Its Application in Water Desalination under Emergency and Stressed Situation
  • Category 3 (Polytechnics and Institution of Technical Education): Team (I-06) – ITE College West – Robotic Helper FETCH
  • Category 4 (Local and Overseas Universities): Team (U-01) – Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology – Cheap Braille Interface for Ebook Reading

In recognition of their outstanding performance, the top prize winning teams from Categories 1 to 3 will earn an overseas educational trip to be hosted by BMW Group in Germany, while the second, third and merit prize winners will be awarded with $1,000, $700 and $300 respectively. The champions of Category 4 will walk away with an $8,000 cash prize while the second, third and merit prize winners will be awarded $5,000, $3,000 and $1,000 respectively. This year’s popularity prize for all four categories constitutes $300 each.

Jointly organised by IES and Science Centre Singapore, EIC is a nation-wide competition that gives students the opportunity to create solutions that address global energy issues. It is supported by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore.

IES Innovation Challenge for the Community 2018
Tertiary students also received awards for applying their engineering knowledge and creativity to design practical, user-friendly solutions to enhance the quality of life of the elderly, the handicapped, the injured and the community-at-large. Participating teams from Category A have to cap their expenditure at $2,000 and demonstrate competence in the optimal use of materials and equipment.

This year’s challenge received a total of 35 project submissions across two categories. After a rigorous round of judging by a panel of academia and industry experts, 14 projects where shortlisted for presentations.

The 2018 Gold Award for polytechnics goes to Chua Chryston and Neo Yizhe from Singapore Polytechnic for building a “dementia patient tracking” using Sigfox, a LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) technology. The tracker periodically transmits its GPS location to a Cloud database and enables the patient’s care-taker to view the location on a Google map via a mobile app. The students hope that the invention can help dementia patients to move about without the fear of getting lost.

In the university category, the Gold Award winner is Subramanian Gowtham from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) for designing a portable image- based cytometer for rapid malaria detection and quantification. His invention detects and numerically counts Plasmodium falciparum infected red blood cells (iRBCs) from Giemsa- stained smears derived from infected blood. Subramanian’s aim is to provide a cost- effective, rapid and accurate alternative for antimalarial testing without compromising on efficiency.

Launch of “I am a Young Engineer” Badge
IES also launched the “I am a Young Engineer” Badge for primary three to six students at the event, with Minister Heng as witness. This new initiative is a collaborative effort by IES and Science Centre Singapore to encourage students to discover the fun of engineering and instill interest in engineering from a young age.

The badge will provide students with introductory engineering skills and knowledge through self-directed engineering-related tasks listed on the activity card. Students can submit their completed works to their teachers or parents for verification to earn stars that will qualify them for the badge.

The badge is one of the outcomes from the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that IES signed with Science Centre Singapore in 2016 to stimulate interest amongst students in engineering and is sponsored by HDB, PUB, Micron and ST Engineering.

NED 2018
The Prize Presentation Ceremony also marked the conclusion of the ninth annual NED, the largest engineering youth carnival in Singapore, organised by IES to celebrate the achievements of engineers, inspire young engineers and intrigue the young generation in engineering.

Besides EIC 2018, the three-day NED 2018 presented a concentration of talks and workshops to help students discover the wonders of engineering and rapidly growing career opportunities for those with an engineering education and an aptitude to discover, imagine and create.

Lendlease Recognised For Health And Safety Efforts at WSH Awards 2018

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Lendlease continues to be recognised for its exemplary health & safety efforts at the Workplace Safety & Health Council’s Workplace Safety & Health (WSH) Awards 2018. For the third consecutive year, Lendlease’s Retail business is being awarded the WSH Performance (Silver) award. Two construction projects undertaken by Lendlease are also receiving the Safety and Health Award Recognition for Projects (SHARP).

Lendlease’s Retail business manages the malls 313@somerset, Jem and Parkway Parade. While not a sector traditionally associated with workplace safety, Lendlease-managed malls have gone the distance to implement initiatives to keep shoppers safe. For example, the malls’ operations teams regularly engage tenants to raise awareness on fire safety, as well as work with WSHC to bring retailers onboard the bizSAFE journey.

Lendlease’s Head of Environment, Health & Safety, Assurance, Reggie Lim, “We believe everyone has the right to go home safely to their loved ones at the end of the day. As a developer, builder and asset manager, we embrace a proactive and holistic approach to managing risks in relation to design, construction, facilities management and asset management. This includes working closely with all stakeholders within the property value chain to create places with safety as a top priority.”

