The annual DBS Asia X (DAX) Lab Crawl returned on 14 November as one of the must-visit destinations under the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) programme. Showcasing innovative fintech solutions from DBS and the bank’s collaborations with the fintech ecosystem, the fully-subscribed event opened its doors to more than 500 lab crawlers.

What did the participants get out of their visit? Other than an immersive tour of the innovation space at DAX, they also learned about how fintech solutions improve the quality of life at work. The showcases presented inventive uses of technologies in voice recognition (IBG Voice Recognition), artificial intelligence (JOY Virtual Assistant), banking application programming interfaces (DBS RAPID), and palm print recognition (Octobox). To enhance the lab crawl experience, the participants also witnessed demonstrations of the technologies’ real-world applications for corporations and consumers.

Sustainability, one of the prominent themes at this year’s SFF, was featured strongly at the lab crawl via the the Innovation team’s research on sustainable digital finance. Participants were introduced to DBS’ approach as well as other sustainable digital finance trends including new data sources for decision making and incentivised resource-efficient consumption and production. As part of DBS’ efforts in sustainability and engagement with the participants, the bank also committed to planting a tree in Singapore for every 50 responses collected from the quiz about sustainable digital finance.

Here’s what lab crawlers from various industries had to say about their experience at DAX, sustainable digital finance, and the future of fintech:

Peyman Parham Al Awadhi, Marketing and Corporate Communications

“It’s been a fantastic experience as everything stands out at the DAX Lab Crawl. The innovation that I enjoyed the most was the voice recognition technology. It will become the next big thing, if it is not already.

On sustainable finance, there are currently a lot of investments in those areas, such as solar power. On the financing side, I feel that it is something we can continue to develop, to support the government when it comes to the projects that fall within the Sustainable Development Goals.”

April Tolentino — Events Management

“This is my third year at the DAX Lab Crawl. There are a lot of cool innovations that I could only see here. For me, I really loved the Octobox because of the fact that we’re able to scan our palms to pay for purchases. Probably in the next few years, I think we may even have chips embedded in our palms, similar to how cards like the EZ-Link have chips.”

Matthieu Heslouin — Investment Banking

“It’s been a good experience here at the DAX Lab Crawl, as it’s a good example of open innovation. We can get to see and touch the innovative aspects of DBS. I feel that the atmosphere, the openness, and the showcases are very interesting.

I think that financial inclusion is the most interesting part and a major trend in the future of finance. Getting the underbanked population or companies to use financial services is really a strong interest now. I can see that financial services will be a strong commodity in the future, but it needs to be completely frictionless beyond traditional usage. Finding the right user interface and bringing more services to consumers or SMEs is very important.”

Tan Yi Ting — Finance and Accounts

“This is actually my first time here at this lab crawl. I really like the space here and it’s also kind of interesting what they’ve pitched and showed us during the tour. My first impression when I came into DAX was that it feels like a really conducive environment for creators and people who are really innovative.”

Check out the video below for more highlights of the DAX Lab Crawl:

In its third edition this year, the DBS Asia X Fintech Festival Lab Crawl welcomed more than 500 visitors to its showcase of innovative solutions on cashless payments, enhancing customer interactions, sustainable finance, and more. DBS Asia X, the innovation centre for DBS Bank, provides a space for the collaboration with start-ups and the broader fintech community to reimagine, inspire and create the future of banking.