BCA, JTC and NCCS Jointly Launch Singapore's First Climate-Focused Hackathon for Green Solutions

JOINT PRESS RELEASE BY BCA, JTC AND NCCS

Funding and test-bed opportunities are available for teams with promising solutions to further develop their ideas

The hackathon attracted a wide range of participants with the youngest at 13 years old and the oldest at 63, among which about half of them are students.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA), JTC and National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), Strategy Group, Prime Minister's Office are crowd-sourcing innovative and cost-effective green building solutions to mitigate climate change at Singapore's first climate-focused hackathon, the Climate Innovation Challenge 2016 (CIC). Held at JTC LaunchPad @ one-north over a period of three days from 12 to 14 August 2016, some 140 entrepreneurs, designers, makers and hackers will brainstorm and propose new ideas that will help enhance innovation and sustainability in non-residential buildings and outdoor spaces. The winning teams stand to win over $20,000 in cash prizes.

This hackathon is in line with the national agenda to actively promote and drive the green building movement, and to achieve the nation-wide target of greening 80 per cent of all buildings in Singapore by 2030. The greening of Singapore's buildings is a key component of the nation's Climate Action Plan, which amongst others, seeks to reduce its emissions intensity^[1] by 36 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Dr John Keung, Chief Executive Officer, BCA said: "This hackathon is a useful platform for us to crowd-source sustainability ideas from people like you and me, who are concerned enough about climate change and have decided to take action. We want to reach out to as many people as possible to gather innovative green building solutions. BCA will facilitate the test-bedding of promising solutions where applicable and introduce new innovative green solutions to the industry on a larger scale. I strongly urge the winners of this hackathon to tap on BCA's R&D grants and other available funding to bring these solutions to mass implementation."

JTC, co-organiser of CIC 2016, is looking for innovative building and estate management solutions that can be implemented to improve energy efficiency and raise productivity. Apart from this, JTC recognises that the incorporation of work, live, play and learn elements in its next generation mixed used estates will require innovative solutions to enable these diverse elements to co-exist sustainably.

"JTC has been making available our buildings and estates to test new innovations in sustainable urban solutions. Innovations that are proven to be effective and useful will be deployed in more buildings and estates, thus helping creators of these solutions reduce the time required to commercialise their products, while improving the way we design, build and manage our facilities at the same time. This collaboration with BCA and NCCS will generate more solutions that enhance innovation, sustainability and productivity for industrial infrastructure projects," said Mr Png Cheong Boon, Chief Executive Officer, JTC.

The hackathon is also part of the Government's efforts to spur low carbon innovation and encourage collective climate action, both of which are key pillars of Singapore's Climate Action Plan. "Our 2030 mitigation target will challenge us to better manage energy demand and raise energy efficiency. At the same time, it is also an opportunity, for individuals and enterprises to innovate and develop green solutions using smart technologies. This hackathon brings the challenge and the opportunity to our designers, makers and entrepreneurs, and we look forward to great ideas from them", said Mr Tan Kok Yam, Deputy Secretary (Strategy Group), Prime Minister's Office.

During the Singapore Green Building Week (SGBW) 2016, the winners of CIC will receive their prizes from Mr Desmond Lee, Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development at the International Green Building Conference (IGBC) Welcome Reception at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre on 7 September 2016. The winning ideas will also be on exhibit at Marina Bay Sands Level 3 from 7 to 9 September 2016 and at the Green Living Expo from 9 to 11 September 2016.

Funding and test-bed opportunities are available for teams with promising solutions to further develop their ideas:

Funding and test-bedding opportunities

a) BCA 2-stage Innovation Grant (i-Grant)

Summary

• The grant aims to help the entire value chain of the building and construction industry to conduct smaller scale R&D projects with near-term commercialisation potential. iGrant has been extended to 31 October 2020 with a total available grant of $3 million.

Funding and test-bedding opportunities

b) JTC’s Innovation Opportunities

Summary

JTC makes its buildings and estates available island-wide as a living lab for companies to test-bed their ideas and technologies, helping them reduce time required to commercialise their products.

Enclosed:

Annex A – Fact sheet on Challenge Statements

Source: JTC