RISE 2016 report

RISE Conference

31 May - 2 Jun@Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition center

RISERISE is the first startups conference in Asia organised by Web Summit. RISE aims to build a meeting place for startups from the East and the West so the leaders of these enterprises can congregate and demonstrate how their companies are changing the way we live.

Stages

Day1 : Center stage / Machine stage / Enterprise stage / Pitch stage

Day2 : Center stage / Marketing stage / Startup university / Pitch stage

Day3 : Center stage / Builders stage / Startup university / Breakthrough stage

Format

Perfectly executed TED style presentation

Journalist facilitating the natural discussion

Startup pitching to investors

Trends and topics

E-commerce, FinTech, Artificial intelligence, IoT, Drones, Robotics, On-demand economy, AR/VR, Security and hacking, Tech ethics, Cloud computing, Media and entertainment, Travel, Transportation, Localization, Immersive markets, Data analytics, Advertising, Brand, Asian markets

Key takeaways

1. AI and Robotics solving real problems2. Growth and expansion of on-demand economy3. Changing needs in China4. Entrepreneurship and innovation

1. AI and robotics solving real problems

People have reflected their expectation to AI and robots (in very science fiction way)

Robots in 2000s were either reflecting human’s dream or bragging their technology (or both)

Now AI and robotics are being applied to solve real world problems such as education inequality, aging of population, energy distribution etc. Ability to see (visual recognition) is the key technology to solve these problems.

New generation robots are evolving. It is possible to embed intelligence to 240g hover camera and it is ready for production to be used by customers

“In Chinese, robot is 机器人(Humanoid) but this is a really bad translation. Robots don’t have to be look like human.

Definition of robot to me is machine that have sensors, self-learn, act autonomously and interact with environment.”

- MQ Wang

This robot watches forests and detects fire. We only need 24 of them to cover whole Hong Kong area. It self-learns, and acts properly according to the situation

This year’s pitch winner is MedExo, the company that develops an “Ironman arm for Parkinson disease patients”

Summary

● Perception of AI and Robots are shifting from fantasy (e.g. humanoid) to real world problem-solver

● Visual recognition is a key technology to AI and machine learning (deep learning) improvement is accelerating its performance

● AI and Robotics are being applied to customer/industrial products and they are ready to break markets

2. Growth and expansion of on-demand economy

“The on-demand economy (also known as access economy or shared economy) is a business model in which companies fulfil consumer demand on the basis of immediate access to goods and services.

Basically, the whole concept of on-demand economy is based on the idea that access is better than ownership. You just rent a thing temporarily rather than buy it permanently because it’s inexpensive and convenient. “

http://bit.ly/1O9RgUx

Deliveroo

They have 3 main stakeholders - Customers, restaurants, drivers.

Simplicity & RelevanceThere are 3 different apps for each stakeholders to give them less information

TechnologyThey are using cutting-edgy algorithm to deliver foods quickly

EngagementHow to make drivers more loyal - Paying more is short-term strategy. Building community is a key. Deliveroo is sponsoring cycling community in Europe.

Expanding businessWhen they started business in France, French friends said “Because we love cooking and there are no delivery culture, the business will not go well”, but it turned out they are lazy as other people and they love the service.

Foodpanda

They tested their service in Singapore first, and expanded to Asian market and the world. Now it serves for 30 countries/regions

LocalizationSame marketing strategy, but execution has to be different. E.g. Delivery by bike in Russia is illegal. Russians don’t like Panda because it’s a symbol of communism

Mobile usePeople tend to use Desktop for lunch and Mobile for dinner. Also Asian consumers use Mobile a lot more.

Knowing markets deeperTheir next step is consolidation. They will go deeper and wider to know each market and will work on user segmentation and qualitative research

Wantedly

Offers social recruiting service and helps matching companies and job-seekers

ServiceIf job-seeker likes a certain company’s post, they can apply for ‘Office visit’ before proceeding interviews or actively looking for a job. (Only 6% of Japanese changes job)

TechnologyHalf of employees are engineers and designers. We use matching algorithm.

