Element AI expands its successful collaborative approach and existing ties to Singapore with new agreements to develop cutting edge products in the financial sector, enhance local talent, scale commercial Artificial Intelligence solutions, and embark on global research collaborations
Singapore, November 15th, 2018 – Element AI, a global company delivering AI software products that augment decisions to make businesses safer, stronger, and more agile, today announced partnerships with GIC, SGInnovate and Singapore Management University (SMU) at an event attended by the Prime Minister of Canada, The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, accompanied by Minister of International Trade Diversification Jim Carr. Also in attendance to witness the signing and provide remarks was Singapore Minister for Communications and Information H.E. S Iswaran. These partnerships expand the Element AI footprint in Asia and reinforce its commitment to the Singapore AI ecosystem, from large corporations to the startup community to academia. As part of its mission of global expansion, Element AI is replicating a proven model of success by working with key Singapore based corporations, startup incubators, and research institutions to convert the latest academic breakthroughs into robust AI products that can be integrated and uniquely customised at scale.
“The Singapore industrial ecosystem consists of renowned institutions with deep expertise in building global enterprises, incubators with a proven history of launching world-changing companies, and prestigious academic institutions conducting the research critical to understanding the world around us and lighting the path forward,” said Element AI CEO Jean-François Gagné. “This Singapore technology ecosystem is familiar to us at Element AI because it’s that environment that led to the creation of our company, so we’re thrilled to be signing agreements with these like-minded partners today. Through collaborative research drawing on the best and brightest expertise from Singapore and Canada, we’re very excited about what is possible as we focus on augmenting collective intelligence and transforming industry as we know it with the help of role-centric AI products.”
The Singapore AI ecosystem is unique in its ability to integrate government, academia and private enterprise efforts to advance technology adoption in AI. For example, GIC through its innovation labs, accelerates the use of innovative technologies and incubates new ideas, in collaboration with its business units, start-ups, research organisations, and universities. The new partnership between Element AI and GIC initiates a collaboration that will focus on the application of advanced machine learning techniques to challenging problems encountered by large asset managers. Together, they will undertake research on technology trends that can be implemented enterprise wide.
The partnership between Element AI and SGInnovate will prioritise the expansion of the deep tech talent pool in Singapore, and the development of the fast-growing technology startup ecosystem in ASEAN. Together, Element AI and SGInnovate will focus on the potential of AI-related startups to help corporations and governments address a variety of challenges. To this end, both parties will co-host a series of events and work alongside technical founders to create opportunities for startups to deploy, improve, and further scale AI solutions. This will be done, in part, through collaborations with the portfolio companies of SGInnovate as well as from the wider market.
Steve Leonard, Founding CEO of SGInnovate said, “Two years ago, SGInnovate was launched with a mission to help ‘scientist-entrepreneurs’ form, build, and scale deep tech startups. Given how hard it is to build a deep tech company, we know how important it is to work with great partners. Our new relationship with Element AI, one of the most exciting AI startups in the world, will help us to increase our impact as a deep tech investor and company builder. SGInnovate and Element AI will look to generate commercial opportunities for deep tech startups to build, deploy, improve, and scale AI-system solutions. Through the shared work of SGInnovate and Element AI, the deep tech startup ecosystem across ASEAN will also be given a boost.”
SMU is a dynamic city university located in the heart of Singapore, and focuses on the areas of Management, Social Sciences, and Computing (including AI), and their intersections. The university adopts an integrated research-teaching-learning-practice approach that creates positive impact on business, government, and society. The SMU School of Law was recently awarded a competitive grant of $4.5 million by the Singapore National Research Foundation to establish a first-of-its-kind Centre for AI and Data Governance (CAIDG), which they launched publicly in September 2018. Element AI and SMU School of Law will be embarking on a research collaboration in relevant areas on the governance of AI. Specifically, SMU will be responsible for carrying out the Singaporean and ASEAN aspects of research while Element AI will focus on the North American aspects as well as leverage its global researcher network. Together, all parties will share information, tools, and approaches in order to deliver issues and recommendation papers.
Associate Professor Goh Yihan, Dean of SMU School of Law and Initial Director of CAIDG, said, “In carrying out our research on AI Governance issues, we have emphasised the importance of reaching out to both academia and industry. This is especially true as we create meaningful impact in this fast-moving space, and why we are very excited about our collaboration with Element AI. This is certainly a wonderful partnership; I look forward to working together in identifying and researching relevant topics in the months ahead.”
About Element AI
Element AI delivers AI software products that augment decisions to make businesses safer, stronger, and more agile. Element AI is headquartered in Canada with offices in Montreal, Toronto, London, Singapore, and Seoul and is funded by leading investors including BDC Capital, Data Collective, Fidelity Investments Canada, Hanwha Investment, Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures, National Bank, NVIDIA GPU Ventures, Real Ventures, and Tencent. http://www.elementai.com
About SGInnovate
At SGInnovate, we believe that Singapore has all the resources and capabilities needed to tackle ‘hard problems’ that matter to people around the world. As part of our Deep Tech Nexus Strategy, we are focused on adding tangible value to the Singapore deep tech startup ecosystem in two key areas – development of Human Capital and deployment of Investment Capital. With the support of our partners and co-investors, we back deeply technical founders through equity-based investments, access to talent, and support in building customer traction. Our efforts are prioritised around transformational technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and MedTech, which represent impactful and scalable answers to global challenges. SGInnovate is a private-limited company wholly owned by the Singapore Government. For more information, please visit www.sginnovate.com
About Singapore Management University Law
Established in 2000, Singapore Management University (SMU) is recognised for its high-impact multi-disciplinary research that addresses Asian issues of global relevance, and for its innovations in experiential learning. With 10,000 students, SMU offers bachelors, masters and PhD degree programmes in Accountancy, Business, Economics, Information Systems, Law and Social Sciences, and executive development programmes. Through its city campus, SMU enjoys strategic linkages with business, government and the wider community in Singapore and beyond. www.smu.edu.sg
