The RISE conference will take place from May 31 to June 2 in Hong Kong, organized by Web Summit to bring together startups from Asia and the West. Over the three days, there will be presentations on various stages covering topics like AI, blockchain, and Asian markets. Some key takeaways from past RISE conferences include the shifting perception of AI and robots from science fiction to real-world problem solvers, the growth and varying models of the on-demand economy across markets, and changing needs of consumers in China seeking new experiences. Entrepreneurship remains important for innovation through questioning assumptions and rethinking existing solutions.

1. RISE Conference
31 May - 2 Jun
@Hong Kong
Convention and
Exhibition center

2. RISE
RISE is the first startups conference in
Asia organised by Web Summit. RISE
aims to build a meeting place for
startups from the East and the West so
the leaders of these enterprises can
congregate and demonstrate how
their companies are changing the way
we live.

3. Stages
Day1 : Center stage / Machine stage / Enterprise stage / Pitch stage
Day2 : Center stage / Marketing stage / Startup university / Pitch stage
Day3 : Center stage / Builders stage / Startup university / Breakthrough stage

4. Format
Perfectly executed TED
style presentation
Journalist facilitating the
natural discussion
Startup pitching to
investors

5. Trends and topics
E-commerce, FinTech, Artificial intelligence, IoT, Drones, Robotics, On-demand
economy, AR/VR, Security and hacking, Tech ethics, Cloud computing, Media
and entertainment, Travel, Transportation, Localization, Immersive markets,
Data analytics, Advertising, Brand, Asian markets

6. Key takeaways
1. AI and Robotics solving real problems
2. Growth and expansion of on-demand economy
3. Changing needs in China
4. Entrepreneurship and innovation

7. 1. AI and robotics solving real problems

8. People have reflected their
expectation to AI and robots
(in very science fiction way)

9. Robots in 2000s were either
reflecting human’s dream or
bragging their technology (or both)

10. Now AI and robotics are being applied to solve real world problems such as
education inequality, aging of population, energy distribution etc. Ability to
see (visual recognition) is the key technology to solve these problems.

11. New generation robots are evolving. It is possible to embed intelligence to
240g hover camera and it is ready for production to be used by customers

12. “In Chinese, robot is 机器人(Humanoid) but
this is a really bad translation. Robots don’t
have to be look like human.
Definition of robot to me is machine that
have sensors, self-learn, act autonomously
and interact with environment.”
- MQ Wang

13. This robot watches forests and detects fire.
We only need 24 of them to cover whole
Hong Kong area. It self-learns, and acts
properly according to the situation

14. This year’s pitch winner is MedExo, the
company that develops an “Ironman
arm for Parkinson disease patients”

15. Summary
● Perception of AI and Robots are shifting from fantasy (e.g. humanoid) to
real world problem-solver
● Visual recognition is a key technology to AI and machine learning (deep
learning) improvement is accelerating its performance
● AI and Robotics are being applied to customer/industrial products and
they are ready to break markets

16. 2. Growth and expansion of on-demand economy

17. “The on-demand economy (also
known as access economy or shared
economy) is a business model in which
companies fulfil consumer demand on
the basis of immediate access to
goods and services.
Basically, the whole concept of on-
demand economy is based on the idea
that access is better than ownership.
You just rent a thing temporarily
rather than buy it permanently
because it’s inexpensive and
convenient. “
http://bit.ly/1O9RgUx

18. Deliveroo
They have 3 main stakeholders -
Customers, restaurants, drivers.
Simplicity & Relevance
There are 3 different apps for each
stakeholders to give them less
information
Technology
They are using cutting-edgy algorithm
to deliver foods quickly

19. Engagement
How to make drivers more loyal -
Paying more is short-term strategy.
Building community is a key. Deliveroo
is sponsoring cycling community in
Europe.
Expanding business
When they started business in France,
French friends said “Because we love
cooking and there are no delivery
culture, the business will not go well”,
but it turned out they are lazy as other
people and they love the service.

20. Foodpanda
They tested their service in Singapore
first, and expanded to Asian market
and the world. Now it serves for 30
countries/regions
Localization
Same marketing strategy, but execution
has to be different.
E.g. Delivery by bike in Russia is illegal.
Russians don’t like Panda because it’s a
symbol of communism

21. Mobile use
People tend to use Desktop for lunch
and Mobile for dinner. Also Asian
consumers use Mobile a lot more.
Knowing markets deeper
Their next step is consolidation. They
will go deeper and wider to know each
market and will work on user
segmentation and qualitative research

22. Wantedly
Offers social recruiting service and
helps matching companies and job-
seekers
Service
If job-seeker likes a certain company’s
post, they can apply for ‘Office visit’
before proceeding interviews or
actively looking for a job. (Only 6% of
Japanese changes job)

23. Technology
Half of employees are engineers and
designers. We use matching algorithm.
Market
Social recruiting is not Japanese thing,
they found needs from companies and
job-seekers and they believe this can be
applied to other markets. They have an
office in London.

