“We shouldn’t regulate technology too much, it will drown out innovation” – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

At a “Shaping our Digital Future” panel at the Singapore FinTech Festival, Chia Song Hwee, Temas International’s deputy director, touched on an unusual topic: the field of ethics and governance for innovation.

He talked about this while Temas shared his views on technology and digitalization trends. This is because technology-enabled inflections are shaking up the industry faster than ever (accelerating Covid-19s) and government and innovation are often at a crossroads in this rapidly changing environment.

“As you know, with the use of decentralized and autonomous technology, if you are not careful, it can cause a lot of problems (without regulation),” Chia said.

“So that’s the knee reaction, well, let’s regulate. I believe more: regulation is proper, but we don’t have to regulate technology too much. That will drown out innovation. It’s a balance. I think if a company does more to build trust, then “But if we don’t behave, then we deserve more regulation,” Chia said.

Chia added that he “personally believes” that there should be no more new laws to address the consequences of the evolution of technology. “Some of the implementation and application of laws and regulations should be refreshed and updated, for example, because the issues of competition 20 years ago are quite different today. But the principles do not change … The spirit is the same.”

“But I also emphasize that we need to be careful as we develop solutions and services. It is our responsibility to make sure that we are safe, that we are protecting the property of others, ”he added.

“A huge opportunity” with Web 3.0 and digitization

In the panel, Chia delved into how digitalization is very important in the direction of Temasek’s investment given its disruptive aspects. “We believe that the technology brought about by digitalisation has a very wide impact on sectors, countries and geographies.”

“On the one hand, it can provide a lot of investment opportunities. but on the other hand, it can disrupt many of the businesses we have today. So it’s important for Temasek to take this seriously in terms of what we want to expand our capital going forward, and to help our portfolio companies navigate change as well, ”he said.

“Web 3.0 is, in our view, a very important element of digitization,” Chiak said. “Web 3.0 is a very powerful evolution. Compared to Internet 2.0, it is smarter, more autonomous and more open. ”

“We believe that these elements are very difficult to stop due to their nature and design. So it is a very fertile ground for innovation, new business and value creation. So I think it’s a great opportunity. “

Don’t be afraid of change, be afraid of not being important

Staying in the comfort zone and not taking on new things is something that doesn’t sit well with Temasek, according to Chia.

Chia said adapting to the changes is “something we talk a lot about within Temasek”.

“What we’re afraid of is that we stop changing, we stop taking on new things. Because we believe that if we do that and we are satisfied, then we will not be important in the future. “

“So change is hard for anyone, but we have to learn how to deal with change, because it will come to you even if you try to avoid it. So we try to make small changes in the steps, experiment, create riders and slowly build trust. ”

One thing that keeps Temasek’s top management awake at night is that “our portfolio will continue to be important in the future and is proof of the future”. So over the last decade, we’ve been reshaping our portfolio. ”

Chia says Temasek’s portfolio has undergone significant changes in its underlying assets.

For example, the company’s financial services sector portfolio stated at the end of last year that it was 34% of the portfolio’s value. “10 years ago, more than 90 percent of our assets were in banks, traditional banks. Today, more than half are in FinTech and payment companies. It’s very, very different.”

“In terms of our technology, media and telecommunications segment: 10 years ago, the portfolio was made up of 90 percent of telecoms. Today, more than half are in digital technology-enabled businesses such as e-commerce, social commerce, etc. Many of the bottom lines are have been transformed, and the evolution of a more digital economy continues.

Digitalization is one of the main trends identified by Temasek as a guideline for its investment approach. The other three main trends identified by the company are longer lives, sustainable lifestyles and the future of consumption.

Dirty hands

In 2018, Temasek created two portfolios: AI and blockchain. Tasks include building skills in the face of talent, like engineers.

Chia shared that Temas knew that horizontal technologies, such as AI and blockchain, are so powerful and so widespread that they cannot be covered by a single market or sector, which reshaped the way they work.

“Because it is horizontal and structured, we think we will miss a lot of opportunities. Furthermore, we believe that the value of investing in the actors of this technology will be much lower than those opportunities where the technology is applied in business situations, ”Chiak explained.

