At the International Innovation Summit 2021, Enterprise Asia honored 52 award recipients with the International Innovation Awards 2021.
With the aim to create an innovative ecosystem for enterprises, the International Innovation Awards is held annually to recognize outstanding innovations across the globe.
The 2021 Global Innovation Index has shown that, despite the massive impact of the pandemic, many companies have shown remarkable resilience – especially those that have embraced digitalization, technology and innovation. Spending on R&D grew at a rate of 8.5%, building on pre-crisis performance in 2020 to successfully contribute to the global innovation ecosystem.
This year’s awardees demonstrated the role of innovation in accelerating growth, efficiency and inclusiveness. The awards not only provide a global platform for enterprises to showcase their innovations but also encourage organizations to continue investing in innovation to pave the path towards a better and sustainable future.
The International Innovation Awards 2021 drew a mix of submissions across various industries from countries such as Brazil, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, UK, and the USA.
52 emerged as victors from the 260 applications after a rigorous evaluation process by a jury of prominent judges across three categories: Product, Service & Solution and Organization & Culture.
Innovation revolution
In his welcome address, Richard Tsang, President of Enterprise Asia, stated: “To best prepare our organizations for IR 4.0, we must inculcate greater innovation within our organizations. We must empower our people to constantly innovate and build a culture of innovation within our respective companies. Institutionalize it, so that innovation becomes all-permeating within our organizations rather than a job function or reaction to market forces. Hence, the key is not just changing the way we do business but changing our mindset as well.”
Among the notable recipients of the ‘InnoCube’ under the Product Category include CYBERDYNE Inc. from Japan with its Wearable Cyborg HAL, the world’s first wearable cyborg that uses brain waves to command movements, and E.SUN Commercial Bank, Ltd. From Taiwan with E.SUN Smart FX Service, which is a comprehensive FX service with anti-fraud functions embedded in its transactions.
Winners under the Service & Solution Category are SHOPLINE from Taiwan with SHOPLINE Social Commerce, a full-featured platform that tailors all-in-one commerce solutions for every business type, and Ambiq from United States of America with its Ultra-low Power Processor Solutions for IoT Endpoint Devices, which is the most energy-efficient sensor processing solution in the market.
Prominent awardees under the Organization & Culture Category include the Dubai Police with Dubai Police Next 50 Innovation Hub, a transformation initiative to redesign the Dubai Police innovation ecosystem, and Sofokus from Finland with Better Monday®, which is an organism management system that measures employee happiness in the workplace to achieve a happiness-oriented company culture.
Superpower innovation
Prior to the International Innovation Awards, the International Innovation Summit 2021 was held during the day. Themed “Unleash Your Organization’s Superpower Innovation”, the virtual summit aimed to encourage organizations to tap into their inner innovation powers to innovate in a way that is profitable, creates value and captures customers’ interests.
More than 300 innovation experts, industry leaders and policymakers across the globe gathered at the summit to share and exchange the latest insights on conquering uncertainties and exploring the unknown for organizations to innovate, grow, and evolve.
At the Summit’s opening, Enterprise Asia Chairman Dr. Fong Chan Onn expressed that “organizations must be courageous to explore the uncertainty to innovate and create. As our journeys grow and evolve, so must our ideas. Improving the ability to innovate has become vital to keeping up with the times.”
Among the keynote speakers is Josemaria Siota, Executive Director of IESE Business School, who covered the topic of “Corporate startup innovations in deep tech: Challenges, opportunities, and trends”.
Siota shared insights on establishing a startup mindset and culture to develop new technologies and offerings to keep organizations on the right track in the innovation journey.
