Asia's tech news, weekly: Feb 14th 2023
Australia's TikTok usage, India's National Payments expansion, South Korea's niche tasks chips, China's 'internet of vehicles' guidelines, NATO AI certification...
• India: Ministry of Electronics & Info Tech to ban 138 gambling apps plus 94 providing unauthorized loan services, to prevent data misuse and loan sharking
• Digital 2023 report finds Australia has the highest monthly TikTok usage time in the world with users spending 29 hours, 36 minutes per month on the platform
• China’s first cultivated meat pilot plant to be constructed by CellX 'cellular agriculture' firm and Tofflon food manufacturing specialists
“High-altitude balloons can also be "trucks for any number of platforms, whether it be communication and data link nodes, ISR, tracking air and missile threats - and without the predictable orbits of satellites"'
• Japan: Gov’t to restrict exports of advanced semiconductor equipment, likely primarily impacting China, following foreign exchange law amendment
• Australia: "If the crypto ecosystem matures and develops, it could open significant new opportunities for businesses and consumers alike, creating jobs and fostering innovation..."
• China may face additional sanctions over the more-than-doubled supply of surveillance equipment to Iran in 2022 as citizen protests swept the country
• Download: 'Banking on Climate Chaos - Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2022'
• China: Wuxi city unveils country's first regional guidelines for 'internet of vehicle' tech, alongside requiring officials apply the tech in public transport, traffic monitoring, logistics and deliveries
• Philippines: An intro to LimaDOL, using flies and larvae to turn food waste into compost, and creating food for livestock as an additional result
"Consumers and businesses alike expect that cars and other products they purchase from reputable providers will not carry risk of harm. The same should be true of technology products."
• India: Paytm and PhonePe reportedly to launch UPI Lite on their platforms, the Nat’l Payments Corp's payments offering for small-ticket purchases
• Binance crypto exchange to suspend US$ transfers via SWIFT system, providing no reason, with move reportedly resulting in millions of dollars in outflows to rivals
• Sri Lanka's Hatch startup ecosystem builder inks strategic partnership with Draper Startup House, aiming to develop 'Troubled Nation to Startup Nation' initiative
• India: XR Startup Program unveils 120 startups and innovations selected for MeitY Startup Hub and Meta program
• Vietnam: Koina gains $1M backing from VinaCapital Ventures with data-driven farm-to-business agriculture tech platform
• Play-to-earn: "…rethinking blockchain (or Web3) gaming from the perspective that it should...improve on the existing Web2 gaming experience — instead of having a detached economy."
"If you look at the definitions of these crimes in physical space, and you try to apply it in the metaverse, there is a difficulty."
• iSeed SEA solo founder launches 2nd fund, WV Fund II, backing seed-stage startups
• Indonesia's eFishery sets sights on US market, building on near 100K farmers working 270K ponds, selling up to 12K tonnes of product each month across SEA
• Thailand: Bank of Ayudhya's Krungsri Finnovate corporate VC arm partners Tarad e-commerce major for 1-billion-baht fund for pre-Series A startups
• The Quad - India, Australia, Japan and US - announces launch of 'Quad Cyber Challenge' campaign to boost public's cyber security awareness and skills
• Australia: Fable Food Co alt-meat startup raised $8.5M Series A led by Singapore's K3 Ventures, focusing on shiitake mushrooms instead of soybeans or peas
• Download: State of SEA Fintech 2022 Report from Singapore's RoboCash
"Jurors agreed with Hermès that Rothschild's NFTs are commercial products subject to IP laws that bar the sale of imitations, and awarded the company $133,000 in damages."
• India: An overview of the iCET initiative, spearheaded by the National Security Councils of India and the US to expand partnerships in critical and emerging tech
• Nostr's Damus app, backed by Twitter’s Dorsey, banned from China app store due to 'Information Services with Attribute of Public Opinions or Capable of Social Mobilization'
• Australia: Defense Department to remove surveillance cameras made by China's Hikvision and Dahua from gov't buildings, firms already sanctioned
• UK digital currency: "While cash is here to stay, a digital pound issued and backed by the Bank of England could be a new way to pay that's trusted, accessible and easy to use"
• South Korea's Rebellions Inc to launch AI chip for specific tasks in niche market bid, with gov't investing $800M over 5 years for AI R&D in bid for global presence
• China: National Blockchain Tech Innovation Centre approved for launch to develop software, hardware and theory
Five hurdles to CBDC: "...A shiny new digital token is hardly likely to help the unbanked..."
• Australia's Openpay buy-now-pay-later firm enters receivership, just a week after recording quarterly revenue of over Au$10M
• Thailand: "...early-stage startups typically need a minimum of $500K to operate within 1-2 years, while these [gov’t] programmes normally provide around $20K to $150K."
• Philippines: 10 early-stage startups selected for Sprout Solutions' Philippine B2B SaaS Challenge, working in HR-tech, workplace management and more
• Australia: Griffith University inks 3-year partnership with LuminaX Healthtech Accelerator for 14-week programme to fast-track commercialisation and market-readiness for 10 Australian startups each year
• Australia: Tracksuit raises $6.8M, focusing on quantifying the value of a brand
"...'shadow financial' functions enabled by crypto markets share many of the vulnerabilities of traditional finance. These risks are exacerbated by specific features of crypto..."
And in other news…
» An overview of recent funding moves in quantum computing, worldwide
» Bank for Int’l Settlements to work on a tool to monitor stablecoins, to give authorities clearer view of how they work, and how to regulate them in future
» Visa's crypto division head's presentation talks of allowing customers to convert digital assets to fiat, and looking at accepting settlements using stablecoins
» Forbes Blockchain 50 for 2023 is online now, providing a brief intro to the major names in the space
» NATO Data and AI Review Board to develop AI certification to help industries and institutions in the Alliance ensure AI and data projects are in line with int'l law, and NATO norms and values
» 4th edition of Zurich Innovation Championship launches in Dubai, an open innovation contest seeking startups and solutions in the insurance sector
"A judge in Colombia used ChatGPT to make a court ruling, in what is apparently the first time a legal decision has been made with the help of an AI text generator..."