SAP Leonardo Center Singapore: Expanding purpose-driven innovation in APJ

Scott Russell, president of SAP Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ). INQUIRER.net photo / Pathricia Ann V. Roxas

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake devastated northeastern Japan and triggered a massive and deadly tsunami. The calamity claimed thousands of lives, destroyed billions of properties and washed out most of its citizens’ hopes and dreams.

But it was innovation and purpose that flooded the mind of Scott Russell, president of SAP Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ), after he personally experienced the disaster.

A few years later, the market leader in enterprise application software, together with a Japanese disaster prevention systems innovator, Hakusan Corporation, developed an idea to use smartphones as an equipment to measure and predict movements of earthquake not just on ground but inside the building.

This tale, Russell said during their launch of the SAP Leonardo Center in Singapore Tuesday, was one of the examples of their company’s strategy to focus on purpose-led innovation in a bid to help improve the lives of 1 billion people within the region, which is considered as among the world’s most disaster-prone region.

“We operated with care, dignity and humbleness… By 2022 I have two very simple vows: to improve the lives of 1 billion people within the region and to go from the 40,000 customers that we have in Asia Pacific and Japan today to our 70,000 customers to have chosen SAP to be a part of their businesses by 2022,” he said during his speech during the launch.

SAP Leonardo Center in Singapore was established to help customers, partners and the broader ecosystem of universities and start-ups across the APJ region to deliver faster innovation with less risk. This launch expands SAP’s innovation footprint in the region, adding to the three Innovation centers and four SAP Labs in APJ.

The new SAP Leonardo Center was strategically stationed in Singapore, the most competitive economy in Asia Pacific and third globally, according to the World Economic Forum.

Scott Russell, president of SAP Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ). INQUIRER.net photo / Pathricia Ann V. Roxas

Fifth in the global network of SAP Leonardo Centers, the Singapore innovation hub is designed to serve as the “front-end” for APJ customers and partners to accelerate their digital innovation journeys using the capabilities of SAP Leonardo and Design Thinking (DT).

DT is a human centered approach to problem solving and discovery utilized by SAP in identifying clients’ problems and solving them.

SAP Leonardo brings together Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning, Blockchain, Big Data, Analytics and Data Intelligence on SAP Cloud Platform. It also applies its leading technology capabilities and deep knowledge of 25 industries, in a live technology-delivery environment to deliver the Intelligent Enterprise for its customers.

“The SAP Leonardo Center in Singapore will showcase the art of the possible in digital innovation and help our customers scale quickly, easily and effectively,” said Russell.

“The SAP Leonardo Center in Singapore will play a key role in realizing our growth strategy and drive customer success in the new Intelligence era,” he added.

Collaborative business environment

The SAP Leonardo Center Singapore aims to foster a collaborative environment for businesses, start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises to experiment and innovate.

One of SAP APJ’s first SAP Leonardo customers in Korea is Hanon Systems. Headquartered in South Korea, Hanon Systems is a global leader in automotive thermal and energy management solutions, and an early- adopter of SAP Leonardo in APJ.

With insight into the benefits of digital manufacturing, the company identified manufacturing performance and equipment health as areas of measurement to pilot the Leonardo platform at one of its plants in Europe.

Robert Oh, Chief Information Officer and Business Transformation Executive at Hanon Systems, believes a supplier’s ability to compete in today’s automotive market is no longer measured by just its product offering.

“At Hanon Systems, we believe our digital transformation can change the way we manufacture in a positive way to improve our productivity, increase our overall efficiency and further strengthen our customer relationships,” he said.

Hub for Ecosystem

More than being a digital innovation system to help businesses power their digital transformation, SAP Leonardo Center also serves as a hub for SAP’s broader digital technology ecosystem including universities, startups, tech communities and accelerators.

SAP APJ also prepares the next-generation innovators with knowledge and skills for the digital future through the SAP University Alliances program.

The program exposes 1.7 million students in educational institutions in APJ to innovative technologies.

SAP APJ has established 13 Next-Gen labs in APJ with plans to open more in the future. /jpv