To explore business opportunities for Fintech, Hitachi Asia R&D with the kind cooperation of The FinLab hosted the Hitachi FinTech Challenge 2019 from 10-15 November 2019 in Singapore, inviting external stakeholders to participate. Hitachi believes that by sharing insights on Fintech innovation through such open events, it can also contribute to regional society by helping to accelerate the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Discussion between key stakeholders leading up to the ideathon identified two key challenges.
(1) SMEs are missing out on digital advantages
(2) Banks are currently unable to serve SMEs efficiently and inexpensively
The ideathon itself had 40 participants including undergraduate college students and business professionals. Six teams were formed for the final presentations from the 11 submissions, and were judged by a panel which included Felix Tan, Managing Director of The FinLab, and executives from Hitachi Vantara – APAC, Hitachi Asia - Financial Business Unit and Hitachi Global Research.
The judges were highly impressed with all the ideas and presentations, and after much deliberation, the ideas from the three teams below were selected to receive prizes.
1st Prize recipients / 2nd Prize recipients / 3rd Prize recipients
The recipients of the 1st Prize, Rio Tang, Lin Fang Yi, Joshua Low, Mohd. Nursyamiir Bin Othman and Kanagavelu Navneeth, were then invited to "Kyōsō-no-Mori" to present their award winning idea to Hitachi R&D executives in Japan in mid-February 2020, and meet with young researchers working in Japan.
At Hitachi Asia R&D, we believe that good ideas make a big difference. We are here to make dreams a reality. Hitachi R&D and the Business Units are looking forward to following up with these teams to explore collaboration possibilities, and Hitachi Asia R&D will continue collaborating with the team to bridge the ideas to business.
Thank you to all the participants and supporters for a fun and fruitful event!
