Sustainability with a Capita S at CapitaLand, Crowns First Winners of the Sustainability X Challenge
In a move that may help to encourage innovative methods to create sustainability, CapitaLand has set up a S$50 million CapitaLand Innovation Fund to support the testbedding of sustainability and other high-tech innovations in the built environment space as the Group steps up its sustainability drive.
Announced by Mr Lee Chee Koon, CapitaLand’s Group Chief Executive Officer, at the Grand Finale of the inaugural CapitaLand Sustainability X Challenge (CSXC), the move is the Group’s effort to encourage more innovation in the built environment space with a strong focus on sustainability. This will be a commitment that will be carried out for the five years.
The Grand Finale of the inaugural CSXC was also where the top two winners of the CSXC were crowned. The ‘High Impact Award’ went to INOVUES, INC, while the ‘Most Innovative Award’ went to Climatec Corp Pte Ltd. They were amongst six finalists that were shortlisted from over 270 entries received from more than 25 countries.
INOVUES, INC’s innovation focuses on an insulating glass retrofit technology that reduces heat gain inside a building, reducing the energy consumption used to heat or cool the building by up to 40%. Climatec Corp Pte Ltd’s innovation is a water treatment process utilising photon vibration frequency technology to treat cooling tower water without the use of chemicals or power, achieving 60% to over 90% water savings and 1% to over 5% energy savings. Both winners of the CSXC will receive S$50,000 each to fund their pilot projects with CapitaLand.
“Research and innovation leading to commercialisation is a space where public and private sectors must collaborate. Research can be long-dated and involves high risk. Governments must support and fund it,” says Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment of Singapore and Guest-of-Honour at the CSXC Grand Finale. “Innovation and commercialisation of products of research require entrepreneurial acumen and nimble responses. This is where many enterprises have strengths. Initiatives such as the CapitaLand Sustainability X Challenge help to uncover unique solutions that may offer the right competitive edge. It also gives innovators an opportunity to testbed and refine their ideas, which can eventually be scaled up to benefit businesses, consumers and our environment.”
“Innovation is key to CapitaLand’s business and culture as we seek to deliver sustainable value to our stakeholders,” Mr Lee Chee Koon, CapitaLand’s Group Chief Executive Officer shares. “The CapitaLand Innovation Fund will enable us to catalyse more innovations, accelerate our global sustainability efforts and ensure that we remain at the forefront of technology in the built environment space. The inaugural CapitaLand Sustainability X Challenge has allowed us to uncover promising innovations that we can potentially implement at our properties across the globe and help us achieve our ambitious targets set out in our 2030 Sustainability Master Plan. Through CapitaLand’s global network, we aim to bring more innovators and leading industry players together to advance innovation and build a more sustainable planet.”
