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PALO IT and the World Economic Forum are inviting the local Singaporean ecosystem and community to join the chapter and create more impact locally
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PALO IT is a member of the World Economic Forum New Champions’ community and the New Champions Local Chapters are part of the World Economic Forum New Champions’ program
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The local chapter aims to impart global learnings from the World Economic Forum’s ‘Future Readiness of SME research to create a local ecosystem and extend impact for SMEs by working on ‘Tech for Good’ initiatives
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The founding members of the chapter includes Chemistry, City Developments Limited, EDPR Sunseap APAC, Unravel Carbon and Zuellig Pharma.
Singapore, 6 July 2022 – Small Medium Enterprises (SME) represent around 90% of all firms globally, and, by some estimates1, contribute to up to 70% of employment and global GDP. These businesses are shaping the nature of growth, innovation, and sustainability in our global, regional, and local economies.
As a core member of the World Economic Forum New Champions community, which comprises a group of innovative and forward looking mid-sized companies, PALO IT is taking the lead to launch the inaugural New Champions Local Chapter for Singapore. The Singapore chapter is the first in Asia and the world’s second local chapter after South Africa’s launch in June 2022.
The chapter aims to strengthen SMEs’ future-readiness by helping them access global knowledge and use technology to mitigate global concerns that impact their businesses - ranging from digitisation, to environment, social and governance (ESG), including sustainability.
"SMEs are the backbone of Singapore’s economic landscape. Together with our founding partners, this launch further affirms our collective commitment to enrich the SME ecosystem. We will be developing an open-sourced framework to help SMEs better harness technology in a responsible, impactful and sustainable manner. With a variety of expertise among chapter members, there will be near-term opportunities to work on synergistic pilot projects across various sectors,” said Vincent Desclaux, Managing Director, PALO IT Singapore.
Joining the local chapter are Chemistry, City Developments Limited, EDPR Sunseap APAC, Unravel Carbon and Zuellig Pharma.
“We are thrilled to work with incredibly inspiring New Champions’ members who are helping us to extend the impact we can have on SMEs globaly. By creating another Local Chapter for our growing community and sharing knowledge and expertise, we believe we will greatly extend our support to other inspiring companies” said Julia Devos, Head of the New Champions global community, World Economic Forum.
The Local Chapter of the New Champions community is set to expand in membership this year with near-term activations and opportunities in the furture that will harness diverse expertise as well as accelerate digitalisation and ESG initiatives across sectors.
About PALO IT
PALO IT is a global innovation consultancy and Agile software development company dedicated to helping organisations embrace technology as a force for good. They work with clients to rapidly launch products and services, create new business models, and prepare leadership and culture for the future. They are a community of innovators, designers and technologists across 11 offices and five continents (France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Mexico and Colombia), with new offices opening in the United States and Spain in 2022.
About World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation committed to changing the state of the world. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests. The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change. Please visit https://www.weforum.org/about/new-champions for more information for the New Champions Community.
About Chemistry
Chemistry is a worker-owned, B-Corp Certified, strategic design consultancy based in Singapore and Amsterdam. Bringing together a diverse and multi-talented team of innovators, we apply Design Thinking, Systems Thinking, Future Thinking, and the Circular Economy in order to put people and the planet at the centre of our work. Chemistry strives to tackle the world's challenges where there is no singular client or user, believing in the importance of problem-scoping at the systemic level, building new value chains, consortia, and ecosystems to solve our biggest socio-economic challenges.
About City Developments Limited
City Developments Limited (CDL) is a leading global real estate company with a network spanning 104 locations in 29 countries and regions. Listed on the Singapore Exchange, the Group is one of the largest companies by market capitalisation. Its income-stable and geographically diverse portfolio comprises residences, offices, hotels, serviced apartments, retail malls and integrated developments.
About EDPR Sunseap APAC
EDPR Sunseap APAC is a solar energy system developer, owner, and operator in Singapore, with a pipeline of close to 10 GWac of solar energy projects across Asia. Its solar energy systems can be found on more than 3,000 buildings in Singapore, including public housing estates, as well as commercial and industrial buildings. EDPR Sunseap also operates in various territories across the Asia Pacific, including Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea. EDPR Sunseap is part of EDP Renewables (Euronext: EDPR), a global leader in the renewable energy sector and one of the world's largest renewable energy producers.
About Unravel Carbon
Unravel Carbon is an enterprise software that helps companies track and reduce their carbon emissions, focusing on Asia, based in Singapore. It is the first AI-powered decarbonization platform in Asia that converts any company’s accounting data into full supply chain carbon data in seconds, provides detailed emission analytics and generates relevant climate solutions automatically.
About Zuellig Pharma
Zuellig Pharma is one of the largest healthcare services groups in Asia and our purpose is to make healthcare more accessible. We provide world class distribution, digital and commercial services to support the growing healthcare needs in this region. The company was started a hundred years ago and has grown to become a US$14 billion business covering 13 markets with over 13,000 employees. Our people serve over 350,000 medical facilities and work with over 500 clients, including the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world. Zuellig Pharma has been awarded EcoVadis Platinum certification – the highest accolade EcoVadis provides, which positions Zuellig Pharma within the top 1% of our industry with regards to our impact on Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Joshua Kwah
PALO IT Singapore
jkwah@palo-it.com
Michelle Koh
PALO IT Singapore
mkoh@palo-it.com
