The Liveability Challenge 2020 - The Need For Innovation

A new, global call for game-changing solutions to grow food, package products, and reduce carbon emissions in cities located in the world’s tropical belt was launched in Singapore today. The best proposals stand a chance of securing the grand prize of up to S$1 million in funding, as well as other resources and opportunities to further develop their solutions.

The launch marks the start of The Liveability Challenge, presented by Temasek Foundation, organised by Eco-Business, and convened by Closed Loop Partners, in partnership with Ecosperity Week 2020.

The third edition of the Challenge is inviting project proposals in the areas of Urban Food Production,

Circular Packaging and Decarbonisation, where the critical need for innovation reflects the size of the

business opportunity available. Proposals are welcome from 14 January to 17 April 2020 and can be submitted via the official website of The Liveability Challenge (www.theliveabilitychallenge.org).

The chosen themes support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger), 9

(Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 13 (Climate Action).

"Global hunger is on the rise; and the past four years have been the hottest on record, with carbon dioxide concentration levels continuing to rise. We hope The Liveability Challenge 2020 will highlight the valuable opportunities present in these areas of need and catalyse impactful solutions that can accelerate the transition to a more food secure, resource-efficient and decarbonised future."

--- Lim Hock Chuan, Chief Executive, Temasek Foundation Ecosperity ---

Selected finalists will get a chance to pitch their projects to a panel of Asia’s most sought-after venture capitalists and investors during Ecosperity Week on 08 July 2020 at The Liveability Challenge Grand Finale. Winners of the Challenge could secure over S$1 million in opportunities such as funding, exclusive spots in incubator programmes, and mentorship opportunities. The grand prize winner could secure up to S$1 million in grant funding from Temasek Foundation to further development and launch a pilot project in Singapore. 

Selections from past year winners and their products...

"The Liveability Challenge has grown to become a highlight for Asia’s sustainability community, and is now fast expanding to folks in the science and technology space. As businesses and governments continue to work on societal solutions around climate change, we welcome participation from potential partners, especially from the food, packaging and energy sectors to join us in supporting this year’s challenge."

--- Junice Yeo, Deputy Managing Director of Eco-Business ---

"There is growing momentum to adopt sustainable practices and innovations to build a more liveable environment. With the support of our partners, The Liveability Challenge has attracted many applicants with high-quality proposals leveraging science to exploit potential business opportunities. As a champion of sustainability and liveability, Temasek Foundation has provided support to the winner of last year’s Challenge, Sophie’s Kitchen, to develop its plant-based protein that can be produced in a more economically viable, urban setting."

--- Lim Hock Chuan, Chief Executive, Temasek Foundation Ecosperity ---

Through The Liveability Challenge and other channels, Temasek Foundation seeks to bring together an ecosystem of innovators, funders, investors, platform providers and professionals, and excite them to source, catalyse and advance impactful solutions towards eventual successful commercialisation, as a first step to making a positive difference to the everyday lives of city dwellers in Singapore and beyond.

For more information, visit The Liveability Challenge website at www.theliveabilitychallenge.org. 

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Go Global With CBC's SD-WAN eNet Connect

China Broadband Communications (CBC) has launched CBC eNet Connect, a fully-managed, transport agnostic, cloud native SD-WAN service in Singapore.

(Photo Source : CBC)

CBC eNet Connect is a network-as-a-service (Naas) designed to enable enterprises and businesses to migrate to SD-WAN with zero-touch provisioning, network visibility and centralised policy management. Enterprises requiring SD-WAN for hundreds or thousands of retail points such as food and beverage, fast retail, supermarket and convenience stores; or companies looking for a SD-WAN or Hybrid WAN product that connects between China and their home country, with minimal upfront cost, can expect a service, which is scalable, robust and cost-effective Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network replacement. 

(Photo Source : CBC)

Benefits of CBC eNet Connect

More cost effective compared to MPLS service and other SD WAN providers, CBC eNet Connect optimizes access to global cloud-based applications like Office 365, Skype for Business, Salesforce and more.

(Photo Source : CBC)

CBC eNet Connect monitors path's link quality continuously, which is used for smart routing optimization, service accident alarm and auto operations. Based on the link quality monitored, CBC eNet Connect leverages different uplinks such as wired internet and 4G uplink to optimize application traffic via different paths. CBC eNet Connect can also manage customers’ sites to eNet fabric via different ECR to achieve higher quality performance.

