SINGAPORE, Nov. 14, 2023 – CapitaLand Group (CapitaLand) has awarded 10 winners of its CapitaLand Sustainability X Challenge (CSXC) 2023 with up to S$1 million funding to testbed their innovations at selected CapitaLand properties worldwide, following their final pitches made at CSXC 2023 Demo Day. Four outstanding innovators, viAct, Healthway Family of Brands, Ralos Enterprise Corporation (Enamil LLC Japan) and Magorium have won the special recognition awards – High Impact Award, Most Innovative Award, Most Scalable Award, and Emerging Startup Award presented by Enterprise Singapore respectively, and they will each receive S$150,000 to fund their pilots.
viAct’s innovation is an AI-powered video analytics tool to provide granular insights that enhance safety, productivity and compliance with environmental standards at the workplace (AI-powered Video Analytics). Healthway Family of Brands uses a patented low-pressure drop filtration technology that replaces existing media filters to improve the performance and system-level filtration efficiency of existing air handling units while reducing energy load on fans’ motors (Disinfecting Filtration System). Ralos Enterprise Corporation’s (Enamil LLC Japan) lightweight flexible solar module is integrated with corrugated steel that can be installed horizontally or vertically as a building integrated photovoltaic (PV) or as a conventional solar PV (Corrugated Solar Roof). Magorium’s solution is a technology that converts contaminated and unsorted plastic waste into a sustainable construction material that can potentially be used for the construction of roads within CapitaLand’s business parks (Magorium). Six other innovations[1] on low carbon transition, water conservation and resilience, waste management and circular economy, and health, safety and wellness in buildings have also won S$75,000 each to fund their pilots.
The finalists with innovations from around the world were shortlisted from over 680 innovations and 79 countries for the third edition of CSXC, the first global sustainability innovation challenge by a Singapore-based real estate company. In line with CapitaLand’s efforts to foster innovation throughout the built environment, CSXC 2023 Demo Day was held in conjunction with the launch of the Built Environment Innovation Hub @ Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) Braddell Campus (BEIH). In addition, CapitaLand will explore collaboration opportunities with BCA on the potential piloting of other innovations from CSXC at its premises. Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for National Development was the Guest-of-Honour at the CSXC 2023 Demo Day.
Mr Vinamra Srivastava, Chief Sustainability Officer, CapitaLand Investment, said: “Innovation is a key driver in our decarbonisation journey as we work towards our 2030 sustainability targets. Through platforms such as CSXC and our S$50 million CapitaLand Innovation Fund, we aim to support innovators to scale and commercialise their technologies to create a climate-resilient built environment. This is the first time we are partnering our tenants to testbed innovations from CSXC at their premises. Through this collaboration, we hope to find practical solutions that can also help our tenants improve their sustainability performance. Together with our other initiatives such as implementing green leases, collaborating with our tenants on green initiatives and sharing of sustainability best practices, we aim to expand our focus on reducing our scope 3 emissions too. We will continue to tap on innovation and collaborate with like-minded partners to amplify our impact to create a more sustainable and resilient built environment.”
One of the innovations from CSXC 2022, SlideLuvre’s smart voltaic louvres, is being testbedded at BCA SkyLab, a state-of-the-art testbed facility in BCA Braddell Campus. The facility has a 360-degree rotatable platform that allows technologies to be tested under real-world conditions at different building orientations. The louvres reduce building energy dependency on external sources by generating solar energy and saves energy by reducing cooling needs.
Two innovations from CSXC 2021 that have completed their pilots at CapitaLand properties were part of the showcase of innovative technologies at the launch of BEIH. One such solution is CONTINEWM®, a patented ceramic net which acts as an infrared emitting filter that was testbedded at LogisTech in Singapore. During the pilot, it achieved up to 51% reduction in fan consumption and 16% reduction in cooling load for the two air handling units that were equipped with a total of 50 CONTINEWM® nets. Another CSXC innovation that was showcased is Climatec’s chemical-free and electricity-free cooling tower water treatment solution that improves water efficiency by significantly reducing blowdown. Testbedded at CapitaGreen in Singapore, the innovation achieved 99.8% reduction in cooling tower blowdown water, and up to 2.8% improvement in chiller plant efficiency.
CSXC has grown from strength to strength since its launch in November 2020. This year, CSXC received double the entries compared with CSXC 2022. Twenty projects from the first two CSXC are being piloted or preparing to pilot at 24 CapitaLand properties in Singapore, China, India, Thailand, and the USA. For the first time, sandbox partners such as DBS Bank, DFI Retail Group and KPMG in Singapore will potentially pilot the winning innovations from CSXC 2023 at their respective tenanted spaces in CapitaLand properties.
Besides supporting innovators from around the world through CSXC, CapitaLand also advocates innovation among its staff with a S$50 million Innovation Fund launched in 2021. To date, 62 innovations have been selected for further development and pilots, more than half of which are sustainability related.
