January 20, 2022

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CleanTech and green energy: the way forward for Smart Cities

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The greatest innovations in the history of mankind were born out of crisis and necessity. The ability to adapt and innovate in dire times is what separates success from failure; leaders that show the way forward from those that follow.

OpenGov is always seeking to recognize and promote such leaders of innovation. This pursuit has led to partner with SMU’s Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which provides support and a platform for budding innovators.

One such group of mavericks is the team at Anzene. OpenGov had the opportunity to speak with Joshua Lin, Chief Operating Officer – Business Development & Partnership at Anzene.

Anzene is a cleantech hardware start up dedicated to producing standardized, smart and safe batteries powered with blockchain for green energy transition in smart cities.

Joshua told us that the genesis of this idea began in August 2018, when he and two other friends, who shared the passion for tech and concern for the environment, decided to create a portable power block would allow consumers to utilize renewable energy resources to power urban lifestyle.

This shared vision led to the creation of the Anzene energy Block. The energy block is a cuboid, weighs around 2 Kilograms and has the capability to store and channel solar and wind energy.

The team’s intention is to make it as accessible as possible to all specifications. With this is mind, it has versatile voltage outputs and can power different brands and kinds of electric vehicles and urban home appliances.

It come with various USB ports and can also be attached to a universal AC adapter that allows powering multiple devices simultaneously. It is a gift for people who work remotely and off grid as it gives them more flexibility and secured access to power.

Joshua shared that there were two major focus points for the team while developing the technology for this power wonder: 1) Smart and 2) Safe.

1) Smart: Anzene energy systems have IOT features (4G and Low range radio communication, data loggers) that are powered by blockchain to track green energy generation, usage, and storage. This feature will eventually allow it to be used by city planners to predict and plan urban energy consumption patterns.

2) Safe: There have been ample incidents in just the recent past of batteries overheating and catching on fires. In order to ensure the safety of its user, Anzene power block comes with a patented mini fire extinguisher pre-installed and connected to its battery management system.

The moment the block detects excessive heat in the battery, the extinguisher deploys automatically ensuring the safety of the user. It is purely a preventive measure by the Anzene team as they are using the superior quality Lishen cells that do not overheat unless it is abused or used carelessly.

Anzene’s novel energy idea and consciousness for the ecosystem has earned the team recognition on different platforms in various countries.

The first accolade was at the 2019 K-Startup Grand Challenge in South Korea – a nation that is a huge powerhouse for battery manufacturing and recycling. Anzene was among the Top 20 teams that gave a demonstration of their product after 3.5 months of acceleration.

Being a Singapore Management University (SMU) alumni, Joshua and team enrolled in SMU, Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship’s incubation programme – Business Innovations Generator (BIG) which gave the team valuable exposure of ASEAN market, and was one of the 7 teams selected for the third Shell Idearefinery Programme, Singapore.

Anzene plans to launch the power block in market in the second quarter of 2021. They are still fine-tuning the innovation and plan to make it more powerful using a swapping station with multiple energy blocks.

Utilising wind and solar energy require specialised equipment like panels and turbines to harness the power. These are often bulky and too complex for everyone to use. The team exploring options for consumer grade channelling equipment to make their energy block more accessible.

They also plan to modify it to make it useful to rural areas too. Joshua said the teams is determined to power villages that are off the grid using their innovative energy resource. At the very least they want their block to be able to power basic home appliances like lights, television, radio, etc. to reduce use of pollution causing non-renewable sources of energy like kerosene.

OpenGov is always eager to hear of and encourage innovation leaders like Anzene. If you have any innovations, you would like to bring to our attention please do get in touch with us.

The Development of Indonesia’s Digital Economy

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Growth in the digital economy remained robust in 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic pushed digital adoption further. Indonesia welcomed 21 million new users of online services during the pandemic, according to the e-Conomy SEA 2021 report.

The report showed that Indonesia’s internet economy will stay to be the biggest digital economy among the six Southeast Asian countries assessed. However, scrutiny of the relatively young industry has been growing as reports of scams, cyberattacks and high platform fees make the rounds, jeopardizing users’ safety and therefore also their trust in digital services.