(Photo Source : CBC)

Another key benefit of adopting CBC eNet Connect is the reduction of circuit costs for enterprises and business with multiple locations. Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) is the enterprise gold standard of WAN transport between branches. Through Hybrid Connect, enterprises can enjoy combined internet access circuit from multiple ISP, including 4G LTE as well as 5G technologies.

(Photo Source : CBC)

It also supports large scale deployment with automation, flexibility, which could be set up in minutes instead of week or months, and features an intelligent performance management feature that encompasses everything from networking to dataflow into a single platform. Users can easily and quickly monitor and report data, make changes to network configuration.

(Photo Source : CBC)

For more information on CBC eNet Connect, visit www.cbccom.net.

(Photo Source : CBC)

About China Broadband Communications (CBC)

CBC is a fully licensed value-added services provider backed by CBC Capital, offering a unique services portfolio; supplying international carriers, cloud providers, system integrators, and nterprises with domestic local access, wavelength, dark fiber, Internet access, IP VPN, IDC, SD-WAN and cloud services in China, since 2008.

(Photo Source : CBC)

Headquartered in Beijing with branches in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hong Kong and Singapore, CBC also has offices in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu and Changsha. Its extensive network footprint in China connects thousands of buildings and data centres with points of presence covering over 90% of major business regions on the mainland.

(Photo Source : CBC)

Over the past 11 years, CBC has been served many of the world’s leading businesses in finance, insurance, logistics, healthcare, media and content, ecommerce and more. CBC is certified by TL9000, ISO9001, ISO20000 and ISO27001, to provide reliable and secure services to enterprises in multiple business areas.

(Photo Source : CBC)

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Launch Of Experience And Xposure Programme (EXP2019) For ESports

In line with its mission to nurture youths and to provide them with the right opportunities to develop, grow and achieve their dreams, *SCAPE officially launched an esports Experience and Xposure Programme (EXP2019) recently for Singapore youths aged 15 to 25 years old.

"EXP2019 is the first-of-its-kind in Singapore where youths can learn about esports through a holistic programme. In addition to game skills, youths can also learn about the many exciting possibilities within the industry and talented youths will be provided with green lane access to our industry partners to pursue their passion in esports. Importantly, we aim to inculcate the right values and behaviours and mitigate any negative aspects of this popular youth interest such as cyber-bullying and gaming addiction."

--- Mr David Chua, *SCAPE Chairman ---

Designed with the help of industry professionals, EXP2019 offers specially-curated 3 day, 2 nights esports camps during the upcoming June school vacation that is centred on 3 focus titles - Mobile Legends Bang Bang (17 to 19 June), FIFA (24 to 26 June) and League of Legends (27 to 29 June). Camp activities include introduction to the whole spectrum of the esports landscape, esports challenges, team bonding exercises and outdoor learning that will foster social mixing and character development.

From July to December, there will be a total of 10 workshops for each of the 3 focus titles, and 10 workshops on online live streaming and commentary. Workshop modules range from in-game skills and tactics, to mental management, cyber-wellness, content creation, engaging online audiences and much more. Driving EXP2019 will be coaches and pro gamers from official program partner, Resurgence, Singapore’s most successful esports organization.

"EXP2019 is about providing aspirants and interested youths with an opportunity to be exposed to and to experience esports. Our goal is to cultivate responsible behaviours, while sharing with them our game insights and industry knowledge. I look forward to sharing my personal experiences and to advise these youths, based on the path I’ve taken so that they can make more informed decisions."

--- Samuel "Sequinox" Chan, former Raffles Institution student turned full-time professional gamer ---

In the months to come, *SCAPEesports will also be conducting school visits island-wide to educate youths about esports and EXP2019. Esports enthusiasts can also look forward to more community rallies, viewing parties and other events at *SCAPE.

"By learning and bonding with like-minded enthusiasts at *SCAPE, attendees can also play a future role in expanding the esports community at large and communities is the foundation for a strong esports ecosystem in Singapore."

--- Professional FIFA player Chiang "Hibidi" Wen Jun ---

For more information and registration details, visit www.scape.sg/scapeesports/EXP2019.