The two SHARP awards are in recognition of Lendlease’s delivery of two projects for biotech giant Amgen – construction of its Next-Gen Workplace building and expansion of an existing manufacturing facility. Lendlease provided engineering, and project and construction management services on the projects.

Mr Lim added, “As part of our operating culture, Safety, Quality and Excellence in delivery go hand-in-hand. Through the use of integrated digital delivery and tools such as BIM (Building Information Modelling) for design coordination, documentation and sequencing, we are able to improve construction, safety and quality outcomes on projects. Another focal area is workplace traffic safety management, where we put in robust measures to segregate vehicles and pedestrians and keep pedestrians safe on our projects.”

Grundfos Singapore Appoints New Country Manager

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Global pump manufacturer Grundfos has announced the appointment of Ki Woong Ahn to the role of Country Manager of Grundfos Singapore, with effect from August 1, 2018.

In his new role, Ki Woong will lead the overall sales operations for the key business areas: Industry, Commercial Building Services, Domestic Building Services, Business Development and Aftermarket Service Sales. Along with Singapore, he will oversee the Export Markets of Cambodia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Ki Woong brings with him 18 years of professional experience from different positions and companies. He has been working in Grundfos Korea for the last seven years, having joined the company in 2011 as a Segment Manager for Commercial Building Services. Prior to this appointment, Ki Woong was Director, Strategic Planning & Business Development, and before that he was Operations Director.

Prior to joining Grundfos, he held multiple positions in the areas of sales, marketing and engineering with IBM in Korea, as well as having had his own start-up company.

Chee Khuan Leong, Area Managing Director, South Asia, Grundfos, said: “With his extensive experience in the Asia Pacific region and his deep understanding of the business, I am sure that Ki Woong will further strengthen our focus and growth in Singapore and the export markets.”

Ki Woong holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Korea University, Seoul, Korea, and an MBA from Kelley School of Business, Indiana, USA.

Top Honours Go To 10 Outstanding Projects At IES Engineering Achievement Awards 2018

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(images courtesy of  The Institution of Engineers, Singapore – IES)

One of the winners of the Young Creators Awards

One of the winners of the Young Creators Awards

The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) recently announced the 10 winners of the IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards 2018. The awards celebrate the most outstanding accomplishments of engineers in Singapore in the past year and recognise their significant contributions to stimulating engineering progress and enhancing quality of life in Singapore.

Mr. Heng Chee How, Senior Minister of State for Defence presented the awards to the winning teams at the 12th International Conference on Ceramic Materials and Components for Energy and Environmental Applications (CMCEE 2018) Conference Dinner as the guest-of-honour, in the company of about 400 local and international guests from 46 countries.

The projects emerged from 27 submissions as winners after a rigorous round of judging by a panel of experts. The winning teams have distinguished themselves in resourcefulness in the planning and solving of design problems; pioneering use of materials and methods; innovations in planning, design and construction; and unique aspects and aesthetic values.

Winners from the NUS Faculty of Engineering

Winners from the NUS Faculty of Engineering

“Through the awards, IES hopes to raise greater awareness of the contributions of engineers to our society and economy and to inspire the younger generation to consider engineering as the preferred career choice. We also hope that the awards will spur the winning teams to advance their work to the next level of excellence,” said Prof Yeoh Lean Weng, IES President. The 2018 awards winners are:

Applied Research and Development

  • 4-IN-1 Smart Utilities Plant tailored for tropics by National University of Singapore (NUS) & King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
  • Automated Needle Targeting with Medical Image Robotic Assisted Guidance Equipment (ANT-MIRAGE) by NDR Medical Technology Pte Ltd
  • Bulk photovoltaics and unique UV sensors from bulk photovoltaics by Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), a research institute under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
  • Low Motion Semi: A next-generation revolutionary semisubmersible by Keppel-NUS Corporate Laboratory
  • Renewable air filters from regenerating molecular building blocks by NUS Faculty of Engineering

Engineering Project

  • National Gallery Singapore by CPG Consultants Pte Ltd
  • Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled on-demand lighting for the Smart Nation by Housing & Development Board and ST Engineering

Technology Innovation

  • Soft hybrid surgical gripper for delicate tissue manipulation by NUS Faculty of Engineering

Young Creators Award

  • A 16-channel capacitive sensor interface circuits for physical signals monitoring by NUS Faculty of Engineering
  • Mars Science Space Rover by Nanyang Polytechnic.

The top projects will move on to receive the ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award, a coveted accolade for engineering professionals and organisations in the region.