The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS), launched PIER71™’s Smart Port Challenge (SPC) 2023 on Thursday (8 June) at InnovFest x Elevating Founders 2023, the official start-up event of Asia Tech x Singapore. 

SPC 2023 was officially launched by Mr Niam Chiang Meng, MPA Chairman at the event comprising international start-ups, venture capitalists, and other corporate participants. The opening ceremony also featured a panel discussion on “Achieving Energy Transition in the Maritime Industry” with speakers from Kuok Maritime, SeaTech Solutions International, Sinoda Shipping Agency and SPC 2022 Special Mention winner SunGreenH2. 

Challenge Statements for SPC 2023

SPC is an annual innovation competition to find the best ideas and solutions from technology start-ups to address challenges and innovation opportunities, put forth by the maritime industry. SPC 2023 has 12 challenge statements spanning key areas such as maritime decarbonisation, smart port operations, and supply chain resilience. Some of the challenge statements are related to the marine fuel sector such as: 

• Accelerating Biofuel Adoption: How Can We Increase the Adoption of Biofuels Through Assurance of their Quality and Traceability?
• Building Confidence in Ammonia: How Can We Build Confidence in Ammonia as a Maritime Fuel?

Technology start-ups based in Singapore as well as those based overseas are invited to submit their proposals by 31 July 2023.

Shortlisted start-ups will be mentored by 21 maritime companies under the PIER71™ Accelerate programme and may be eligible for a MPA MINT-STARTUP grant of up to SGD 100,000. They will also receive support through PIER71™’s global network of partners. The top three winners for SPC 2023 will be awarded with cash prizes at the grand finals in November 2023. The PIER71™ programme has supported over 100 start-ups, and these start-ups have raised over S$50million in venture capital and MPA grant funding since the programme’s inception.

In his video address, Mr Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport highlighted that PIER71™ alumni had made their mark globally, adding that he was encouraged to see their growth and success as they expanded operations and scaled up their product offerings. He also called for aspiring entrepreneurs and technology start-ups in Singapore to join SPC 2023, to solve the most pressing challenges facing the maritime industry and to shape the future of Maritime Singapore.

Mr Kenneth Lim, MPA’s Assistant Chief Executive (Industry & Transformation) said, “Going into its seventh year, the Smart Port Challenge continues to break down obstacles for innovations to be adapted and adopted in Maritime Singapore. Strong collaboration plays a vital role in supporting the transformation of the maritime industry, and we hope the gathering of PIER71™ alumni, our corporate partners, and VCs will continue to fuel the growth of the new Marinetech start-ups coming into PIER71™ this year”.

Professor Chen Tsuhan, NUS Deputy President (Innovation and Enterprise), said, “We look forward to onboarding a new cohort of start-ups into the Smart Port Challenge PIER71TM Accelerate programme with the anticipation that they will bring forth exciting technologies and innovative solutions to address the maritime industry’s challenges. With support from the wider maritime ecosystem to nurture and promote their growth, we are certain that these start-ups and the wider PIER71™ alumni will unlock new possibilities in efficiency, safety and environmental sustainability that will make an impactful contribution to the maritime industry.”  

Maritime Innovation and Technology (MINT)-STARTUP grant

Five start-ups from SPC 2022 and SPC 2021 were also awarded the MINT-STARTUP grant at the event. 

The grant will support prototype development and test-bedding of solutions to facilitate commercialisation. This brings the total number of grant recipients to 55. These five start-ups are collaborating with maritime corporate partners from PIER71™ on pilot projects that leverage data analytics, artificial intelligence, and upcycling of waste to produce high-value products, amongst others.

Some of the projects were bunker-related including Green COP Pte Ltd which will be conducting trials of butanol-based biofuels for harbour crafts. The project proposes to create a circular economy solution to produce biofuels which can be used as interim or transitional fuels by recycling the agricultural waste. The company has an innovative pre-treatment and fermentation technology to produce biofuels (Butanol) by upcycling biowaste.

PIER71™ expands its Venture Capitalist Network

To further enhance the maritime ecosystem, PIER71TM Venture Capitalist Network will be expanded to include four new venture capitalists with SGD $6 million in funds to support promising maritime start-ups. The four venture capitalists are Narwhale Ventures, Tradeworks.vc, Kibo Invest, and Paragon Ventures. This brings the total number of venture capitalists under the PIER71™ Venture Capitalist Network to 12.

A recording of the SPC 2023 launch event will be available on https://pier71.sg. 

Note: A full list of SPC 2023 challenge statements and recipients of the MINT-STARTUP Grant is available here. 

Photo credit: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Published: 12 June, 2023