CapitaLand’s Sustainability X Challenge 2022 unveils 10 finalists selected from over 340 entries from across 50 countries

Innovations from CSXC 2021 testbedded at CapitaLand’s properties in India, Singapore and the United States offer opportunities to scale globally. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 12, 2022 - CapitaLand has unveiled 10 shortlisted innovations as finalists of its CapitaLand Sustainability X Challenge (CSXC) 2022, which has received overwhelming response of more than 340 entries from 50 countries. This far exceeds the over 270 entries from more than 25 countries received for its inaugural challenge last year. CSXC is the first global sustainability innovation challenge by a Singapore-based real estate company.

The 10 finalists from Singapore, Canada, China, India, Israel, South Africa, South Korea and USA will pitch their innovations at CSXC 2022 Demo Day on 20 July as they vie for a chance to pilot their projects at selected CapitaLand properties worldwide and win up to S$50,000 each. Three special recognition award winners (High Impact Award, Most Innovative Award and Carbon Action Hero Award) will receive an additional S$50,000 each. The prizes will go towards covering the cost of their pilots.

The 10 innovations, categorised by CSXC’s challenge statements, are as follows:

Low carbon transition
• The world's first glass-free, lightweight and flexible solar panel which is 70% lighter than typical solar panels and can be used on roofs that are unable to support conventional modules.
• A high-tech coating that uses sunlight to activate a cooling mechanism, effectively providing cooling without electricity and reducing energy consumption by up to 20%.
• A vertical-axis wind turbine that produces twice the energy of solar panels at a fraction of the size of the common horizontal axis turbines found in large wind farms.
• Smart louvres that reduce building energy dependency by up to 50% while producing up to 80% of rooftop solar power.
• A heating and cooling system that utilises a thermal battery made of phase-change material and artificial intelligence (AI) energy control technology to reduce energy consumption by 25-35%.

Water conservation & resilience
• A technology that helps to improve the efficacy of water meter readings, reducing businesses' water costs by up to 30%.
• A chemical-free, automated, and low-energy solution for the treatment of cooling tower water that reduces blowdown water by up to 80%.
• An intelligent water leakage management platform that integrates high-precision acoustic sensors with AI, IoT, and cloud technology.

Waste management & circular economy
• A renewable energy system that can convert any combination of waste into onsite renewable electricity and thermal power while offsetting significant volumes of carbon dioxide.

Healthy & safe buildings
• A clean air system that uses sensors and active polarisation to provide buildings with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA)-class air quality, while reducing energy consumption in buildings.

Ms Lynette Leong, who launched CSXC in 2020 and was recently appointed CapitaLand Investment (CLI)’s new CEO, Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) Funds & Stewardship, said: “Sustainability is a core tenet of CapitaLand’s business, and we are committed to taking an active global leadership role in the transition to a climate-resilient built environment. Through CSXC and provision of sandboxes and funding for the piloting of technologies, we are helping innovators from around the world to accelerate their path towards commercialisation and industry adoption. From CSXC 2022’s staggering submissions, we are encouraged by the increasing momentum in technological innovations globally towards solving climate change issues.”

Mr Vinamra Srivastava, who succeeded Ms Leong as CLI’s Chief Sustainability Officer on 1 July 2022, said: “Our CSXC initiatives, S$50 million Innovation Fund and Smart Urban Co-Innovation Lab are pushing the boundaries of innovation to make a substantial, long-lasting impact for a better, more sustainable built environment. Eventually, we hope to see the large-scale implementation of some of these projects in our global portfolio to contribute to our ambitious sustainability targets in our 2030 Sustainability Master Plan and achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050.”