In terms of size, Indonesia’s digital economy has grown, but there is much to be done when it comes to advancing the quality of the digital economy ecosystem.

– Bhima Yudhistira, Director, Center of Economics and Law Studies

The online lending industry was in the spotlight this year as the Financial Services Authority (OJK) closed down 593 unlicensed P2P lenders in 2021. The task force has pulled the plug on more than 3,500 such platforms since 2018.  While taking down illegal lenders addressed the criminal aspect of the issue, industry players needed to ramp up efforts to educate the public. Victims of illegal online lending are usually those with low digital and financial literacy, so lending platforms must increase education for the public.

Legal P2P lenders have also come under scrutiny for steep administrative fees or interest rates, and some have resorted to intimidatory debt-collection practices. In response, the Indonesian Fintech Lenders Association (AFPI) has lowered the cap on interest rates by more than 50% to 0.4% per day. News of scams and data theft have also tarnished the banking sector, and with 88% of consumers in the Asia Pacific region having actively used digital banking services this year, the data protection bill has become the talk of the town.

Indonesia currently has no regulation that authorizes law enforcement authorities to bring criminal charges against perpetrators of data breaches, theft or misuse. However, that could be about to change as the long-awaited data protection bill has made its way to the priority list of the 2022 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

Not passing the bill next year would be counterproductive, as each ministry and government body would then try to pass diverging or even conflicting rules. This would create confusion and uncertainty, especially for the digital economy.

Recently, the Indonesian Fintech Association (Aftech) published an ethics code on how its members should handle and protect user data on their respective platforms. The code to some extent fills the regulatory void amid sluggish progress on the data protection bill.

While the country has not seen any high-profile data breaches among digital service companies this year, the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) did note that Indonesia logged 888 million cyberattacks in the first eight months of 2021. That marks an alarming increase from 190 million attacks recorded over the same period in 2020.

As reported by OpenGov Asia, OJK) wants to encourage banks to improve information technology governance and risk management. This is in line with the banking industry’s migration from the old banking system to digital banking. Banking Supervision Deputy Commissioner, OJK as previously stated, banks must anticipate issues such as customer data protection and exchange, the risk of customer data leakage connected to fraud, probable incompatibility of technology investments with business strategy, and others.

“The risk of cyber-attacks is one of the main risks that banks need to watch out for and mitigate in the digital era, considering the development of banking digitalisation increases the emergence of cyber security risks for banks,” said the Commissioner.

Vietnam ‘Breakthrough Scenario’ Could See Digital Economy Boom

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Vietnam earlier set an ambitious target for the digital economy to account for 20% of the GDP by 2025. However, the Deputy Director of the Department of Enterprise Management, Nguyen Trong Duong, believes that with a breakthrough scenario, the Vietnamese digital economy could account for 26.2% of the GDP in the next three years.

The official from the department, which is under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), said that under the normal development scenario, the Vietnamese digital economy will only reach 10.5% of GDP by 2025. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to maintain the average annual growth of the digital economy at about 20%, three times higher than the expected GDP growth at 6.5-7% per year, he stated. According to a report, based on the analysis and assessment of digital economy development,  three scenarios have been proposed for the Vietnamese digital economy by 2025.

In the normal scenario, with only average efforts for digital transformation and digital economy development, the digital economy will account for about 10.5% of the GDP by 2025, of which ICT, telecommunications, and the Internet economy will account for about 7.9% of the GDP. In the quicker scenario in which digital transformation and development of the digital economy are strongly promoted, the digital economy will account for about 19.9% of the GDP, of which ICT, telecommunications, and the Internet economy will account for about 13.1%.

In the breakthrough scenario, digital transformation and digital economy development are strongly deployed, accompanied by measures to ensure a market balance between Vietnamese digital enterprises and foreign counterparts. At the same time, with policies to support Vietnamese technology start-ups, the digital economy will account for about 26.2% of the GDP by 2025, of which ICT, telecommunications, and the Internet economy will account for about 16%.

