Technology solutions for conserving water, managing waste, improving health and safety and accelerating the low-carbon transition are among the top 10 finalists of the CapitaLand Sustainability X Challenge (CSXC) 2023.
CapitaLand Group (CapitaLand) unveiled the top entries on Oct 12, selected from over 680 innovations from 79 countries. This is double the entries received from more than 50 countries for CSXC 2022.
The finalists will pitch to a panel of judges at CSXC 2023 Demo Day on Oct 26. They will vie for the opportunity to pilot their innovations and scale them at selected CapitaLand properties globally, and be awarded up to $75,000 each.
In addition, four special recognition award winners — Emerging Startup Award, presented by Enterprise Singapore; High Impact Award; Most Innovative Award; and Most Scalable Award — will receive an additional $75,000 each.
All the prizes received will go towards funding the costs of the pilots.
CSXC is the first global sustainability innovation challenge by a Singapore-based real estate company.
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CSXC 2023 Demo Day will be held at the Built Environment Innovation Hub @ Building and Construction Authority’s Braddell Campus (BEIH) in conjunction with BEIH’s launch.
The guest-of-honour for the event will be Indranee Rajah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for National Development.
Vinamra Srivastava, CapitaLand Investment’s chief sustainability officer, says innovation is embedded in CapitaLand’s culture. “Through CSXC, we aim to offer innovators the opportunity to test-bed their solutions across our diversified assets and scale them at our selected properties globally.”
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For this year’s CSXC, CapitaLand is collaborating with its tenants as sandbox partners for the first time. DBS Bank, DFI Retail Group D01 and KPMG in Singapore will potentially support the start-ups to run their pilots at their respective tenanted spaces in CapitaLand’s properties.
This year’s iteration sees CapitaLand stepping up its efforts to reduce Scope 3 carbon emissions by taking a two-pronged approach, says Srivastava, who was appointed CSO in July 2022. “[We are] partnering with our tenants to run the pilots at their premises, and broadening our CSXC challenge statements to seek innovations on reducing embodied carbon.”
He adds: “We are encouraged by the overwhelming response from innovators globally to our call for collective action. Together, we can make meaningful strides towards our decarbonisation goals and create a climate-resilient built environment.”
According to CapitaLand, 20 projects from the first two editions of CSXC are being piloted or preparing to pilot at 24 CapitaLand properties in Singapore, China, India, Thailand and the US.
Among them is an intelligent water leakage management solution that utilises Internet-of-Things technology and high-precision sonic sensors by South Korean start-up WI.Plat.
The solution, which is being testbedded at CQ @ Clarke Quay in Singapore, has detected a sprinkler pipe leakage, enabling the pipe to be promptly repaired.
The top 10 innovations, categorised by CSXC’s challenge statements, are:
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Low carbon transition
- AI Chiller Plant Optimiz.: A chiller plant and air side heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) optimisation solution that integrates seamlessly with the building management systems and utilises artificial intelligence (AI) for energy optimisation and predictive fault diagnostics
- Carbon Mineralization Concrete Tech: A carbon dioxide mineralised concrete technology that creates low-carbon green building materials with carbon dioxide captured and stored in concrete during its manufacturing process
- Corrugated Solar Roof: A lightweight flexible solar module integrated with corrugated steel that can be installed horizontally or vertically as a building integrated photovoltaic (PV) or as a conventional solar PV
- Refleshine Novel Heat-Reflecting Film: A clear and low absorption film that reflects solar heat, improves thermal insulation and can be installed on any smooth facade window or glass surface, minimising energy consumption
- Solar Hybrid Air-con: An air-conditioner that runs directly on solar power on a sunny day and integrates both solar and grid energy on a rainy day, thus reducing grid energy consumption
Water conservation and resilience
- Auto Sprinkler Test - CP52: An automated sprinkler system flow-switch test that can be activated with just a key, reducing manpower required and energy and water usage
- Nano-crystal Reverse Scaling Technology: A nano-crystal reverse scaling technology that solves scaling and wastewater challenges in central air-conditioning system cooling towers, effectively reducing water discharge and cooling water usage.
Waste management and circular economy
- Magorium: 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
Health, safety and wellness in buildings
- AI-powered Video Analytics: An AI-powered video analytics tool to provide granular insights that enhance safety, productivity and compliance with environmental standards at the workplace
- Disinfecting Filtration System: 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