ABOUT *SCAPE

*SCAPE Co. Ltd is a non-profit organisation that supports youth, talent and leadership development. The organisation aims to motivate and empower youths to realise their potential, and seeks to be the home of enterprising youths committed to creating their own future. It was set up in 2007 in response to a call for more spaces for youth social, recreational, sporting, and community activities, and to showcase their talents.

*SCAPE offers a series of programmes for youths to learn new skills, harness their creativity, and create something impactful while cultivating an enterprising spirit. The 5 clusters are entrepreneurship, music, dance, media and esports.

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Parallels Desktop 14 - The Best of Windows & Mac Worlds

Parallels launched Parallels Desktop 14 - the latest version of the leading desktop virtualisation software that brings users the best of both Windows and Mac worlds. Parallels Desktop 14 brings significant storage savings, faster launch times, improved graphics and the latest versions of Parallels Toolbox for Windows or Mac. Through Parallels Desktop 14, customers now have access to more Windows features on Mac than ever before.

Parallels Desktop 14 also provides the following:

• Improved performance. Up to 200% performance improvement on the iMac Pro® (audio and video encoding, AI, 3D modelling, cryptography and other complex math calculations workloads) thanks to AVX512 Intel Cannon Lake processor instructions set support.
  
• Graphics Improvements. Parallels Desktop 14 now features improved OpenGL support for enhanced graphics, with notable improvements in SketchUp 2017/2018, CTVox, DIALux 8 and OriginLab.
  
• macOS Mojave–Ready. Supports Dark Mode. Quick Look issued on Windows files now shows quick actions.

Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac, Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac Pro Edition and Parallels Desktop for Mac Business Edition are available for subscribers and upgraders from Parallels Desktop 12 and 13 (parallels.com/upgradepd14), as well as new customers, online at parallels.com/desktop and at local retail and online stores worldwide. Free 14-day full-featured trials are also available for download.

The recommended retail price (RRP) of Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac is US$79.99 for an annual subscription or US$99.99 for a perpetual license. Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition and Business Edition are each available to new customers for US$99.99 per year. Parallels Desktop 12 and 13 perpetual license customers can upgrade to Parallels Desktop 14 for US$49.99, or upgrade to a Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition subscription for US$49.99 per year. Parallels Desktop subscriptions include a complimentary concurrent subscription to Parallels Toolbox for Mac or Windows (parallels.com/toolbox), as well as Parallels Access® (parallels.com/access).

Stay connected with Parallels and its online communities. Like them on Facebook at facebook.com/parallelsinc, follow  on Twitter at twitter.com/parallelsmac and visit the blog at blog.parallels.com.

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LG Signature - Products For That State-Of-The-Art Living Experience

Fusing sophisticated technology with contemporary minimalist style, LG SIGNATURE has shaped a state-of-the-art living experience, a nod to three tenets: design, function and performance. To complete the experience, LG SIGNATURE also launched premium services for its discerning customers, offering complimentary delivery and installation, home demonstration, annual product inspection and a priority hotline.  

The LG SIGNATURE OLED TV W8 features a breathtaking “wallpaper” design that blends into the wall, and looks like an open window into another world. Buoyed by the new α (Alpha) 9 processor, the W8 is able to achieve the highest picture quality yet with improved color performance, noise reduction and high frame rate support. The W8 also supports Dolby VisionTM and Atmos for a more cinematic home entertainment experience. 

The LG SIGNATURE Refrigerator offers a unique user experience, as its interior illuminates upon two knocks on the InstaView Door-in-DoorTM compartment. It also has an Auto Open Door feature, which activates when the user’s foot slides under the smart sensor detector. 

The LG SIGNATURE Washing Machine boasts a beautiful touch-enabled Quick Circle User Interface that is embedded in the glass door for a seamless look. Covered with a luxurious enamel coating, the surface of the washing machine is protected from from scratches and corrosion. Also, its Centum SystemTM technology reduces the tub’s vibrations, thereby reducing noise emission. 

Commanding attention is the LG SIGNATURE Air Purifier, which delivers a breathtaking visual experience of the air cleaning process through the Rain View Window. It is equipped with an exclusive LG SIGNATURE Black FilterTM System which can filter fine dust particles of up to PM1.0, and is reusable for up to 10 years.

