Live events hosted in Singapore and selected cities around the world will complement round-the-clock content streaming and a virtual marketplace.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Enterprise Singapore announced that the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) x Singapore Week of Innovation & TeCHnology (SWITCH) will expand to become the world’s first week-long round-the-clock, hybrid event. Running from 7 to 11 December 2020, participants will be able attend in person at key physical locations around the world, or connect via an 'online city' platform.
SFF x SWITCH 2020 will feature a hybrid experience knitting together an online city with various physical locations around the world, centred on business activities to boost sales cycles, discover partnerships and generate investments.
The online city will provide each exhibitor with a digital location where they can share and engage with participants, as well as schedule 1-1 meetings. Participants will have access to networking opportunities throughout the day covering all time zones.
Meanwhile, physical events hosted by a network of partners in selected cities around the world will provide access to exclusive events and closed-door roundtable discussions.
Participants will get round-the-clock ‘live’ streams of curated content and will also be able to view sessions taking place in the physical cities. During ‘Golden Hours’ (the overlap in business hours across different time zones), participants will see keynote speakers from different regions coming together to share their perspectives on topics such as Financial inclusion, Green technologies and Sustainability.
MAS chief fintech officer, Sopnendu Mohanty, said the "extraordinary challenges" brought about by the global pandemic have triggered a paradigm shift for the event.
"We have an opportunity to redefine our approach and look towards an expanded and exciting new collaboration model. We are exploring a creative way to integrate global centres through an immersive digital engagement experience. We are confident that this approach will be able to bring together the global innovation community in spite of the current constraints in travel and meetings,” he said.
SingEx Holdings CEO, Aloysius Arlando, added: “In collaboration with MAS and in partnership with Enterprise Singapore, SingEx is primed to support the safe restart of events while paving the way for a new model on how to facilitate more targeted and inclusive community engagement.”
The theme for this year’s event is 'People and Talent' and will shine a spotlight on pioneers who have made a difference as well as rising stars with the potential to transform global industries. It will also pay tribute to individuals who have demonstrated remarkable resilience in overcoming obstacles to create new opportunities that have significantly advanced our society. The event will support initiatives and community activities that drive talent development, re-skilling and up-skilling of the finance and tech workforce.