Tech for Good: Dialogues in London

Last month, we saw a continuation of our Tech for Good series in the London Tech Week fringe event. Moderated by Kenneth Ler, Regional Director at Economic Development Board, we had a robust conversation centred on the focus on how AI is transforming manufacturing and supply chains with our key panellists: Jeegar Kakkad, Director at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change; Cedrik Hoffmann, Co-founder & CEO of Ameba; Leander Fernandes, Founder of IdeaBunny. 

Our attendees at the Tech for Good dialogue on Accelerating Manufacturing Innovation

AI has been a buzzword lately, and with the new global AI arms race intensifying, it presents a significant opportunity for Southeast Asia to position itself strategically in the long run. Data centres have sprouted across the region, attracting more than US$30 billion in investments, as well as an additional US$50 billion across their manufacturing sectors, including automotive, semiconductors, precision engineering, and healthcare. Having the infrastructure in place enables accelerated computing, advanced AI services, and data growth, thereby creating more opportunities in the manufacturing and supply chain sectors. 

AI fundamentally relies on data, and it applies across the board, whether from a design perspective, a supplier perspective, or even from the manufacturing assembly line. But data can be messy, overwhelming and often scarce.

Cedrik Hoffmann underscores that AI should be a solution-oriented tool, providing an example of how communications can be enhanced in the production process of the textile and manufacturing sector. 

Deploying AI to clean up and combine the existing database can easily draw actionable insights that can be mitigated by the buying and production teams. 

Leander Fernandes shares how AI has streamlined the manufacturing and operations process at Ideabunny, eliminating the need to build from scratch and instead building upon existing infrastructure. Notably, one of the huge benefits was economising by highlighting areas with potential savings. 

But more than just semantics, explainability, and decentralising AI, it is crucial to have a strong ecosystem for AI startups and businesses to thrive. While both attracting great talent and securing global finance are important, Jeegar Kakkad emphasises the power of procurement. By doing it slightly differently, companies can provide themselves with an opportunity to demonstrate their skill sets, learn about themselves, iterate, and improve their products.  

Jeegar Kakkad shares his expertise

If you would like to add to this discussion, please connect with us on LinkedIn. Keep an eye out for future events as we continue to shape dialogues across different cities.