Duong explained that firstly, it is necessary to quickly develop and promulgate national strategies and programmes to support the digital economy. Secondly, the government must urgently review, amend, and supplement legal regulations to improve the legal framework, mechanisms, and policies to develop and further the digital society. Finally, it is crucial to accelerate the implementation of the national digital transformation programme, especially solutions for skills training, digital human resources development, and expanding the domestic digital market.

Earlier this month, OpenGov Asia reported that the country aims to have ten technology firms with annual revenue of over US$1 billion by 2025. It plans to have 100,000 digital technology firms by 2025 and have at least ten firms compete in global markets. It also wants to have 10 localities with revenues of over US$1 billion from ICT and 10-12 IT zones. Last year, the total revenue of Vietnam’s ICT segment was estimated at an all-time high of VND3,462 trillion (US$151 billion), growing 9% year on year. The ICT segment alone contributes over US$136 billion to the sum, increasing by some US$11.5 billion from last year, according to MIC data.

Combining Tradition and Technology for Sustainability in Singapore

This image shows a HDB housing complex in Singapore
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E-payment has been gaining steam in Singapore with the proliferation of services. The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated the growth of this form of payment as businesses and banks encouraged consumers to switch to e-payment for contactless transactions. Given the ubiquity of a smartphone, most of us should be no stranger to e-payment services, and many might even be avid users of such services.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has been encouraging the gifting of used notes or switching to e-hongbaos The reasons are twofold: to support sustainability and to prevent overcrowding in banks during the pandemic. While some people can understand the rationale of not visiting a crowded bank branch amid a pandemic, switching to e-hongbaos in the name of sustainability may be hard for some to justify in abandoning the cultural tradition.

While the current practice of gifting hongbaos (red envelope) is part of the tradition, the sustainability imperative should not be neglected. Most of the red packets will most likely end up in the incinerator because these tend not to be easily recyclable due to their designs and materials.

It is not just the red packets. The new notes that we painstakingly queue for, will only be used momentarily, after which they will become used notes that are deposited back to the banks at the end of the festive season. If the public continues to demand only new notes each Lunar New Year, the used notes have no opportunity to be recirculated.

In Singapore, as many as 100 million pieces of new notes are issued to meet the festive demand annually. The $2 denomination forms the bulk of new notes issued. Some of the used $2 notes that are deposited are reissued as good-as-new notes the following Lunar New Year. This recycling of used notes has helped to meet about 20 per cent of annual festive demand, reduced wastage and supported the environment.

Sustainability is not the only reason why people should be persuaded to give e-hongbaos a chance. The practical cost of printing paper currency is a key consideration too. Using available estimates, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing announced its 2021 currency operating budget to be US$1.1 billion. The cost of printing a U.S. one-dollar note is about 6.2 cents per note. This is just over 6% of the note’s monetary value.

Gifting of e-hongbaos is on the rise in Singapore. In 2021, a bank reported more than 32,000 QR Gift transactions through an app totalling $2 million, as compared to 18,000 totalling $660,000 in 2020 over the first two days of the Lunar New Year. Other banks also saw an upward trend in the transaction. Another bank had three times the increase in e-hongbao transactions.

E-hongbao is convenient as one does not need to visit the bank to queue up for new notes, or to deposit the money received after the festive season. A few clicks are all that is needed to give and receive. One also does not need to worry about misplacing the hongbaos.

As reported by OpenGov Asia, in addressing the digital economy in the country, Singapore will next link its national real-time payment system to Malaysia’s equivalent E-payment infrastructure, just weeks after announcing similar plans with India. The most recent collaboration will allow residents of the two neighbouring countries to transfer funds using their mobile phone numbers.

In addressing the digital economy in the country, Singapore will next link its national real-time payment system to Malaysia’s equivalent E-payment infrastructure, just weeks after announcing similar plans with India. The most recent collaboration will allow residents of the two neighbouring countries to transfer funds using their mobile phone numbers.

