The Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) is returning for its ninth annual edition, focusing on deep tech, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technologies this year.
This year’s startup festival, which saw a record turn-out of over 15,000 participants in 2023, will spotlight Singapore’s ambitions in deep tech, focusing on innovations based on
extensive research and development (R&D), the organisers Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) said in a press release.
SWITCH 2024 is held on October 28-30, 2024, at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore.
Keynote and content sessions at this year’s conference will deep dive into the value that deep tech offers in addressing today’s most complex challenges. This includes the role of climate-tech innovations in driving the green energy transition, how frontier technologies like quantum tech and space tech can pave the way for new industries, and the transformative power of AI across industries like healthcare, robotics and supply chain technologies.
The event will bring together the global and local innovation community – from corporates, financiers and venture builders to startups and technology adopters, as per the press release. Emerging quantum startups, venture builders (VBs), and venture capitalists (VCs) will take the stage to share their expertise on global funding and technology trends.
Experts and leaders on stage
The conference will feature extensive programming and content sharing from industry experts, to examine deep tech opportunities in Asia and deep dive into emerging areas and applications for quantum tech and space tech.
Prominent speakers include The Engine Ventures CEO Katie Rae, Matter Venture Partners founding managing partner Wen Hsieh, Quantinuum founder and vice chairman Ilyas Khan, and Pasqal CEO and co-founder Georges-Olivier Reymond.
Leading industry corporates and domain experts will come together at the sectoral thought leadership stage to discuss the potential for new innovations to address existing challenges in areas like healthcare and biomedical sciences, sustainability and supply chain, and identify commercialisation pathways to scale solutions in Asia and beyond.
Sessions include how advancements in predictive analytics and genomic sequencing capabilities are transforming the healthcare industry and improving patient outcomes; the outlook for green innovation and investments; and the value of generative AI (gen AI) in strengthening supply chain resilience and reducing costs in the transport and logistics sector.
Deep tech is the key
“Innovation is born not only out of a need for change, but also to build resilience for what’s around the bend. Deep tech is the key to unlocking new solutions that can make an outsized impact in areas like healthcare and climate change, and we need all hands on deck to translate these ideas into reality,” said Ms Cindy Ngiam, Director for Startup Ecosystem and Community at Enterprise Singapore.
“SWITCH 2024 will bring together different players in our innovation ecosystem, so we can kickstart the important
conversations we need to be having about deep tech and take steps forward to creating positive global impact,” she added.
To deepen the local startup ecosystem’s capabilities and help startups scale from Singapore, SWITCH 2024 will continue to feature dedicated startup-centric segments. To support startups’ internationalisation efforts, the event will unveil new market access opportunities, including updates to the Global Innovation Alliance and cross-border innovation challenges, and feature more than 350 global exhibitors and over 30 market pavilions.
SLINGSHOT, Asia’s premier deep tech startup competition, will return for its eighth edition to drive the development of high-growth startups. It has seen a record number of more than 5,500 startups applications from 150 countries.
After intense competition over the past three months, the top 50 global startups will pitch live at SWITCH to a panel of major investors and industry leaders and vie for over S$1.2 million (30.6 million baht) in grant prizes.
For the first time, SWITCH 2024 will welcome new partner events. These include the SOSV Climatech Summit, which will spotlight the opportunities for climate tech as an emerging
category for venture investing, and the RIE Deep Tech Day, which will explore the changing paradigms of deep tech and how this can power innovation in tech.
Partner events like TechInnovation by IPI (Innovation Partner for Impact), A*STAR’s SME Tech Day, and the AIMX Singapore will also return to engage and drive the adoption of technology and AI among the business community. A*STAR is Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research.
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