More than 30 members of SMU’s six International Advisory Councils (IAC) in China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam convened for the inaugural SMU IAC Asia Summit in Singapore on 16-17 August 2018.

Themed “ASEAN & China: Intelligent Integration and Sustainability”, the first day of the programme included a campus tour, and a visit to SMU Labs where Academic Director of SMU-X and Associate Professor of Accounting (Education) Associate Professor Gary Pan shared about SMU-X, a unique and innovative experiential learning framework where students tackle real-world opportunities by taking on projects from companies and community organisations.

Assoc Prof Gary Pan, Academic Director of SMU-X, explaining the finer points of SMU’s innovative SMU-X pedagogy to the IAC members.

SMU’s faculty then addressed the multiple challenges and opportunities facing our region through a series of compelling executive-style seminars. They were:

• ‘Thinking Smart’ by Professor Nirmalya Kumar, Lee Kong Chian Professor of Marketing, who explored smartness by combining economic, psychological and sociological perspectives in ways that we often overlook in our daily lives;
• ‘Building Smart and Sustainable Cities’ by Professor Steven Miller, Vice-Provost (Research) & Professor Information Systems (Practice), who examined how future “smartness” no longer involves only technology but the ability to synthesise solutions which integrates social, economic, business and environment considerations.
• ‘Sustainable Businesses’ by Professor Gerard George, Dean of Lee Kong Chian School of Business & Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, who explained how sustainable business models are intrinsically linked to ecological issues, but also have long-term competitive viability.
• ‘IT Innovation and The Law’ by Professor Pang Hwee Hwa, Dean of School of Information Systems & Professor of Information Systems and Associate Professor Goh Yihan, Dean of School of Law & Associate Professor of Law, who discussed how IT innovations may pose interesting legal questions for which there are no clear answers, and what businesses should be guided by under those circumstances.

Rounding off the programme for the day was a plenary discussion on ‘Asia’s Opportunities’, during which the panellists shared their views on the opportunities in Asia, including navigating the challenges of operating and growing businesses, particularly in Southeast Asia. Moderated by Professor Lily Kong, SMU Provost & Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences, the panel members were:

1.         Dr Beh Swan Gin, Chairman, Singapore Economic Development Board

2.         Mr Serge Pun, Chairman, Serge Pun & Associates (Myanmar) Ltd & Chair, IAC in Myanmar

3.         Mr Jaime Augusto Zóbel de Ayala, Chairman and CEO, Ayala Corporation & Chair, IAC in Philippines

4.         Mr Don Lam, CEO & Co-founder, VinaCapital & Chair, IAC in Vietnam

Mr Zobel de Ayala was recognised by The United Nations as one of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Pioneers in 2017, making him the first SDG Pioneer from the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Mr Zobel shared that he did not want to leave behind a company which is not relevant to the vast majority of his countrymen, hence he began to change the business model of Ayala Corporation and link it more formally to the development agenda of Philippines. On tri-sector collaboration, Mr Ayala opined that in the Philippines, the private sector generally has more resources – in terms of talent and capital - compared to the government and non-profit sectors. Hence, the private sector ought to share those resources and engage the other sectors constructively to solve their problems.

On the topic of sustainable investing, Mr Don Lam shared that the biggest challenge faced by VinaCapital when they engage investee companies on sustainability issues is that a typical business owner in Vietnam is more concerned with raising production and increasing profits in the short term, rather than how their business operations might have an impact on the environment. Therefore, much work still has to be done to raise the level of awareness among Vietnamese businesses on the importance of sustainability.

Mr Serge Pun debunked the notion that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an attempt by China to implement exploitative economics on other countries along the trade routes, saying that China’s goal for BRI is global leadership. He urged businesses to capitalise on the many opportunities presented by BRI because China is opening up its market and is determined to make BRI a success.

Dr Beh explained that the underlying reason why the ASEAN Smart Cities Network was proposed was to address the challenges and opportunities that come with the urbanisation of ASEAN. The projection over the next decade is that another 90 million people in ASEAN will urbanise. Urban centres are a major growth engine of this region, as in other countries. However, urbanisation brings with it various challenges, such as attenuated income divide, pollution, and scarcity of resources. Technology can provide solutions to some of these challenges. Hence, the hope is to bring together a network of cities with governments at the local and national level, who are committed to use technology to address some of the challenges of urbanisation. This initiative is a platform for ASEAN countries to share best practices, showcase initiatives by different cities, and also an opportunity to catalyse private sector technology providers to make such projects bankable.

SMU’s Honorary Patron and Distinguished Senior Fellow Dr Tony Tan (3^rd from left) presented tokens of appreciation to the panel discussants.

During the Q&A session, the panellists addressed a number of questions, including how to foster trust and cooperation with China, and how the second generation of business families might conduct their business in ASEAN. Dr Tony Tan, SMU’s Honorary Patron and Distinguished Senior Fellow, was the special guest for the panel and the summit dinner that followed. Participants were joined at the dinner by current and former SMU Board of Trustees.

Day two of the programme included a visit to YCH Group’s Supply Chain City, where members learned about the best practices of the supply chain industry. Dr Robert Yap, 2018 Chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council & Executive Chairman of YCH Group spoke on Smart Growth Connect, one of the key ASEAN-BAC projects which aims to deliver adaptable solutions that are relevant to the level of technological capability of ASEAN member states.

IAC members viewing a scale model of YCH Group’s Supply Chain City.

This was followed by a panel discussion by Dr Yap, Mr Haryanto Adikoesoemo, President Director, PT. AKR Corporindo Tbk, and Professor Locknie Hsu from SMU School of Law, on ‘Cross border trade and integration’. The session was moderated by Professor Shantanu Bhattacharya from SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business.

The participants also toured Supply Chain City, learning about features such as the Supply Chain and Logistics Innovation Playground, which showcased innovative technologies and disruptive solutions as applied to supply chain management. The visitors also witnessed Fusionaris® firsthand, YCH’s patented Automated Storage and Retrieval System, which is fully integrated with robotics such as autonomous forklifts and inventory counting drones.

[Featured photo: (L-R) SMU Provost Prof Lily Kong moderated the panel discussion on Asia’s Opportunities. The panellists were Mr Serge Pun, Chairman, Serge Pun & Associates (Myanmar) Ltd & Chair, IAC in Myanmar; Mr Jaime Augusto Zóbel de Ayala, Chairman and CEO, Ayala Corporation & Chair, IAC in Philippines; Mr Don Lam, CEO & Co-founder, VinaCapital & Chair, IAC in Vietnam; Dr Beh Swan Gin, Chairman, Singapore Economic Development Board.]