Vietnam Focuses on Digitalisation in Agri Sector

Image credit: Vietnam Plus
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Experts believe that rapid digital transformation is the best way for the Vietnamese agricultural sector to recover and develop in the post-pandemic period, affirming its role as a key pillar of the economy. Amid challenges from climate change, market fluctuations, and changes in consumption trends, the sector is required to increase the proportion of digital agriculture in the economy.

Meanwhile, the data-driven digital transformation in agriculture and agricultural management is expected to help boost the sector’s growth through better market forecasting and planning. The Deputy Foreign Minister, Bui Thanh Son, noted that facing the adverse impacts of COVID-19, businesses and farmers are fully aware of strengthening the application of smart and digital technologies to maintain stability in production and farm produce supply.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Le Minh Hoan, stated that along with optimising advantages and local resources for the development of the multiple value agriculture and trademark building, Vietnam should build a data system and make its agricultural data and information more transparent to reach more markets and create a breakthrough for the sector. A representative from the Australian Business Association in Vietnam (Auscham) claimed that Australians are open to Vietnamese farm produce, which means the chance for Vietnam to export more agricultural products to the market is high.

According to a news report, currently, Vietnamese agricultural products are exported to many selective markets, and the Australian market is similar. However, for consumers in Australia, manufacturers in Vietnam need to build their own brand, with quality ensured, to win consumers’ confidence that Vietnamese products are safe and of high quality. To increase exports, closer coordination among ministries, sectors, and localities in strengthening digital transformation, trade promotion, and market connections is crucial.

However, many experts pointed to the need for Vietnam to focus more on preparing high-quality human resources. Many Vietnamese farmers are hesitant to renovate their cultivation practices and approach new farming techniques. The government needs to focus on developing digital agriculture while strengthening communication with farmers to help them understand the benefit of the process and equip them with more knowledge and skills in conducting online transactions.

Recently, OpenGov Asia reported that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) wants to finish linking 100% of its administrative procedures to the National Single Window (NSW) system in the first quarter of 2022. To carry out the national and ASEAN single-window mechanisms, MARD has connected 29 of the 33 administrative procedures at its subordinate units and granted digital licences to over 1.4 million dossiers via the NSW. In terms of administrative reform, in 2021, the Ministry updated and publicised 119 administrative procedures on the National Public Service Portal, abolished 58 others, and simplified three procedures related to natural disaster prevention and control. It proposed 429 of the 2,559 regulations on business activities be removed or simplified while reducing nearly VND219 billion (US$9.6 million), or 13.2%, of the compliance cost related to business activities.

In 2022, the Ministry plans to handle administrative procedures online to enhance transparency and save time and costs. It would deal with people and businesses’ opinions about problems related to the mechanisms, policies, and procedures within its remit online and overhaul the institutional system on agriculture and rural development.

Utilising Digital Twin for Sustainability in Las Vegas

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Digital twins, which effectively create a workable computer model of a city at a point in time, are becoming popular tools for smart cities to study the impacts of development, climate change or other future events. The data-rich environments allow planners to observe the effects of changes in everything from temperature and emissions to traffic. To address its sustainability goals, Las Vegas announced plans to deploy digital twins to help the city model future energy use, emissions, mobility and emergency management.

The host city revealed a digital twin of a seven square kilometre stretch of downtown. Under a partnership between digital twin platform providers, which has developed an internet-of-things data monetisation platform, the project is expected to help officials visualise street-level data collected through the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and Las Vegas’ 5G network to inform sustainability decisions.

City officials are currently focusing on projects that will allow the city to review and experiment with the viability and validity of the technology. The tool could be used to model scenarios addressing sustainability, emergency management and mobility and will provide a more sophisticated look at how problems develop and could be addressed.

– Michael Sherwood, Las Vegas Chief Innovation Officer

To help reduce Las Vegas’ overall energy footprint, city planners will use the SmartWorldOS platform to simulate and optimise large-scale building projects using automated real-time energy monitoring and geo-tagged smart data layers. Initially, they are focusing on integrating these key technologies into this seven square kilometres area we have.