Catch the finalists live at CSXC 2022 Demo Day on 20 July 2022
The 10 finalists will pitch their projects to an esteemed judging panel comprising a global lineup of senior experts from Temasek, GGV Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, Singapore University of Technology & Design, Matrix Partners China, Rocky Mountain Institute and RSK Group at the CSXC 2022 Demo Day:
Date: Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Time: 2:30pm to 5:30pm (GMT +8)
Venue: The Big Picture, Level 9, Capital Tower, CapitaLand’s headquarters in Singapore
Global live stream platforms: CSXC website, and CapitaLand’s Facebook, YouTube and WeChat channels
Guest-of-Honour: Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment, and Manpower, Singapore

The 10 projects were shortlisted based on the impact, potential outcomes, depth of innovation, as well as scalability and effectiveness of deploying the solutions at CapitaLand’s diversified assets across different geographies. The finalists have been paired with leading industry experts for a mentorship programme to prepare them for their pitches.

Over 60 partners globally including firms and institutes in various sectors such as engineering, technology, venture capital, entrepreneurship, and trade, as well as country embassies, are supporting CSXC this year. The partners provide expertise and expand the reach of the challenge, amplifying its efforts to advance innovation and collaboration in sustainability within the built environment.

During Demo Day, a plenary session titled ‘Transition to Net Zero in the Built Environment’ will be held, where senior executives from Singapore-based global investor EDBI, and an investment platform company aimed at accelerating decarbonisation globally, GenZero will share their insights.

Pilot projects from CSXC 2021
Seven projects, including the two winners, INOVUES, INC and Climatec Corp, from CSXC 2021, are currently being piloted at CapitaLand properties in India, Singapore and the USA. INOVUES, INC’s insulating glass retrofitting technology which is being testbedded at Creekside 5 in Oregon, USA, is expected to reduce energy consumption by up to 40%. Climatec’s unique water treatment process without chemicals is being piloted at CapitaGreen in Singapore.

Four innovations including an air duct sealing technology using airborne adhesive particles, a waterless self-cleaning technology for solar panels, a new generation bio water saving stick and an indoor air disinfection solution that aims to decrease virus survivability, are being testbedded at CapitaLand’s various commercial, lodging and business park properties in Singapore and India. One pilot, a patented ceramic net which acts as an infrared emitting filter, has been successfully completed in Singapore.

Driving sustainability and innovation in the real estate sector
As a global sustainability leader in real estate, CapitaLand has been stepping up innovation to create a larger positive impact for the environment and society. CapitaLand launched a S$50 million Innovation Fund in June 2021 to support the testbedding of sustainability and other high tech-innovations in the real estate sector for over five years. In 2020, it launched the Smart Urban Co-Innovation Lab (the Lab), Southeast Asia's first industry-led lab for smart city solutions development. The Lab has since engaged with over 700 companies across a wide range of industries to identify opportunities and co-create solutions for smart sustainable cities.

CapitaLand adopted district cooling systems in selected properties in Singapore and China. In 2021, CapitaLand was one of the pioneers to join Singapore’s first brownfield distributed district cooling (DDS) network. Its Tampines Mall joined the DDS in April 2022, and Telepark is also a potential injection node for the network. CapitaLand has implemented an IoT platform which enables centralised monitoring and data analytics to optimise equipment performance at its properties in China, India and Singapore.

To measure the value created through its sustainability efforts, CapitaLand pioneered a proprietary return-on-sustainability metric that includes interest rate savings from its sustainability-linked loans and utilities cost avoidance. CapitaLand’s continued leadership in sustainability and performance on renowned sustainability indices have allowed it to reap interest savings from its sustainability-linked loans. These financial savings are deployed to partly fund its sustainability innovation initiatives.

CapitaLand has been consistently recognised for its global sustainability leadership, including being part of prestigious rankings such as the ‘Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World Index’ and ‘Dow Jones Sustainability World Index’ for 10 years, as well as ‘GRESB’ for four years.

Find out more about CSXC at: http://www.capitaland.com/csxc

Read more about CapitaLand’s sustainability initiatives at: https://www.capitaland.com/international/en/about-capitaland/sustainability.html

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