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The GEAR Future City Festival 3.0 unites global visionaries to reimagine urban futures

The GEAR Future City Festival 3.0 unites global visionaries to reimagine urban futures

In this third edition of The GEAR's flagship event, held in collaboration with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) as part of International Built Environment Week (IBEW), cross-sector innovators were brought together in co-visioning urban futures. Through industry talks, startup showcases, and Kajima’s R&D updates, the event not only highlighted frontier technologies but also leveraged Singapore’s strategic role to foster open collaboration and drive broader global impact.


The GEAR Future City Festival 3.0 unites global visionaries to reimagine urban futures

Luke Wu (MD, The GEAR), Joanthan Hannam (Co-Founder & MD, Taronga Gourp), Jiawen Cheong (Actg. Director, Future Building Institute, JTC), Shuichi Oishi (CEO, Kajima Development), Beth Henderson (Lead, The GEAR), Heng Teck Thai (Dy. CEO, BCA), Patrick Chan (CEO, ACE.SG), Junie Fo (VP & Head, Professional Services, EDB), Kensuke Date (General Manager, KaTRIS)

This press release was issued by Kajima.

The GEAR Future City Festival (FCF) 3.0 was held in partnership with Building and Construction Authority, under the initiative of Build SG at the award-winning building, The GEAR. With approximately 300 delegates across industry, government, startups and academia, the event underscored Singapore’s role as a hub for shaping the future of the global built environment.

The GEAR by Kajima operates as the technology services and open innovation platform of the Kajima group. As part of Kajima, one of Japan’s largest and long-standing construction, engineering, and real estate companies with a nearly two-century legacy of innovation, The GEAR continues to advance Kajima’s vision of “Building for the Next 100 Years”.

“The future of our cities won’t be built by winners and losers, but by collaborators. At The GEAR by Kajima, we see collaboration as the new competition, where corporates, startups, academia, and government work side by side to turn ideas into impact for the built environment.”

Luke Wu

Managing Director

The GEAR by Kajima

Industry Voices on Scaling Innovation

The built environment is all around us, but how often do we notice its impact, or its innovation? From aging infrastructure and energy challenges to rapid urbanisation and climate risks, cities worldwide face pressing issues that demand innovative solutions.

These issues were discussed during the headline panel discussion titled “Micro to Macro: Scaling Small Innovation to Mega Projects”, which brought together industry’s leading voices. Moderated by Prof. Aidan M. W., Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Singapore Management University, the session featured Jiawen Cheong, Acting Director of the Future of Building & Infrastructure Division at JTC Corporation; Kieve Lim, Chief Digital Officer at PrimusTech (a Kajima Group company); and Jonathan Hannam, Co-Founder & Managing Director at Taronga Group.

The panel explored how Singapore’s innovation ecosystem is enabling small-scale technologies to scale, with insights on the need for data readiness from building owners, easy-to adopt solutions to address integration challenges, and, above all, ecosystem collaboration. The panelists highlighted the role of technology clusters, such as those developed by JTC, improving infrastructure access through the role of master systems integrators, and cross-sector partnerships in accelerating adoption.

Innovation in the Built Environment in the Spotlight

The GEAR Startup CoLab welcomed a new cohort of dynamic startups this year, marking another exciting chapter in its mission to foster open innovation through collaboration.

Beth Henderson, Lead of Startup Programmes at The GEAR by Kajima, shared key insights from this year’s Startup CoLab applications, highlighting emerging trends and areas of innovation in the built environment. From over 100 applications spanning 19 countries, 13 standout companies were selected for the first intake and are now actively working with The GEAR team to explore and shape collaborative projects across Kajima’s businesses.

The GEAR Future City Festival 3.0 unites global visionaries to reimagine urban futures

“We’ve seen strong representation from startups addressing sustainability, productivity, and human-centric challenges in the built environment. Many are eager to use Singapore as a testbed and launchpad for regional scaling, and we’re excited to see the first round of project outcomes and explore opportunities for commercialisation, both locally and across our overseas subsidiaries.”

Beth Henderson

Lead

The GEAR

In partnership with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the event also saw the launch of the 6th cycle of the Built Environment Accelerate-to-Market Programme (BEAMP).

“By developing and bringing to market new solutions to enhance our local BE ecosystem, research and innovation are vital to future-proof the sector. BCA has been actively cultivating the growth and expansion of the local ConTech ecosystem through partnerships with both public and private sector partners. BCA is heartened to see The GEAR’s efforts in organising the Future City Festival (FCF) annually to increase the vibrancy of the ConTech community by offering a platform to facilitate knowledge and innovation exchange.”

Jonathan Cheng

Chief Technology Officer

BCA

The GEAR Future City Festival 3.0 unites global visionaries to reimagine urban futures

To accelerate innovation in the Built Environment (BE) sector, BCA, together with JTC Corporation and Enterprise Singapore, is pleased to launch the sixth cycle of the Built Environment Accelerate-to-Market Programme (BEAMP) at Future City Festival 3.0. Riding on the success of prior cycles of BEAMP, this latest cycle of BEAMP features challenge statements from 8 returning Challenge Statement Owners and 7 new Challenge Statement Owners. Cycle 6 will support the development of solutions which can address various pain points flagged by the Challenge Statement Owners, as well as continue to provide additional support for small-scale commercial trials and sustainability solutions per Cycle 5.

18 build-tech startups, from Singapore and around the world, demonstrated their innovative solutions at The GEAR. From robotics and AI to sustainable and green innovations, startups from Startup CoLab, BEAMP, and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) not only showcased technologies and fresh ideas but also sparked conversations that pushed the boundaries of collaboration toward shaping future cities.

To further explore innovation in action, Kajima Technical Research Institute Singapore (KaTRIS) shared insights on their latest research translating innovation into practical solutions for smart buildings. With a focus on advancing human-centric and technology-driven building solutions, KaTRIS highlighted how it is combining design and advanced technology to create smarter, more responsive buildings that prioritize occupant well-being and collaboration.

Collaboration is the new competition

The future of the built environment will be shaped by collaboration, where shared effort drives progress that benefits everyone, this is exactly what The GEAR by Kajima has been putting into action.

Besides The GEAR Startup CoLab programme which was in collaboration with ecosystem partners, our partnerships with Institutes of Higher Education, including Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore Polytechnic (SP), Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), also achieved several milestones this year. Initiatives such as co-hosting the Built Environment Innovation Challenge with Singapore Polytechnic and acting as a strategic partner of the SMU Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC), and delivering over 30 learning journeys which engaged 1,500 students from local and global schools, The GEAR continues to open minds to the transformative potential of construction and innovation and redefining what’s possible in the industry.

The GEAR by Kajima announced four finalists for the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) Built Environment Accelerated Commercialisation Prize: Mimicrete, Genia, InviscidAI, and Clean Carbon. The winner will be selected during the judging event on 1 October, with the winner announced on 2 October. The prize includes an opportunity to run aPOC with Kajima and other in-kind support valued at up to $60,000 SGD, which will be awarded to the startup showing the greatest potential to collaborate with Kajima and advance innovation in Singapore’s built environment sector.

Two pilot projects, in collaboration with student startups Sunventor and CityLens from SUTD, are now in the first phase of their Proof of Concept (PoC) at The GEAR building. Both startups, winners of The GEAR × SUTD Built-Environment Innovation Grant, are receiving dedicated support from The GEAR, including access to facilities, to validate and refine their solutions under real-world conditions.

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