The company has already piloted its “Clean Cities – Clean Future” initiative in downtown Phoenix and the Navy Yard industrial park in Brooklyn. The programme is working with cities to help them to cut carbon emissions from commercial buildings, often the biggest culprits in terms of total emissions, accounting for 50-70% in larger metropolitan areas.

The Las Vegas digital twin is only in the very early stages of development, but the project will collect information on issues related to air quality, emissions, mobility, noise pollution and traffic. This will be wired into the actual city. That means that things happening on the streets, in the electrical grid, air quality and many other factors will be loaded into the digital twin. Eventually, this will allow control by the city itself.

For example, officials in the traffic department will be able to control the timing of streetlights in real-time. The digital twin of Las Vegas will also be driven by data coming from vehicles, electrical utilities, charging networks and municipal infrastructure and autonomous vehicles. Bringing together IoT, 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the project intends to leverage the same core technologies in other cities throughout the U.S. and eventually, the world.

As reported by OpenGov Asia, U.S. cities can expect to save $280 billion by 2030 with the deployment and use of digital twins, according to a new report. A digital twin is a simulated model of a physical process, product or service that can increase efficiency.

A digital twin uses the best available models, sensor information, and input data to mirror and predict activities/performance over the life of its corresponding physical twin. According to research, this technology is the ultimate tool for urban planners and city governments to design and cost-effectively build their infrastructure.

While the cost-saving advantages of digital twins allow cities to achieve fast Return on investment (ROI), the increasingly complex nature of connected and smart urban infrastructure, especially in view of future smart urban concepts, will simply mandate the deployment of digital twins as critical, holistic management tools, similar to the role they play in other industries like manufacturing.

Accelerating the Development of Digital Infrastructure in Indonesia

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President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo emphasised the acceleration of national digital transformation for five aspects, one of which relates to accelerating the expansion of telecommunication access, increasing digital infrastructure and providing internet services.

In 2021, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of the Republic of Indonesia has built a digital infrastructure that includes all aspects. The Ministry also has reorganised the radio frequency spectrum to optimise the quality of 4G network services, develop 5G networks, and make the Analog Switch Off (ASO) program a success.

First, from the backbone layer, the Ministry has so far carried out the deployment of the Palapa Ring fibre optic cable network, both the West, Central, and East Palapa Rings, where 2021 is the year of evaluation of the utilisation of the Palapa Ring.

– Dedy Permadi, Spokesperson, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

Increasing the utilisation of the Palapa Ring still requires the deployment of fibre optics to connect unconnected fibre optic points, both on land and at sea. Meanwhile, for infrastructure in the middle mile layer through the provision of satellite capacity, Indonesia currently uses 9 telecommunications satellites equivalent to 50 Gbps and 55%of them are used by the Ministry.

To meet the increasing need for satellite capacity, in 2021, there was a series of construction processes for the SATRIA-I multifunction satellite with a capacity of 150 Gbps, including the construction of satellite and rocket components in France and America, as well as 11 earth stations in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, at the last-mile layer, the Ministry together with cellular operator partners have started the construction of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in 12,548 villages that do not yet have 4G access. The total number of BTS construction includes 9,113 in the 3T area by BLU BAKTI of the Ministry and 3,435 BTS in the non-3T area by cellular operators.

In addition to massive digital infrastructure development, the Ministry also continues to ensure the quality of telecommunications services in Indonesia. Therefore, the Ministry has completed the construction of a Telecommunication Monitoring Center which will measure Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE), and follow up services on public complaints related to service interruptions in real-time. in 514 regencies/cities.

The Ministry will continue to develop telecommunications infrastructure under the plans in the Digital Indonesia Roadmap. In 2022, the Ministry will focus on completing development at the backbone layer up to the last mile.

As part of the development evaluation in 2022, there are several challenges in developing digital infrastructure which includes limited funding, especially for development in the 3T region (underdeveloped, outermost, and underdeveloped). Therefore, the Ministry made a breakthrough through a blended financing scheme.

