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| Breaking mindsets at ENnovation 2005 |
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| This event,
which was open to the public, attracted
14,000 visitors in two days. It brought
together some 70 partners from various
industries, educational institutions,
non-government organisations and members
of the MEWR family to showcase breakthroughs
in the environmental industry. |
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When the
National Environment Agency (NEA) was tasked to
organise the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources’
(MEWR) Innovation event this year, the organising committee
decided to break
all conventions.
Instead of having the standard inhouse event, it decided
on a large-scale event that involved stakeholders in the
people, private and public (3P) sectors, in line with
MEWR’s strategic direction to engage all stakeholders
in environmental care.
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| Visitors had a
taste of chocolate-coated marshmallows here!
It’s no wonder that this innovation,
which uses a natural gas-fired facility to
produce chocolates, attracted super long queues! |
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The end result was ENnovation 2005 — the first event
of its kind to be held in Singapore. Not only did it showcase
innovations in the environment industry, it demonstrated
innovation in
every way.
The two-day event held at Suntec City in April also boosted
awareness of business opportunities in the industry, and
provided a platform
for all the stakeholders to come together for networking
and sharing ideas.
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| Enviropreneurs’
Pitch: Nine teams of tertiary students had
a rare chance to pitch their commercially
viable environmental innovations to a panel
of experts from public agencies as well as
the private sector. Besides valuable feedback
from the judges, the teams also earned good
leads and business contacts. |
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From the start, the organising committee was clear that
it wanted the event to be different.
Said National Environment Agency (NEA) Deputy Director
of Corporate Planning and Organisation Development Michelle
Lee, who headed the committee: “We wanted to demonstrate
that we’re truly innovative and we innovate with
our partners.”
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| Commonwealth Secondary
students donning recyclable materials put
up a fashion show. Visitors also caught MediaCorp’s
Channel 8 artistes from “Green Pals”. |
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| A “live
demonstration” of the waterless urinal. |
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So, for example, there were no standard-sized booths and
panels for regular-sized posters. Said Ms Lee: “The
event organisers kept asking me: ‘How many booths
are you having?’ I said: ‘There are no three-by-three
booths. I want the partners to come and tell me what they
can show. If they think they need so much space, then
state why, what they are putting up and how it is going
to attract people.’”
She also insisted that the exhibitors find creative ways
to demonstrate their innovations.
For example, one company featured a waterless urinal.
When she saw the innovation at an earlier exhibition,
she noticed that the exhibitor had displayed the product
without the statue of a boy.
Ms Lee told him: “At my exhibition, you need to
demonstrate the use. But I cannot have a live demonstration,
so can you please add a statue of a boy?” They did
so and that made
a big difference. As a result, the company received many
more
product enquiries.
Besides the innovations on display, the activities were
also crowd-pullers. For instance, the Environmental Trailblazer,
modelled after popular US reality series “The Amazing
Race”, drew 320 participants from the 3P sectors.
They raced across the island to visit various environmental
installations and facilities, one of which was a hawker
centre where they had to clean tables.
Explained Ms Lee: “We have upgraded the skills of
our cleaners — given them uniforms, trained them
in the SOP for cleaning, etc. So we wanted the participants
to go out there to do the cleaning and let the ‘Ah
Soh’ judge their skills and certify them!
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| This is what an
environmentally friendly car looks like! |
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| The “Green
Living” exhibit by the Singapore Environment
Council and City Development which showcased
eco-friendly innovations to create an environmentally
friendly home. |
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“Some people were initially sceptical. They thought
that showing the cleaning industry was not glamorous.
I persuaded them: ‘The cleaners would be proud to
do the certifying! This will give a huge boost to their
confidence and also engage the participants.’ In
the end, they were open and bought
the idea.”
Reflecting on the event, Ms Lee said: “Every stop
along the way, I pushed the envelope. I must say my team
has been very supportive. They saw it as something fun
they had never tried before and something that would really
help our mission so they really put their hearts and souls
into it.”
All their dedicated efforts were worth it as at the end
of ENnovation 2005, many partners wrote to thank NEA for
involving them. They said the event was an eye-opener
and had provided many business opportunities for them.
They were also eager to work with NEA again soon. |
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| Next: Growing
the green industry |
