[Event] [Singapore] Techventure 2011 To Introduce Techventure Asiasons Innovation Awards

Techventure 2011 – one of Asia’s topmost events for the venture capital community to engage with the latest technology entrepreneurs organized by Asiasons WFG and presented by National Research Foundation (NRF) and Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCA) – will celebrate its 15th year on October 13 and 14. The event will also see the introduction of the inaugural Techventure Asiasons Innovation Awards this year.

With the theme “The New Age of Asian Innovation”, Techventure 2011 will be featuring a prominent host of speakers that includes Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, Group CEO of regional telecoms giant SingTel Ms. Chua Sock Koong,  Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, amongst others. Topics covered in the panel discussions and closed door sessions will revolve around innovations in Asia, a look at merger and acquisition deals in Asia, as well as clean and green technologies. At least 500 delegates, comprising of high net worth individuals, corporate leaders, private equity investors, venture capitalists, representatives from sovereign wealth funds as well as technology entrepreneurs, is expected to attend.

Southeast Asia – “The Next Space To Watch For Technopreneurs”

Techventure 2011 will also hold an exhibition to show some of Singapore’s hottest new start ups to give visiting delegates – of which over 30-percent will come from overseas – a taste of the local technology scene.

“Increasingly, attention is shifting from established western markets to our part of the world, and we believe Asia will increasingly drive venture capital and private equity activities in the future. Asia is well known as the current region of growth, with rising inflow of funds and investments,” says Eugene Wong, chairman of SVCA. “This year’s Techventure conference aims to capitalize on the wealth of promising talent, innovations and technologies in Asia, which are waiting to be discovered by venture capitalists and private equity players from around the globe.”

Founder and managing director of Asiasons Capital, Jared Lim, agrees. “Southeast Asia is becoming the flavor (of venture capitalists and private equity firms) for the next few years,” he says. “It’s the next space to watch.” One of the key reasons, adds Edgar Hardless, managing director of SingTel Innov8 which is a Techventure 2011 partner, is because the “next billion Internet users will come from this part of the world”. “And that’s definitely drawing the attention of these players,” he says.

Techventure Asiasons Innovation Awards

The new element of the event this year is the Techventure Asiasons Innovation Awards, which aims to honor and recognize excellence in innovation and technopreneurship among promising start-ups. There will be a total of five award categories:

a. Most Disruptive Innovation – Game-changing innovation that will make competitors obsolete

b. Best of show – Most captivating exhibitor in Techventure Exhibition

c. Most Eco-Friendly Start-up – Start-up with the most green consciousness

d. Coolest Innovation – Product with the greatest potential to ‘wow’ the market

e. Rising Star Innovator – Technopreneur with skills and business acumen to be the next big thing

Winners of these categories will not only get due recognition, but will also get the opportunity to be mentored directly by a panel of successful entrepreneurs and innovators, including co-founder of Facebook Eduardo Saverin, Asiasons Capital‘s Jared Lim as well as founder and CEO of Brandtology Eddie Chau, who was just announced as the newly elected chairman of Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF).

“We understand the important role innovation plays in a company’s growth, says Mohammed Azlan Hashim, chairman of Asiasons WFG. “This year (the addition of Techventure Asiasons Innovation Awards to) honor and encourage local technopreneurs, will hopefully serve as another step towards Singapore’s vision of being the Innovation Hub of Asia.”

Interested local technology startups can contact Anna Zhang at e-mail address: annazhang@techventure.com.sg or call 65-6226 3771 for submission details.

Accelerate@Techventure 2011

Another key highlight of the conference will be Accelerate@Techventure 2011, organized by SingTel Innovation Exchang (SiX) and SingTel Innov8, to showcase pivotal technologies that will change enterprises and developer’s businesses in the near future. Industry leaders will provide insight on Machine-to-Machine (“M2M”), Near Field Communications (“NFC”), Mobile Advertising and Mobile Gaming, to provoke thinking of how these technologies can be leveraged to create business advantages.

Accelerate@Techventure 2011 will again feature its popular ‘Asia’s Top 50 Apps’ contest that allows industry peers to nominate and vote for the top web and mobile applications for the year.

A rousing success last year, the competition garnered over 200 nominations with familiar local names like Shownearby and buUuk taking home the honors.