An exclusive premium care for LG SIGNATURE customers has been launched. From today, customers who purchase LG SIGNATURE products will get to enjoy:

1. Complimentary delivery and standard installation of LG SIGNATURE products
   
2. Home demonstration on how to use LG SIGNATURE products
   
3. Annual on-site product inspection for 3 years, where an LG personnel will check and ensure these innovations perform at optimal levels
   
4. Priority LG SIGNATURE hotline at 6512-0575, where a team of professionals will attend to the service request within one working day 

In celebration of the new premium service, additional bonus rewards are included for LG SIGNATURE customers. With LG SIGNATURE purchase from 14 August to 13 November 2018, receive rewards such as a luxury hotel suite stay, or dine at Michelin-starred restaurants. Register at www.lgsignaturereg.com to enjoy the rewards.

For more information on LG SIGNATURE, visit www.lg.com/sg/lg-signature. 

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KaHa - COVE Technology Experience Walkthrough

KaHa, a Singapore-based end-to-end smart wearable IoT platform company, recently showcased its wide range of consumer products and features at the first COVE Technology Experience Walkthrough in Singapore at JTC Launchpad, an immersive exhibition space constructed to provide first-hand experience of KaHa’s smart wearable platform and products.

“We are at an inflection point with regard to how IoT and wearable technology i changing how we interact and go about our daily lives, and KaHa’s technology is taking advantage of this disruption. KaHa has demonstrated the demand of such technology through its various local and international partnerships."

--- Chirayu Wadke, partner at SeedPlus ---

KaHa’s consumer solutions were created using its unique operating system inbuilt with Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning solutions, and designed with a range of consumer verticals in mind: Safety, Sports & Fitness, Health & Wellness, Convenience, Lifestyle, and Special Needs.

Through inbuilt AI and machine learning algorithms, KaHa smart wearables provide innovative consumer use cases and exciting user experiences, with the goal of personalizing and improving the

user’s everyday journey. Highlights include:

Virtual Runs - where users are able to run “anywhere” in the world for an immersive experience...

With the use of a Virtual Reality (VR) headset or large-screen TV, KaHa creates a realistic immersive running experience for users, including syncing the footage speed to the user’s pace for realism. Filmed footages of run trails, which can be forest paths or urban cities, can be uploaded and shared to increase the fun factor when compared with  conventional treadmill running.

Play on Pace technology incorporates smart wearable technology to track users’ running pace and synchronizes with their workout music to keep them motivated. Additional modes include pre-programming different paces and distances for training, and setting the music to stop to alert users when they are going out of pace.

Users can form a trusted Safety Network of friends, family and other social contacts and adding in  Guardians’ contacts, to enjoy a wide network of safety contacts, increasing the possibility of nearby help at any time. KaHa’s safety interface allows Guardians to easily spot and alert their own contacts nearest to the user for help during emergencies.

Digital Payment – “on-demand” payment features built with security in mind...

KaHa’s smart payment solution is built on-demand, where the user confirms payment after receiving the payment request e.g. by providing their phone number. The user receives the prompt on their wearable, and confirms the payment for security measures.

Stress Management - Through AI and deep pattern matching algorithm, the user’s lifestyle patterns and bio-data such as their metabolism are paired with the wearable’s stress alert features, helping the user be more aware of their wellness, e.g. to detect periods of heightened stress with guides for breathing exercises to regain their composure.

Smart Home - AI-based identification algorithms and proximity algorithms learn and automate the smart home experience without any input from the user itself...

Deploying AI-based identification algorithms to identify the homeowner and their wearable devices and combined with geo-location/proximity algorithms, KaHa personalizes one’s abode by learning and automating various living conditions such as air conditioning, lighting, favourite TV and radio channels. The same technology helps conserve power and energy when the homeowner is not present.

Hybrid smart watches and jewellery which brings together the best of traditional watches with hidden digital functionality...

"We use technology to help consumers in their everyday lives, and ultimately redefine the consumer experience and journey. Our AI and Machine Learning-led products will make wearables truly smart,

provide personalized experience, and are easily adopted by fashion and luxury brands to suit their consumers’ tastes."

--- Pawan Gandhi, CEO and founder of KaHa ---

For more information, please visit www.coveiot.com.

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