Geo Connect Asia (GCA) 2021, Southeast Asia’s inaugural geospatial and location intelligence technology conference, has welcomed around 1,200 exhibitors, speakers, delegates and visitors from 24 to 25 March 2021, announced Montgomery Asia, the event organiser.
In-person attendees joined the event at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, which offered keynote speeches, plenary sessions and roundtables, among others; while about 700 professionals and media from across the global geospatial community participated virtually. Both physical and virtual attendees hailed from 55 countries, according to the organiser.
GCA 2021, representing Singapore’s first large-scale pilot hybrid event, also featured Digital Construction Asia 2021 (DCA21) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Asia 2021 (UAV21), which showcased a full range of geospatial and location intelligence applications for key government agencies and enterprises.
The Geo Suites at GCA 2021 - ballrooms converted into ‘exhibition booths’ - assumed the role of a typical trade show floor as the main mode of interaction and helped to minimise intermingling between cohorts of attendees. The Meeting Pods allowed 2-to-2 meetings to take place with the safety of a plexiglass divider as well as hand sanitisers and cleaning supplies.
Alvin Yap, exhibitor at GCA 2021, drone lead at YJP Surveyor said, “The event has shown our resilience in these tough times and represents our hope and optimism not only in the geospatial industry but also for Singapore and the region as well.”
Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, was the guest of honour at GCA 2021. Alvin Tan, Singapore’s Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Culture, Community & Youth also participated at the event.
GCA 2021 was supported by several Singapore government agencies, namely the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Singapore Land Authority (SLA), Economic Development Board (EDB) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
The event was also supported by the Emerging Stronger Taskforce (EST) Alliance for Action (AfA) on Enabling Safe and Innovative Visitor Experiences. “Such pilot events facilitate progressive scaling up to larger events, and provide a crucial springboard to recovery and growth for both the ASEAN geospatial community and the wider MICE industry, overturning the assumption that larger international MICE events cannot be held safely,” explained Montgomery Asia. “They are also a testbed for event organisers to refine the implementation of safe management measures and best practices for MICE events progressively.”
Rupert Owen, co-founder of Geo Connect Asia said, “Two years in the making, Geo Connect Asia 2021 has navigated significant disruption and uncertainty before making our much-anticipated debut in Singapore this year. This was possible due in no small part to the strong support from our many like-minded partners from both the public and private spheres, with Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) and Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) support, in particular, proving instrumental in guiding the development of a world-leading hybrid platform for the geospatial and location intelligence markets in Asia.
“Equally important were our sponsors and other partners from across an array of industries, led by platinum sponsor Trimble, gold sponsor Bentley Systems, silver sponsor UP42, and conference sponsors Planet Labs, Synspective, and Dassault Systèmes.”
Geo Connect Asia is scheduled to return from 23 to 24 March 2022.
