The inaugural Maritime Singapore Connect (MSC) Maritime Digital Challenge was open in August this year to tertiary students from various disciplines to solve practical issues faced by the maritime industry.  Winning teams stood a chance to take away the prize money of $3,500, secure internships and mentorship by industry professionals.

Organized by Singapore Maritime Foundation’s MSC Office together with three maritime companies – Eastport Maritime, Kanda and Torvald Klaveness, the Challenge aims to connect tertiary students with a passion for technology to the digital transformation taking place in the maritime industry.

Mr. Andreas Sohmen-Pao, Chairman of the Singapore Maritime Foundation said, “The inaugural MSC Maritime Digital Challenge has showcased a promising pool of young talent. I am delighted to see strong interest in the maritime industry from students pursuing diverse disciplines such as business, computing, engineering and even game development. The maritime ecosystem is broad, and talent from different fields can find interesting ways to apply their skills to the challenges faced by our industry.”

There were three different challenge statements under the competition, which teams could choose from:

Eastport Maritme Challenge - Use gamification to develop an interactive and engaging learning platform to onboard new hires and existing employees taking on new roles.

Kanda Challenge - Use virtual reality technology and game- based learning to train users to conduct industrial procedures such as operating a fuel gas supply system.

Torvald Klaveness Challenge - Create an app for seafarers to input clean data to develop insights for sustainable shipping.

From 35 registered teams, 12 teams hailing from Singapore’s universities and polytechnics with diverse specialisations such as business, game development, engineering, computing, logistics and maritime studies proceeded to the finals.

The grand finals held on 13 November saw Singapore Management University’s Team Klaver emerge as the Grand Champion for the Torvald Klaveness Challenge. The team comprised of the following students:

Farm Jia Jia, Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB), Year 4   

Ryan Tan Zheng Jie, LKCSB, Year 1           

Gabrielle Soh, LKCSB, Year 3      

Caleb Cheong, School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS), Year 2              

Brandon Christopher, SCIS, Year 2           

“This competition has been an eye-opener, allowing us to learn what goes on behind the scenes in the maritime industry. Our team is honoured to be a part of and optimistic about the advancement of the maritime industry as it embraces digitalisation. This will ultimately boost the productivity of maritime stakeholders and reduce carbon emission levels,” said Ryan Tan, leader of Team Klaver.

Mr Tim Polson, Business Development Manager at Klaveness Digital who was one of the judges for the competition said, “Tech on board ships must be simple and trustworthy, with as few ‘moving parts’ as possible. Team Klaver were the only ones to fully grasp this concept and it was reflected in their solution and presentation. Their written and presentation skills were also most outstanding. They wrote with crisp prose and supported statements with substantial evidence. Even when presenting in front of senior government officials, they were composed, smiling, confident and adhered to the time limit. A great reflection on the quality of students SMU continues to outturn.”