+ Theme

The advent of disruptive technologies had been, and continues to be, a topic of great interest all over Asia, and the world. Companies like Uber and Airbnb have captured the world’s attention by challenging traditional assumptions of how industries should work. The opportunities for innovation and further disruption seems endless and cities around the world are rushing to distinguish themselves as start-up havens. At their core, disruptive technologies attempt to either define new markets, or to obliterate traditional ones with the use of internet-based services. As in their label “disruptive”, these technologies represent threats as much as they do opportunity. AUS 2017 hoped to uncover the problems and potential associated with these technologies in a manner relatable to undergraduates. Participants were then invited to apply the learning from the overseas and Singapore legs to produce innovative solutions for problems they had observed in their own communities.

+ Overseas Partner Universities

• Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Incheon National University
• Universitas Gadjah Mada
• Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City

+ Overseas Leg

In AUS 2017, we were pleased to collaborate with 4 overseas host universities. In the overseas leg, through an examination of six aspects of everyday life (consume, communicate, work, play, learn, and eat), participants were exposed to the great variety of disruptive innovations that have arisen in Asia, which had the potential to change even fundamental ways of life.

Overseas Host Universities:

• Fudan University
• Hindu College, University of Delhi
• Mahidol University
• Universitas Airlangga

+ Singapore Leg

Over the course of the Singapore leg of AUS 2017, the undergraduates participated in a rigorous 6-day programme. Speakers from some of Singapore’s biggest supporters of the local start-up scene, from DBS Bank to Singtel, to local start-ups like OBike were invited to share their relevant experiences with participants. AUS participants were also granted special access to start-up incubator spaces, such as the Singtel Innovation Centre, and to exhibitions organised around the theme of technological futurism at the Art Science Museum.

As per the traditional dual-track focus of AUS, participants in the 2017 leg were also exposed to the Design Thinking Framework to complement their reflections on the Summit Theme. The skills track for 2017 was especially relevant to the general topic of start-ups and technological innovation, as it instils a user-centric mindset in practitioners of the framework. These synergistic interactions between the theme and skills tract for 2017 ultimately yielded a great deal of ingenuity, allowing the AUS batch of 2017 to gain a better understanding of the biggest technological and economic challenge yet to the 21st Century. In personally developing ideas for enterprises, they completed their AUS journey inspired, and better-equipped to seize the future of the region for themselves.

+ Deliverables

Click here to take a look at the deliverables the AUS 2017 Participants have come up with.

+ Media

Click here to take a look at the pictures taken during AUS 2017!