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Home / News / [SPEECH] Welcome Address by Mr Chan Tsan, CEO of HTX, at Milipol Asia-Pacific – TechX Summit 2024

[SPEECH] Welcome Address by Mr Chan Tsan, CEO of HTX, at Milipol Asia-Pacific – TechX Summit 2024

Welcome Address by Mr Chan Tsan, CEO of HTX, at Milipol Asia-Pacific – TechX Summit 2024 on 3 April

 

Introduction

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Mr Gérald Darmanin, Minister of Interior of France

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

 

  1. A warm welcome to all.

     

  2. HTX is Singapore’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency. Our mission is to Force Multiply the Home Team through Science and Technology and to keep Singapore safe and secure.

     

  3. In 2022, HTX organised our first TechX Summit (or TXS) conference. This year, together with Civipol, our partners from France, it is with great joy and pride that I welcome you to the inaugural Milipol Asia-Pacific – TechX Summit (MAP-TXS) 2024.

     

  4. The homeland security community is already familiar with the Milipol network of events. Milipol is the leading Homeland Security event organised under the aegis of the French Ministry of Interior and held globally in Paris, Qatar, India and Singapore. The most recent Milipol held in Paris in Nov 2023 gathered over 1,000 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors. In our region, Milipol Asia-Pacific (or MAP) has been held in Singapore since 2015.

     

  5. Today, this brand new 2-in-1 event is the result of MAP and TXS joining forces because Civipol and HTX saw obvious synergies between Milipol’s scale and global reach and TechX Summit’s focus on fostering dialogue and collaboration amongst the Homeland Security community.

     

  6. I would like to thank CEO Civipol Mr Yann Jounot for the excellent partnership in making this collaboration possible. Thank you for sharing HTX’s vision that by joining forces, MAP-TXS can be better than the sum of our individual parts.

     

  7. It is also our honour and privilege today to have Minister Shanmugam and Minister Darminin here to grace this event. Joining us at the opening ceremony are also 1,800 guests comprising leaders and practitioners from Government, industry and academia. Thank you for being part of this inaugural event.

     

    MAP – Powering Innovation: A Safe and Secure Future

  8. Next I will highlight a few things about MAP-TXS 2024 that we can look forward to.

     

  9. The MAP Exhibition is themed “Powering Innovation: A Safe and Secure Future”. There are a total of 350 companies from over 31 countries participating in the Exhibition spanning nearly 15,000 square meters. This is roughly double the number of exhibitors and 50% more floor space than previous editions, introducing more S&T innovations than before.

     

  10. Overall we are expecting more than 10,000 visitors from all around the world. The scale and reach of MAP-TXS will far surpass MAP and TXS individually.

     

  11. And for the first time, HTX Pavilion will take centre stage in the MAP Exhibition Hall to showcase innovations from HTX and 37 of our industry partners. It is a testament of the extraordinary work that we have done with our partners over the past 4-5 years. To all our partners, thank you for walking alongside HTX in our journey to Force Multiply the Home Team.

     

  12. The HTX Pavilion will also feature a unique cybersecurity Capture-The-Flag (or CTF) event co-organised by HTX and SANS Institute. The event is a gamified experience where participants will be trained on topics from defending systems against AI attacks to optimising cybersecurity with AI. The CTF competition will bring together participants from Institutes of Higher Learning, industry, and Government agencies. This CTF is unique as it combines the themes of AI, IoT and Homeland Security challenges in a single event.

     

    TXS Conference – “AI and Homeland Security”

  13. The theme of the TXS Conference is “AI and Homeland Security”. AI has taken the world by storm and is a topic that concerns all of us. The conference will delve into exciting topics such as the Future Direction of AI in Homeland Security, Transforming Operations through Gen AI, Industry’s role in AI deployment, Safe adoption of AI and more. I am confident that these discussions will give rise to more dialogue and collaborations amongst the Homeland Security community to help us better harness the power of AI.

     

  14. The conference will also feature specially tailored workshops and forums such as – “Leaders in Crisis Management Forum” organised by the Home Team Academy, “Emerging Technologies for Public Safety” by IEEE, and a “Facial Recognition Workshop” organised by Biometrics Institute.

     

    Conclusion

  15. I hope that MAP-TXS will become a platform of choice for leaders and practitioners in the Homeland Security space to see and experience the latest tech innovations, discuss and learn from one another, grow their networks and spark new collaborations.

     

  16. It is also my hope is that MAP-TXS 2024 will be but the first in a very long series of joint events. And that like a good bottle of French wine, it will become better with age.

     

  17. Thank you and I wish you a fruitful experience ahead.