“Because of these two understandings or hypotheses, we thought we needed to learn technology ourselves. We have to get our hands dirty, ”he said.

“With these skills (building a talent base) we can work with our portfolio companies or partners on use cases to unlock value or create value. They also have a mandate to build new businesses through venture building and also to enable initial investments to build a network or ecosystem so that we know what is going on in the world. ”

The reshaping of the strategy has helped Temas build its capabilities and adopt a “lightweight methodology” for working, a term well known in the tech world.

“It’s been two years, but a lot of things have really happened in the last year and a half,” Chiak said.

In the field of AI, Temasek has created a company called Aicadium. Chia mentioned the latest national AI program, NovA! the project, and said that Acadium, together with local banks, is working to create a utility platform that will meet the challenges of the financial services sector. This can lead to solutions, such as tools for monitoring banks ’exposure to loans.

Partior’s other effort, Temas ’venture with DBS and JPMorgan, is building a network for cross-border digital payment settlements. It is currently in the process of joining other banks and intends to transfer digital funds or facilitate settlements in the future.

“I wouldn’t call all of these a success, but they are early signs of early results. and they’ve been pretty gratifying, ”he said.

Skills and jobs do not match, other issues caused by technology disruptions

The pandemic has driven the need for Internet services, and it seems almost unthinkable now to imagine a world without food delivery and e-commerce.

“Without the internet. without e-commerce, without delivering our food without the push of a button, how could we live from a pandemic or a time of blockade. Therefore, we can all understand the importance and impact that technology can bring to us. But like I said, technology can cause a lot of disruptions, ”Chia said.

“According to some reports, including Wealth, more than 85 million jobs will be relocated between now and 2025. So that’s a big problem. However, more than 100 million jobs will be created. It’s so exciting, ”he said.

“The problem is that there will be a mismatch between skill sets and needs. So it is up to all of us, individuals, businesses and the public sector, to address this problem of skills gap in terms of recycling and recycling our existing resources. ”

Chia rejoiced that Temasek’s portfolio companies are already on the path to digital digitization and are facing change. For example, he mentioned traditional banks, and as a result, many are closing branches, but ATMs are expanding into new parts of the business.

“So this can be done with planning, with deliberate effort. With the support of the government. We can handle this transition much better, ”he said.

Another problem brought about by this shift in digitalization is cybersecurity threats. He said cyberattacks have risen six times in the pandemic, compared to previous Covid-19 times.

“Companies can’t deal with the threat. It’s moving too fast, it’s very complex, and it can’t be managed by a single company. So an intelligent approach that can have better results is collaboration, how we can all come together and work to defend ourselves.”

No magic wand for climate change

On the hot topic of climate change, Chia said a collective effort is needed. “Governments, businesses and individuals need to be involved. No single country or company can do that alone. We can only act collectively. ”

“At Temasek we are committed to our zero goal of 2025 and by 2030 we will make half of our mark. The goal is very challenging for us, but we believe we will be able to accomplish that. Many companies in our portfolio have made the same commitment to this. ”

“We would reach the goal of a zero net sooner if we decided to sell our stake in the polluting assets we have today. But we don’t believe that money should be passed on to another owner, we believe we work with our portfolio companies and help them be greener,” Chia said.

The Deputy Director shared three ways in which Temasek could sustain its green goals.

“First, every time we are investing now, we need to align with our climate goals to continue reducing our portfolio emissions. Second, we need to invest in businesses that will have a positive impact on carbon emissions, such as a natural solution based on carbon capture or carbon capture. “These are the ones we want to introduce and invest in new technologies so that we can bring this to market.”

“We need to help the carbon tax and the carbon trader, especially the cross-border one, how the overall system works. We may not be producing carbon as a country, but we may be buying things for our own benefit and another country is suffering the consequences. ”

“If we don’t work together, there are a lot of things we can’t achieve, such as industry potential 4.0, Web 3.0 and the climate change agenda. If we don’t work together, we will be far behind in terms of what all this can give us. ”

Featured Image Credit: Getty Images, Reuters