The following excerpt is a summary of the article originally published by Lianhe Zaobao.
You may click here to read the full Lian He Zao Bao article in Chinese: https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story20250302-5942748
Open Innovation Challenge uses a demand-led model to connect corporates (demand drivers) with a varied group of innovators (solvers), including startups, research institutions, and established technology suppliers. Corporates launch their challenge statements and innovators provide their solutions, achieving a win-win outcome.
The Aerospace Open Innovation Challenge (AOIC) was jointly launched by Enterprise Singapore and JTC, with the support of Association of Aerospace Industries (Singapore) (AAIS) and EDB at the Singapore Airshow 2024. During his opening speech at the event, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Heng Swee Keat, highlighted that AOIC brings together both local and internal companies, providing an excellent platform for startups and SMEs to showcase their potential solutions and collaborate to pilot these solutions.
One of the solvers successfully matched Antomation, a local startup specialising in machine vision and artificial intelligence (AI). Antomation was selected by Airbus, the world’s leading aircraft manufacturer to address the challenge statement of developing an automated baggage loading system for the A320 and A220 series aircraft. This innovative proposal shortens time required to load the baggage into the aircraft and increases the overall efficiency of airport operations. Additionally, this also reduces the manpower requirements, resulting in significant cost savings.
Chief Executive of AAIS, Mr. Sia Kheng Yok, highlighted that Open Innovation Challenges accelerate the process of identifying and implementing novel solutions, enabling companies to develop, testbed and adopt new technologies more efficiently. Furthermore, he noted that some challenges are multi-disciplinary and extend beyond a company’s internal capabilities, requiring expertise from other fields to address.
Mr. Tan Boon Kim, Executive Director of the Innovation Ecosystem Development team at Enterprise Singapore, outlined several key criteria used in shortlisting proposals. These included the innovativeness of the technology and business models, as well as the feasibility and potential impact of solutions in both short and long term. Once the corporates have shortlisted their solvers, they will proceed with in-depth discussions on the scoping of the proof-of-concept (POC) projects.
In this Aerospace Open Innovation Challenge, there were 7 corporates who backed a total of 12 challenge statements. 130 proposals were received from 29 countries and regions.
Following a rigorous selection process, eight solutions addressing seven challenge statements were shortlisted. Solvers were given the opportunity to pitch their solutions to the demand drivers and other aerospace companies at the AOIC demo day held in October last year. Several proposals have since progressed to advanced discussions.
Other featured projects include GE Aerospace’s challenge statement on recovering waste heat from electric furnace operations to enhance energy efficiency and ST Engineering’s challenge statement on leveraging mobile solar photovoltaic platforms to optimise available land areas for renewable energy generation.
If you are interested to find out more about AOIC, click here.
Sign up for the latest innovation updates
Customise your preferences to receive updates in industries you're interested in.