Fifteen companies descended into Singapore from all over the world to pitch their ideas to Oppo at the Oppo Inspiration Challenge Final Demo Event. The fifteen solutions were chosen from three prior events that were held in Boston, Bangkok and Shenzen. Oppo’s mission is “Technology for Mankind, Kindness for the World”, and some of the technologies pitched during the event certainly fits the tagline.
The fifteen companies have technologies ranging from health and audio-visual to environmental and even social sciences with hands-on displays on-site. The companies invited to Singapore were the top five winners from the previous three Oppo Inspiration Challenge events.
A total of 687 global proposals were received from 66 countries around the world, and the breakdown of types of proposals submitted is 59% for the “Inspiration for People” category and 41% for the “Inspiration for the Planet” category.
In Singapore, the fifteen teams went on stage to propose their proposals in front of a panel of judges as well as invited media from around the world to be selected as the top five winners who will be invited to work with Oppo for product development.
Four criteria are considered to choose the five winners – Market Feasibility (35%), Innovation and Originality (25%), Long-term Potential (25%) and Social Values (15%). Each of the criteria was weighed against each proposal with the final total being the score for each proposal.
The top fifteen finalist teams were invited to an Acceleration Camp, where the teams met with Oppo senior executives, technology and investment experts, as well as industry partners. The top forty-five teams were also invited to participate in an incubation fund for future potential product ideation and commercialization, with the funds totaling up to USD 190,000 (about RM 905,000).
After deliberation by the panel of judges, five teams were chosen as the winners of the 2023 Inspiration Challenge. They are:
- Bluepha – Eco-friendly Packaging solutions for Oppo smartphones (China)
- Aiverest – Contactless Health Monitoring Technology (China)
- Woola – Woola (Estonia)
- Skitelight – Next-gen displays with Perovskite MicroLED (China)
- Amma – Orbit (USA)
The five teams will be receiving the USD 50,000 (about RM 238,200) grant from Oppo who will be working with them to realise their proposals to be part of any future Oppo products and/or initiatives. They also will have the opportunity to further develop their ideas in collaboration with Oppo and its partners.
For the Media Choice Award where the media attending the Final Demo event voted for, the winners are:
- Flint – Flint paper battery (SIngapore)
- Backyard Creators – Impluse (Non-Surgical Hearing Aid) (India)
There is also a people’s choice award, where the top fifteen teams receive votes from the public via the official website. The winners are:
- Eyelight – 3D interactive platform (Israel)
- Flint – Flint paper battery (Singapore)
“We are extremely grateful for the collaborative support of our partners and to all the technology professionals and entrepreneurs who have taken part in this year’s OPPO Inspiration Challenge, especially the top five teams who truly demonstrated the incredible potential of innovative technology. Together, through the Inspiration Challenge, we look forward to working with these teams to bring the power of virtuous innovation to all corners of the world,” said Jason Liao, President of the Oppo Research Institute.
