About ASEAN Impact Challenge 2017 (AIC)

The slogan of ASEAN 2017 “Partnering for Change, Engaging the World” resonates with the aim of the ASEAN Impact Challenge, which is to discover innovators and entrepreneurs from Southeast Asia who are accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through cross-sector partnerships and scaling disruptive innovations. Throughout the challenge, finalist ventures are given opportunities to engage with the wider Southeast Asian ecosystem and explore inclusive innovations across the region.

Out of 319 teams, 10 finalists were selected to experience a 8-week intensive acceleration programme known as the Global Goals Labs, receiving mentorship and guidance from country partners across South East Asia. The early and scale stage ventures then travelled to Manila, Philippines, for the regional finals on 12th November 2017.

The Top 10 Finalists are:

Inclusive Healthcare – Artemis Health Ecosystem (Philippines)

Inclusive Technology – Jala (Indonesia)

Inclusive Business – Minh Hong Biotech (Vietnam)

Inclusive Sanitation – Ecoloo (Malaysia)

Inclusive Education – Edukasyon.ph (Philippines)

Inclusive Livelihoods – Empleo (Philippines)

Humanitarian Action – The Picha Project (Malaysia)

Inclusive Cities – Waste4Change (Indonesia)

Inclusive Agriculture – Uproot Aquaponics

Inclusive Finance – Zakat Kasih (Indonesia)

The winners for the third cycle of the ASEAN Impact Challenge were Atnic for their Jala innovation, an IoT device that gathers water quality data helping farmers access historical data and analysis to increase yield and minimise risk of harvest failure, and Waste4Change, a turnkey waste to wealth initiative supported by a technology platform enabling everyone to be part of the circle economy.

The awards ceremony was held at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit and was presented by H.E. Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, accompanied by Dr. Shariha Khalid, Co-Founder of Impact Hub Kuala Lumpur, and Jose Ma. Concepcion III, Chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council.

The ASEAN+SocialGood Forum was held as part of the agenda of the regional finals in partnership with Rappler. Panel discussions were held along the theme of Building an Inclusive ASEAN featuring key persons from different sectors. Click here to watch the broadcast of the forum.