Ravi Chandran
Singapore FinTech Festival x SWITCH 2020 to Feature Digital and Physical Experiences Over Week-Long Event
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Enterprise Singapore announced that the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) x Singapore Week of Innovation & TeCHnology (SWITCH) will expand to become the world’s first week-long round-the-clock, hybrid digital and physical event. Running from 7 to 11 December 2020, participants may attend in person at key physical locations around the world as well as be connected in an online city experience.
Singapore FinTech Festival x SWITCH 2020 will provide a combined online-offline platform for the global FinTech and deep tech communities to continue to engage and connect in spite of the current challenges with international travel.
Table of Contents
The event will feature a hybrid experience knitting together an online city with various physical locations around the world, centred on businesses activities to boost sales cycles, discover partnerships and generate investments.
The online city will provide each participating organisation with a digital location where they can share and engage with participants as well as schedule 1-1 meetings. Exhibitors can showcase technologies in key innovation domains such as FinTech; Smart Cities and Urban Solutions; Healthcare and Biomedical Sciences; Trade and Connectivity; as well as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and 5G. Participants will have access to networking opportunities throughout the day covering all time zones.
Curated physical events hosted by a network of trusted in-country partners will provide exclusive access to industry leaders and sponsors in selected cities around the world. Participants can access physical events hosted in their cities to network with local government and industry leaders, learn about the country’s key government initiatives and local early-stage startups or access closed-door roundtables.
An inclusive global content experience across five full days. Participants will get round-the-clock ‘live’ streams of curated sessions featuring leading speakers from around the world and also view sessions taking place in the physical cities. During ‘Golden Hours’ across time zones, participants worldwide will see keynote speakers from different regions coming together to share their perspectives on topics such as Financial inclusion, Green technologies and Sustainability.
The pandemic has underscored that innovation and resilience are what enables us to overcome the greatest challenges. The theme for this year’s event is “People and Talent”. SFF x SWITCH will shine a spotlight on the trailblazing pioneers who have made a difference as well as rising stars with the potential to transform global industries. It will also honour individuals who have demonstrated remarkable resilience in overcoming obstacles to create new opportunities that have significantly advanced our society. The event will support initiatives and community activities that drive talent development, reskilling and upskilling of the finance and tech workforce.
Participants can also look forward to other key events, including Deal Fridays, internship programme, the revamped MAS Global FinTech Hackcelerator and MAS FinTech Awards, SLINGSHOT 2020, and TechInnovation, which will culminate in special digital showcases at the week-long event. A new element this year includes digital events to engage the African FinTech community.
Mr Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS, said, “The Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) has been growing each year as a destination for the global FinTech community to share their knowledge, innovations and insights. This year, the extraordinary challenges brought about by the global pandemic has triggered a paradigm shift for SFF x SWITCH. We have an opportunity to redefine our approach and look towards an expanded and exciting new collaboration model. We are exploring a creative way to integrate global centres through an immersive digital engagement experience. We are confident that this approach will be able to bring together the global innovation community in spite of the current constraints in travel and meetings.”
Mr Edwin Chow, Assistant Chief Executive Officer (Innovation & Enterprise), Enterprise Singapore, said, “SFF x SWITCH’s hybrid programme breaks down the barriers of geography and time zone with the innovation and startup communities, making this a truly global event for everyone to participate in. Innovation will become the key growth driver for many economies amid the challenges brought about by the global pandemic. There will be even greater demand for new, novel solutions, and new opportunities that startups can tap on. We believe this event will continue to provide the ideal platform for innovation enablers, enterprises and startups from both Singapore and other countries to forge new global connections and make new deals.”
Mr Aloysius Arlando, Chief Executive Officer, SingEx Holdings, said, “The business environment has changed drastically, but it has also given us the opportunity to increase our understanding of customers’ evolving needs. These critical insights have resulted in a hybrid approach allowing us a broader spectrum from which to design multi-dimensional engagements, further enabling the SFF x SWITCH communities to learn, network and collaborate. In collaboration with MAS and in partnership with Enterprise Singapore, SingEx is primed to support the safe restart of events while paving the way for a new model on how to facilitate more targeted and inclusive community engagement.”
Since its inception, Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) has been championing challenging topics that the financial services industry faces, from financial inclusion to sustainability, while the Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology (SWITCH) has been bringing together conversations on innovation and its impact on society.
Now together, Singapore FinTech Festival x SWITCH will celebrate its raison d’etre – People.
Framing a new digital and tech world
Set against a backdrop of global challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, this special SFF x SWITCH edition will celebrate the defiant people who are creating new opportunities to stand together and advance our society. We will showcase the role models of today who continue to show resilience during challenging times, as well as the rising stars and pioneers that will transform global industries in the future.
As they work together to frame a new digital and tech world, people will be at the heart of the festival, shaping our conference agenda and inspiring its community activities with the goal of developing talent, reskilling and upskilling the financial and tech workforce, and bolstering workforce transformation efforts globally for post COVID-19 recovery.
