Slush Singapore brings together all you need to enable change

Vibrant. That is the best way to describe the 3^rd Slush Singapore, a platform for the next generation of entrepreneurs that was held last week. The event had lots going on in every part of the venue, all at the same time, and kept up the momentum with short, sharp sessions that put quality over quantity.

Ratala kicks off Slush Singapore 2018.

Anna Ratala, Head of Slush Singapore, explained that the event is not actually about startups. "We are not an event at all," she emphasised. "We are not a conference, we are a catalyst."

"We don't want you to learn something. We want you to change something...we don't want you to participate, we want you to engage," she said.

Gresta talking about the future of transportation.

In asking speakers to challenge participants' beliefs, organisers provide a list of buzzwords to exclude in presentations, she shared. "We want to challenge them and we want to challenge you. We believe that by challenging that is the only way to change things. You essentially are the change makers," she said in her opening speech.

The Slush message
on a standee.

Bibop Gabriele Gresta, Chairman and Co-founder of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (Hyperloop TT), then took the stage. Hyperloop, he said, can replace traffic delays, air pollution and the queues and over-crowding seen for both public and private transport systems in one fell swoop.

"I don't think this is the future we want," he said of the current downsides of transportation. "It's happening all over the planet. The system itself is broken."

The sustainable new form of land transportation would disrupt the way we move from one location to another, and change city design, he said. People and cargo could be moved faster than an airplane, using levitating compact trains or 'pods' departing every 40 seconds which travel through near-vacuum tubes.

Gresta said people could travel from city to city in 20 minutes. "This is not a possible future. We are actually working to implement the technologies," he said. 

Hyperloop has agreements in 11 countries signed, some for feasibility studies, and others on starting commercial services. Prototypes are being made in France while commercial agreements have been signed in the Ukraine, China and the UAE, he shared.

In April 2018, HyperloopTT and Aldar Properties signed an agreement for the world's first commercial Hyperloop system of 10km to connect Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE. Hyperloop said it would proceed to start construction of a Hyperloop system as well as HyperloopTT's XO Square Innovation Center, and a Hyperloop Visitor Center.

The China agreement, the first hyperloop agreement in the country, was inked in June 2018, between HyperloopTT and Tongren Transportation & Tourism Investment Group. HyperloopTT will be responsible for providing technology, engineering expertise, and essential equipment. Tongren will be responsible for certification, regulatory framework, and construction of the system.

"Apply to join the team. We need you in Singapore to make it happen," Gresta said.

Panels following discussed issues of the day. One such panel focused on artificial intelligence (AI), robots, and morality, where panelists covered what robots are capable of today, and what needs to be done.

From left: Professor Thalmann, Khanna, Thng, and Xin En Lee of CNBC as moderator.

Professor Nadia Thalmann, Director, Institute for Media Innovation, Nanyang Technological University, said that robots nowhere near being self-aware enough to even discuss morality. "(Robots today can) hardly recognise two people at the same time and have interactions with them," she said. "Quite a lot of things are in the future. They are not aware of themselves and lack the awareness of what are people, objects and so on. There is a lot of research (still required)."

Ayesha Khanna, CEO and Co-founder, ADDO AI said that AI is currently a 'black box' which impedes discussions on morality. "It's very important for AI algorithms to be transparent and explainable," she said. "You have to have someone on your team or someone that you know who can interpret the model and explain it in layman's terms. Then (you can decide if you are) comfortable with what you're seeing. We must know why those decisions are being made."

Jacqueline Thng, Partner, Prophet, said that morality depends on what has been used to educate the machine. "It's what you put and input into the machine. It's all about the data. The morality of any AI is what you're going to put in," she said. 

"There will be people who will use AI for immoral acts," Khanna warned. "As speech recognition improves, all cultures can communicate with each other. That same speech translation software can record my voice and put it on the Internet and (have it) say anything. There is a yin and a yang. It is important to keep this in mind. It's not possible to have (just) a positive story about any technology."

The audience were able to ask questions via Slido, one of which focused on how to develop an AI product successfully. Thng said AI products typically address a specific need, rather than being developed for a mass audience. She also stressed that implementing AI functionality is actually difficult.

"You can't develop a product and think someone is going to buy," she said. "You do a lot of hackathons first. Be involved in understanding what is happening out there and think what is important. I always believe that (it's about) improving something that's not good enough. 

"It's a complex process to integrate AI. One year is super fast."

Slush Singapore is one of several Slush events around the world. Slush Shanghai was held on September 7 and 8 while Slush Tokyo will be held February 22 and 23 2019

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