As reported by OpenGov Asia, Airlangga Hartarto, the coordinating minister for Economic Affairs, remarked in a statement that digitalisation is one of the strategies to accelerate the transition to a new economy. Digital technology, he claims, has enabled increased coordination among economic stakeholders to speed up trade, create jobs, and improve access to public services. “This momentum must be used to push the digital transformation process,” he said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations economy has surpassed $100 billion in value. According to the minister, it is expected to triple in size by 2025, reaching more than US$ 300 billion. E-commerce has been the most significant contributor to the ASEAN digital economy, followed by transportation and food delivery, online media, and travel. Apart from that, he highlighted that healthtech and edutech have emerged into promising fields. Indonesia’s digital economy is valued at US$ 44 billion, the most in ASEAN, and is expected to rise eightfold by 2030.

Tech Innovation Driving Overall Rise of China’s Industries

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Stronger tech innovation capabilities are facilitating industrial growth in China, which will help further the high-quality development of the nation’s sprawling manufacturing sector. The remark came after China’s industrial output increased 9.6% on a yearly basis in 2021, 1.5 percentage points higher than GDP growth, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, China’s research and development expenditure rose 14.2% year-on-year last year, four percentage points higher than that in the previous year, accounting for 2.44% of the GDP. Tech innovation has played a bigger role in driving growth, and the manufacturing sector has recorded relatively fast growth.

Specifically, output from high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing rose 18.2% and 12.9% year-on-year, respectively, 8.6 percentage points and 3.3 percentage points higher than that of overall industrial output. China’s innovation capabilities have continued to grow, which are fueling the expansion of emerging industries and new products.

More capital is going to the high-tech sector, which will also fuel the in-depth integration of the digital and real economies, and facilitate the high-quality development of manufacturing in China. Last year, investment in high-tech industries increased by 17.1%, 12.2 percentage points faster than total investment. Among the total, investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech service industries increased 22.2% and 7.9% year-on-year, respectively.

China’s industrial economy maintained relatively good performance in 2021. In addition to constant upgrades in industrial structure, the proportion of manufacturing in China’s GDP increased by 1.1 percentage points to 27%. That marked a major reversal to the past decade when the proportion of manufacturing in GDP had been gradually declining, Yao said. Experts warned earlier that a decline of manufacturing’s role in China’s GDP risked dragging down current economic growth and affecting urban employment.

China’s industrial sector is facing more positive factors this year than in 2021. For instance, stabilising investment has become an important point for the macroeconomy due to tech innovation. With positive factors ahead, monthly industrial output figures in 2022 are likely to be better than their counterparts seen last year.

Minister of industry and information technology, China’s top industry regulator, said earlier that stabilising industrial growth will be the ministry’s top priority in 2022, and it will ratchet up resources to boost the manufacturing sector’s innovation capabilities.

The future of the Chinese economy lies in innovation. With its pool of younger workers shrinking, China can no longer rely on imitation if it hopes to grow and support its ageing population. It will have to rely on tech innovation instead.

China now has at its disposal a resource that no other country has: a vast population that has lived through unprecedented amounts of change and, consequently, has developed an astonishing propensity for adopting and adapting to innovations, at a speed and scale that is unmatched elsewhere on earth.

As reported by OpenGov Asia, more than a dozen experiment racks and an extravehicular experiment platform will be installed to support hundreds of research projects in fields such as astronomy, space life science, biotechnology, microgravity, basic physics and space materials. China is aiming to boost global collaboration in this regard.

China is considering the launch of a faster supercomputer. The Chinese team that won the 2021 award described in their winning paper a yet-to-be-published powerful machine that can achieve a sustained performance of 1.2 exaflops of single-precision computing power.

Such a device could be used to screen out therapeutical molecules and to simulate the chaotic planet climate which could help slow down global warming. Although many complex problems in the real world cannot currently be solved through the quantum computer, its performance continues to rapidly improve. In 2021, Chinese scientists launched two superconducting quantum computing systems, Zuchongzhi and Zuchongzhi 2.1 within a half year, making China one of the world leaders in the field.

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