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Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology (SWITCH 2020)

Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology (SWITCH) is a global event that connects people and is a catalyst for new partnerships between innovation enablers, enterprises and start-ups from Singapore and around the world.

Held in 2020, the event’s fifth edition largely focused on healthcare and biomedical sciences, smart cities and urban solutions, trade and connectivity. Due to the pandemic, a virtual format was adopted for the first time. While the format has changed, the goal of fostering a healthy ecosystem between innovation enablers, enterprises and start-ups did not; digitalization was accomplished without compromising the user experience.

virtual

Insight

Being online and live around the clock allowed SWITCH 2020 to reach a great audience. The various immersive designs and digital tools improved the overall user experience, expanding the audience and enabling better connectivity between people.

Solution

Working to a broad concept of bringing the physical experience online, the team re-created the spatial quality of an actual visit to Singapore, augmented and enhanced with digital features. Accordingly, every touchpoint in the user journey was designed and tested by the Pico team.

The result was SWITCH’s centrepiece – a ‘digital city that never sleeps’ modelled after the Buona Vista district – the real-life nexus of Singapore’s tech community. The virtual district served as a one-stop innovation enterprise platform while highlighting the city as a global hub for innovation and tech start-ups.

Within its boundaries, exhibitors were located in various ‘villages’ differentiated by its own unique designs for the lobbies, showcases and exhibitor booths. As attendees navigate around these villages, they were immersed in and connected with more than 1,000 exhibitors and sponsors.

The striking variations of the village environments clearly differentiated the various sectors and encouraged attendees to explore more places in the event. It also helped direct users to the right content amidst a sea of information. The intuitive usability of the platform helped foster new partnerships and opportunities between innovation enablers, enterprises and start-ups.

Pico was responsible for the concept design, site architecture, user experience and a clear design structure consisting of an overall map design of three iconic areas in Singapore including the Buona Vista District, 11 custom villages (76 building architectures), 12 lobbies, 12 showcases, 42 booths and two special showrooms. Some interactive features such as agenda customisation and text chat functions for participants were incorporated in the virtual platform to ensure a high level of interactivity and personalised user experience.

Results

SWITCH 2020 was a major component of the SFF X SWITCH 2020, contributing to the show’s impressive overall results including:

  • A total of 1,300 exhibitors
  • 600+ global speakers
  • 4,400 meetings facilitated
  • Over 200 content sessions
  • 3.5 million views globally

Testimonial

“Necessity drove SWITCH 2020 online, but the Pico team’s experience and insight ensured that the new platform would be a virtue. We wanted to lose nothing in the way of user experience in the transition, and this was achieved with the team’s ‘digital city’ and ‘village’ concepts. These created an intuitive, instantly familiar setting in which visitors, exhibitors and sponsors could interact in a natural and engaging way” – Seng Woei Yuan, Deputy Director, SWITCH

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