MarketSocial recruiting is not Japanese thing, they found needs from companies and job-seekers and they believe this can be applied to other markets. They have an office in London.

Summary

● Customer needs to on-demand service are similar in many markets and it is an opportunity to expand markets. However, there are legal/cultural differences so execution should be differentiated in each markets.

● Excellence in technology is a key to offer better experiences● Knowing different needs of multiple client segments and building proper

business model are important to success of the business

3. Changing needs in China

Tourism is an extremely fragmented market. Main businesses are 1. Flights 2. Hotel 3. Local tourism. Tech is going to disrupt 3. local tourism (ticketing, offering guides)

3 trends of Chinese tourists1. They are seeking for activities and

experience instead of products/goods2. Less than 7% are outbound travellers.

They have huge potential3. 2nd/3rd times travellers

Possibility of VRIt can be used for those who doesn’t travel. It will be proven in 5-10 years.

Red (小红书)

Red is targeting young people who were born in 90s. They are shopping globally, they value experiences and service quality, and it is part of their lifestyle.

ServiceE-commerce + Social. You can ask people about purchase experience. Red is offering great delivery experience and built their brand successfully. Now they have 17mil users and people are buying from Red even if it is more expensive than other shops.

“We have new generation users”

Summary

● Traditional travel business is going to shrink and tech is going to disrupt local tourism.

● (Especially younger) Chinese consumers are getting sophisticated and ready to spend more money for better quality and experience.

4. Entrepreneurship and innovation

There are many obstacles to do startups such as rent, lack of talent, scalability, economic situation etc.

However, successful founders don’t agree. They think Hong Kong is one of the most global city and they can find lots of great talents, and it is great time that many talents are coming to startups, not investment banks.

“It is easy to survive. The important thing is creating meaningful business.”

Hong Kong is great place to make hardwares. Shenzhen has a wonderful infrastructure to make things.

Florian from Berlin : In Berlin, he could select only one kind of vibration motor in ebay and it takes 2 weeks shipping from USA. But when he went to Shenzhen, one old lady showed 90 types of vibration motors.

It is difficult to meet people’s expectation and they are testing and interview many people from prototyping phase.

Professional organizer ‘Konmari’

She suggest ‘Konmari method’ to organize things. Her book ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ were sold 6mil copies in all around world.

She is starting a ‘Konmari consultant certification course’ and launching app to help those who want to organize things.

Tinder VP Ankur Jain

Did Tinder change love to simple swipe? No, Tinder modeled exact human behavior and seamlessly integrated it to tech

Did people lose human touch because of Tinder?No, Tinder is the biggest online solution that make people really meet offline

Pure innovation rarely happens in Silicon Valley. Facebook is not the first SNS, iPhone is not the first touch device. Everything is about re-thinking

Importance of young entrepreneursHe invests a lot to young innovators. They don’t know what’s now to ask and those questions bring innovation.

He was doing a project with P&G, and one young fresh mind asked him, “Why are we building toothbrush?”-> Actually, toothbrushes are 2000 years old way from Egypt and there are better ways for oral hygiene

Summary

● HK startups are having lots of obstacles such as high rents, small population, bad economy etc. but successful startups are using those conditions as opportunities

● Business chances come from rethinking existing solutions, and remodeling existing human behaviour. We must keep asking “Why?” for innovation

Others

“60 million smart toilet have been sold. What if they are all hacked and hackers set the maximum water pressure?”

“VR/AR is going to disrupt existing media and entertainment. Especially sports, religion and 5 letter word starting with P.”

“Board’s role is setting strategy and direction of the company. It sounds easy, but it can totally ruin the business, like Kodak.”

“FinTech has huge potential. We are just waiting Chinese government publish clear regulations”

“My biggest regret was that I invested to the app that has many features. It looked good at the time, we could do this, we could do that...But it was a total failure. Simplicity is the most important thing.”

Opportunities as an UXer

● Industrial design -> Digital design -> Everything design● Knowing technology well and integrating it into service● Having in-depth knowledge of different markets - Especially China● Asking questions and making innovative ideas happen

Thank yousoyeon.lee@digitaslbi.com