From 26 to 29 Aug 2019, the 70-strong Singapore delegation including 20 corporate members from Business China participated in the annual signature Smart China Expo 2019 in Chongqing. The companies attended the Future of Services Conference organised by Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and supported by Business China. Some of the Singapore companies also participated in the Singapore Pavilion at the Smart China Expo. Business China had also arranged for the corporate members to attend a series of technology conferences with topics such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT and guided tours to the interesting booths at Smart China Expo. The companies also had a series of networking opportunities with the local government, Chongqing companies and associations. On one of the nights, they had an up-close and personal interaction session with Minister Josephine Teo, Singapore Minister for Manpower and Second Minister of Home Affairs. The companies had the chance to interact and visit a number of Chongqing smart technology companies on the last two days.
For company visits, there were two tracks for the delegation, namely manufacturing track and urban solutions track. For each track, the delegation visited more than 6 local companies. These companies showcased a wide variety of smart technologies in their products. For example, Viomi has developed a unique IoT @ Home platform consisting an ecosystem of innovative IoT-enabled smart home products, together with a suite of complementary consumable products and value-added businesses. This platform provides an attractive entry point into the consumer home, enabling consumers to intelligently interact with a broad portfolio of IoT products in an intuitive and human-like manner to make daily life more convenient, efficient and enjoyable.
The delegation also had an exclusive opportunity to interact with the top managements of these local companies and to understand more of their business models and how they have incorporated smart technology into their businesses. Through the networking sessions, some Singapore delegates had expressed initial interests in collaborating with the Chongqing counterparts.
The delegation programme was fruitful for the Singapore companies and led to further interactions and collaborations between the companies of both places.