NEWS

Singapore digest news (13.03-18.03)

Photo by Anna Smirnova


Singapore, Indonesia tech professionals to work in each other's industries under new agreement

Young tech professionals from Singapore and Indonesia can work and gain experience in each other's tech industries, under an agreement signed by the two countries on Thursday (Mar 16).

The Tech:X Programme was among six new Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) signed at the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders' Retreat. The agreements covered areas such as energy, sustainability, health and human capital development.

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Singapore’s Changi International Airport lands title as the world’s best

It’s official – the world’s best airport for 2023 has been crowned.

It takes into account a wide range of factors, including airport staff, cleanliness, baggage delivery and security. Changi had topped ranking for eight years in a row – but briefly lost the title in 2021 and 2022, with Doha’s Hamad International Airport taking the top spot.

It’s no wonder that Singapore’s Changi International Airport is a favourite for travellers.

In terminal three, travellers will find an open-air butterfly garden, home to more than 1000 free-flying butterflies. Changi Airport also has a sunflower garden, a rare orchid garden and a rooftop cactus garden with more than a hundred species of cactus and succulents. And in its neighbouring Jewel centre, travellers will find a stunning indoor waterfall, known as the ‘Rain Vortex’. It’s the largest indoor waterfall in the world, with a height of 40 metres.

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Singapore's Prestige Biopharma develops diagnostic kit for pancreatic cancer

Prestige Biopharma, a Singapore-based biopharmaceutical company, has developed a first-in-class diagnostic kit for pancreatic cancer.

It is a diagnostic kit for the detection of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Upregulated Factor (PAUF) which is a distinctive tumour-specific biomarker overexpressed in approximately 80% of pancreatic cancer cases, correlated with early progression and metastasis.

The novel diagnostic method exhibits high sensitivity and specificity in detecting PAUF. According to Prestige Biopharma IDC (Innovative Discovery Centre), preliminary investigations indicated that the expression level of PAUF in the blood plasma of pancreatic cancer patients is approximately 1.9 times higher than healthy individuals. The company has submitted a provisional patent application for the diagnostic method in South Korea and started partnership discussions with major diagnostic companies to co-develop and market the diagnostic kit to target the global market.

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Singapore-India Hackathon returns for third edition

Organised by NTU Singapore and the Indian Ministry of Education’s All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the SI Hackathon 2023 aims to foster collaboration between students and start-ups from both countries in the areas of fintech, sustainability, and environmental, social and governance (ESG).

More than 200 participants from both nations will collaborate and work together in teams to develop impactful solutions for addressing climate change, financial connectivity and inclusion.

The winning teams will demonstrate their solutions to select global dignitaries in the grand finale of the hackathon in Gandhinagar. The winner of the start-up category will also gain an automatic entry into the Singapore Fintech Festival.

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Singapore to celebrate Tamil language fest from April 1

A month-long Tamil language festival will be held in Singapore starting April 1 to encourage young people from the community to embrace their mother tongue.

The theme of the annual festival is “Azhagu”, or beauty, and the aim is to get everyone to appreciate the beauty of the language and maximise its use, The Straits Times reported.

The Tamils make up the largest segment of the South Indian community in Singapore. Apart from Tamil, English, Mandarin and Malay are the other official languages in Singapore.

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