The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS), held the annual PIER71™ Great Circle 2024 on November 19.
Over 400 participants attended the event, including local and international start-ups, venture capitalists, researchers and members of the maritime community.
The event included the Smart Port Challenge which attracted a record number of close to 200 proposals from start-ups in 35 countries. Winners were Clearbot, Open Ocean Robotics and GT Wings. Thiospark Energy received a special mention.
The judging panel comprised Cyril Ducau, CEO of Eastern Pacific Shipping; Teo Eng Dih, Chief Executive, MPA and Associate Professor Chai Kah Hin of NUS.
For the first time, additional awards of S$10,000 were awarded to Mapsea for Artificial Intelligence (supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS)), GT Wings for Maritime Sustainability Innovation (supported by OCBC Bank) and Planys Technologies for Smart Port (supported by PSA Singapore).
Since its inception in 2018, PIER71 has nurtured over 140 marine technology start-ups, supported by a network of over 60 corporate partners. These start-ups have raised over S$80 million in investments from venture capitalists, with 10 start-ups raising close to S$17 million in 2024.