5 February 2015 - An app that helps you save money and the environment when purchasing home appliances or an app that helps businesses better plan their delivery routes to save time and resources.
Singapore, 5 February 2015 | For Immediate Release
Competition harnesses data to drive innovation to enable a Smart Nation for businesses and consumers
An app that helps you save money and the environment when purchasing home appliances or an app that helps businesses better plan their delivery routes to save time and resources. These are just some of the innovative ideas and solutions that surfaced from the Data Discovery Challenge Finals today when private datasets were pooled with other datasets including government datasets.
Organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), the shortlisted teams comprising budding entrepreneurs, innovators and start-ups battled it out before the judges to win not just attractive cash prizes of more than S$13,000 but also a place in the TAG.PASS acceleration programme offered by the investment arm of IDA, Infocomm Investments Pte Ltd (IIPL).
IDA Assistant Chief Executive, Development Group, Mr Khoong Hock Yun said, “Data and analytics play a critical role in our journey to becoming a Smart Nation and the Data Discovery Challenge offers the participants a chance to be part of this journey with us. We are heartened by the variety and responses to our Challenge with the innovative ideas and solutions presented to help advance us on the Smart Nation journey.”
Decision Architects by Mr Chris Lo walked away with the first prize of S$5,000 with his winning entry of using data visualisation to enable business owners to develop better business strategies based on human footfall and interest patterns. Mr Lo also clinched the Singtel Smart Nation Innovation Award of $3,000 for using the dataset provided by Singtel.
Second prize of S$3,000 was awarded to CompareRoute’s Mr Edmund Chan for his innovative solution that helps businesses better plan their delivery routes to save time and resources. This solution also won Mr Chan, one of the Best Business Concept Prize of S$500 as well. The other Best Business Concept Prize went to team Qliknic for the solution to help patients plan which polyclinic to seek medical attention based on real-time queue situation in the various polyclinics.
Team Data Rookies took the Third Prize of S$1,500 for Plan B – Beat the Crowds! – a service catering to visitors heading to popular tourist attractions. Based on proximity and crowd situation, the service can propose alternative locations for users to visit if the place of interest becomes crowded.
These top 3 winning teams will be enrolled into IIPL’s TAG.PASS acceleration programme which will fast forward their development through intense business coaching. In addition, the winning teams will receive support in mentorship and anonymised data from Singtel, and technical coaching and access to development platform from Progress Software Corporation.
Dr Alex Lin, Head of Infocomm Investment Pte Ltd said, “Smart Nation is a data driven innovation initiative and the Data Discovery Challenge is a clear mechanism that drives innovation from data insight. We believe the Challenge will inspire more innovation using data and IIPL look forward to developing the necessary skillset with the winning teams from the Challenge.”
The Data Discovery Challenge utilises a federated dataset discovery mechanism (named the Federated Dataset Registry or FDSR) that seeks to provide a coherent method to dataset discovery in the private sector. The FDSR was launched as part of the Data-as-a-Service pilot to support the development of a Data Marketplace where both public and private sectors data can be shared or used for commerce. It is one of the preliminary ideas outlined for the Infocomm Media Masterplan that will encourage the development of an ecosystem to support our Smart Nation vision.
The winning teams used private datasets, such as footfall data, social media data with other datasets including government datasets to develop new insights and value, bringing the data to better use. This in turn helps enterprises to create new products and services, enhance customer’s experience and improve business operations in a Smart Nation.
For more information on the winning teams and the Challenge, please refer to Annex A to C.
ISSUED BY THE INFOCOMM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE
Related Resources
- Annex A: Factsheet on winning teams (58.69KB)
- Annex B: Factsheet on Data Discovery Challenge (60.15KB)
- Annex C: Factsheet on TAG.PASS acceleration programme (49.89KB)
About Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
The mission of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is to develop information technology and telecommunications within Singapore with a view to serve citizens of all ages and companies of all sizes. IDA does this by actively supporting the growth of innovative technology companies and start-ups in Singapore, working with leading global IT companies as well as developing excellent information technology and telecommunications infrastructure, policies and capabilities for Singapore. For more news and information, visit www.ida.gov.sg.
For media clarification, please contact:
Shanna NG (Ms)
Manager, Corporate and Marketing Communication
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
DID: (65) 6211 3835
Email: shanna_ng@imda.gov.sg
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