The Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC 2018, organized by SingEx Exhibitions with Deutsche Messe as international partner, kicked off in Singapore on Tuesday.
The three-day event, labeled as Asia-Pacific's leading trade event for Industry 4.0 by its organizer, is expected to welcome more than 10,000 attendees from over 30 countries and regions.
Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said at the opening ceremony that collaboration between nations and industries is needed to harness the full potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0.
He added that it is also necessary to create high-quality jobs outside the manufacturing industry so as to ensure a job-rich future, with quality jobs in every sector of the economy.
More than 260 companies from 22 countries and areas will showcase their Industry 4.0-related products, technologies and solutions across a space of 20,000 square meters at the event.
Joseph Huang, marketing director of Zhejiang Keyway Lighting and Appliances, told Xinhua that the company's products are targeting at the specific market niche that has higher requirements on buttons and signal lights, which will not change for Industry 4.0 and even for future's industrial revolutions.
He said the event is a professional platform that gives the company access to the big Southeast Asian market. "I have met several visitors from Singapore, Vietnam and Philippines since this morning, and they all expressed intention to be our local distributors," Huang added.
Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDB) launched the Index Partners Network to help manufacturers accelerate the execution of their Industry 4.0 initiatives through building a community of technology, financing, talent development and training partners.
Also at the event, the Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), the National University of Singapore, the Nanyang Technological University, the Singapore Institute of Technology and three leading pharmaceutical companies, which are GlaxoSmithKline, MSD International and Pfize, jointly signed a 34-million-Singapore dollar (24.72-million-U.S. dollar) consortium agreement to transform the local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.
Besides, on the sideline of the event, Enterprise Singapore, EDB and German Accelerator Southeast Asia signed a Memorandum of Understanding to boost startup collaboration between Singapore and Germany.
