OPEN INNOVATION CHALLENGE
One of Hatch’s key programmes – the biannual Open Innovation Challenge – is an accelerator programme that will give start-ups a rare chance to immediately begin working with HTX’s scientists and engineers, as well as Home Team departments, to trial and prove their concepts in real-world scenarios.
For example, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) had called for technology to monitor personnel in indoor environments in real time.
Since the Open Innovation Challenge was launched in March, five start-ups have been selected for the programme. This was out of the 60 start-ups from Singapore, the US, UK, Israel and various industries that applied.
Each start-up will receive US$50,000 in funding and can get additional funding on a case-by-case basis.
Two of the selected start-ups, both based in Israel, demonstrated how their technology works at Tuesday’s launch event.
One of them – Vayyar, which produces 4D imaging radar sensors – is working with ICA on a radar-based scanning technology to see through and into materials.
“(This means) that you walk and you’re being scanned as you go with your luggage. There’s no need to stop, and you have a much better experience as a passenger for example,” Mr Assaf Kartowsky, Vayyar’s project manager of homeland security and public safety, told reporters.