24. Summary
● Customer needs to on-demand service are similar in many markets and it
is an opportunity to expand markets. However, there are legal/cultural
differences so execution should be differentiated in each markets.
● Excellence in technology is a key to offer better experiences
● Knowing different needs of multiple client segments and building proper
business model are important to success of the business

25. 3. Changing needs in China

26. Tourism is an extremely fragmented market.
Main businesses are 1. Flights 2. Hotel 3. Local
tourism. Tech is going to disrupt 3. local
tourism (ticketing, offering guides)
3 trends of Chinese tourists
1. They are seeking for activities and
experience instead of products/goods
2. Less than 7% are outbound travellers.
They have huge potential
3. 2nd/3rd times travellers
Possibility of VR
It can be used for those who doesn’t travel. It
will be proven in 5-10 years.

27. Red (小红书)
Red is targeting young people who were born
in 90s. They are shopping globally, they value
experiences and service quality, and it is part of
their lifestyle.
Service
E-commerce + Social. You can ask people about
purchase experience. Red is offering great
delivery experience and built their brand
successfully. Now they have 17mil users and
people are buying from Red even if it is more
expensive than other shops.
“We have new generation
users”

28. Summary
● Traditional travel business is going to shrink and tech is going to disrupt
local tourism.
● (Especially younger) Chinese consumers are getting sophisticated and
ready to spend more money for better quality and experience.

29. 4. Entrepreneurship and innovation

30. There are many obstacles to do startups
such as rent, lack of talent, scalability,
economic situation etc.
However, successful founders don’t
agree. They think Hong Kong is one of the
most global city and they can find lots of
great talents, and it is great time that
many talents are coming to startups, not
investment banks.
“It is easy to survive. The
important thing is creating
meaningful business.”

31. Hong Kong is great place to make
hardwares. Shenzhen has a wonderful
infrastructure to make things.
Florian from Berlin : In Berlin, he could
select only one kind of vibration motor in
ebay and it takes 2 weeks shipping from
USA. But when he went to Shenzhen, one
old lady showed 90 types of vibration
motors.
It is difficult to meet people’s expectation
and they are testing and interview many
people from prototyping phase.

32. Professional organizer ‘Konmari’
She suggest ‘Konmari method’ to organize
things. Her book ‘The Life-Changing Magic of
Tidying Up’ were sold 6mil copies in all
around world.
She is starting a ‘Konmari consultant
certification course’ and launching app to
help those who want to organize things.

33. Tinder VP Ankur Jain
Did Tinder change love to simple swipe?
No, Tinder modeled exact human behavior
and seamlessly integrated it to tech
Did people lose human touch because of
Tinder?
No, Tinder is the biggest online solution that
make people really meet offline
Pure innovation rarely happens in Silicon
Valley. Facebook is not the first SNS, iPhone is
not the first touch device. Everything is about
re-thinking

34. Importance of young entrepreneurs
He invests a lot to young innovators. They
don’t know what’s now to ask and those
questions bring innovation.
He was doing a project with P&G, and one
young fresh mind asked him, “Why are we
building toothbrush?”
-> Actually, toothbrushes are 2000 years old
way from Egypt and there are better ways for
oral hygiene

35. Summary
● HK startups are having lots of obstacles such as high rents, small
population, bad economy etc. but successful startups are using those
conditions as opportunities
● Business chances come from rethinking existing solutions, and
remodeling existing human behaviour. We must keep asking “Why?” for
innovation

36. Others

37. “60 million smart toilet
have been sold. What if
they are all hacked and
hackers set the maximum
water pressure?”

38. “VR/AR is going to disrupt existing media
and entertainment. Especially sports,
religion and 5 letter word starting with P.”

39. “Board’s role is setting strategy and
direction of the company. It sounds
easy, but it can totally ruin the
business, like Kodak.”

40. “FinTech has huge potential. We are just
waiting Chinese government publish
clear regulations”

41. “My biggest regret was that I invested to
the app that has many features. It
looked good at the time, we could do
this, we could do that...But it was a total
failure. Simplicity is the most important
thing.”

42. Opportunities as an UXer
● Industrial design -> Digital design -> Everything design
● Knowing technology well and integrating it into service
● Having in-depth knowledge of different markets - Especially China
● Asking questions and making innovative ideas happen

43. Thank you
soyeon.lee@digitaslbi.com