Event snapshot: RISE Conference 2017
The three-day RISE 2017 conference in Hong Kong was the perfect platform for tech startups, investors, corporates and MNCs to ideate, collaborate and learn from each other. Saishreyas Sundarajoo, Research Associate at HCo, shares his experiences at the event.
The RISE conference is a playground for tech startups, investors, corporates and MNCs to ideate, collaborate and learn from each other in an electrically charged environment nestled in Asia’s burgeoning hub of financial technology — Hong Kong.
It is a 3-day affair peppered with talks, Q&As and interactive seminar styled proceedings along with booths for startups to network and perfect their sales pitches. A lot of exciting new ideas are born at RISE and it is also a reality check for those living in wells — but everyone leaves wiser, happier, with new friends and learning from the Gurus of tech, finance, AI, robotics and other emerging and bleeding edge industries.
All action took place on the centre stage at RISE 2017. While Kavin Bharti Mittal talked about fintech, it won’t be long before India’s Hike app makes payments for health services more streamlined.
The pitch stage allowed young startups to hone their skills and articulate their ideas in front of highly qualified panel from different industries.
Personal encounters with noteworthy startups included:
Speedoc — Singapore based app that facilitates on-demand house calls by doctors, started by a doctor himself. They go live sometime this month.
Cognifyx — A mental health and wellness app that tests and detects metrics using a tablet device, currently in testing and soon to go live.
Auxilia — Baby monitoring system that creates a safe and sound environment for infants and gives greater control to parents when it comes to their little ones.
Tricella — The first smart bluetooth pillbox that lets loved ones know if you have taken your medications and tracks adherence progress. (Available online)
Silentmode — A 100% blackout high-frequency mask that lets you nap wherever you are. I actually took a nap in the middle of the exhibition centre; we are planning to order some of these for the office.
ToucheTech — A first-of-its-kind low-cost Kindle for visually impaired individuals. It is a refreshable, easy-to-use braille display that has received rave reviews in India.
Gary Vaynerchuck was in the house, and at some point he even brought down the roof. His Q&A sessions were by far the most popular events. I managed to have a brief chat with him about the HealthCode community and how we are changing the face of health collaboration. Gary seemed excited and said that medical schools would soon be producing more entrepreneurs. Without missing a beat, I quipped that we are accelerating the timeline towards that reality!
After 3 days, 15,000 attendees, 250+ speakers, 550+ journalists and representation from 100+ countries, RISE is a must go-to event if you would like to learn more from leading experts of the industry and to showcase your service or products. If you are an early-stage startup, I would highly recommend getting yourself onto the Alpha Track!
Saishreyas Sundarajoo is a Research Associate at HealthCode.io and also a 5th year medical student at Wuhan University, China.
