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S'pore start-up among 5 global picks for Japan construction group Kajima's mentorship and funding
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The construction robotics lab at The Gear, which operates as the technology services and open-innovation platform of the Kajima group.
SINGAPORE – A Singapore start-up is one of five global picks by Japanese construction group Kajima Corp for a programme to help accelerate the commercialisation of their concepts.
CityBot Technology, which makes robots to inspect confined or hazardous underground facilities such as drains, sewers and pipes, joins two British companies, one from the US and another from Hong Kong for The Gear Startup CoLab programme.
Chief executive Chen Zhi hopes to take his robotic and artificial intelligence-powered analytics systems global in the next 12 months.
The start-up is also trialling its concepts with PUB after winning the national water agency's annual global innovation challenge in 2023 with its smart drain inspector.
CityBot and the other four companies were picked from 96 applications from 17 countries after the programme was launched in April. About 57 per cent of the applicants are from overseas.
The five companies will receive mentorship, funding and access to Kajima's regional headquarters and research facility at Changi Business Park to test their technologies.
The companies, which were picked for their potential to go commercial, had submitted ideas for innovations ranging from wearables that enhance worksite safety and multi-use toolbox robots to dirt-repellent coating and carbon-reducing technologies.
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Kajima also identified from among the applicants 10 candidates at earlier stages of development to help them validate concepts on its premises or online, and plans to identify another batch of firms in the next few months.
The Gear managing director Luke Wu said: 'We hope to engage with the emerging start-ups that are pushing the boundaries of our imagination towards more productive processes, occupant-responsive environments, resilient infrastructure and sustainable practices.'
The Gear, which operates as the technology services and open-innovation platform of the Kajima group, has been engaging start-ups since 2023.
One of these, ConcreteAI, delivered two proof-of-concept projects with Kajima construction sites. The start-up's system validates the early-age strength and temperature development of job-site concrete.
Another start-up, Wattif Technologies, credits the Gear team for helping it demonstrate the real-world value of its energy intelligence solution, which boosted customer confidence and led to more installations.
The start-up is deploying its solution in a commercial building in Tokyo in 2025 and is eyeing more opportunities in Japan, Australia and Singapore.
Wattif CEO Dharani Malladi said: 'The Gear team here – from research experts to facility managers – are all highly knowledgeable with deep domain expertise. Our discussions with them helped us validate, and even invalidate, some of the hypotheses we had.'
Mr Heng Teck Thai, deputy CEO of the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), said acute needs for greater productivity, design coordination, as well as ambitious sustainability targets and complex facility operations, are pushing companies towards innovation.
BCA supports initiatives such as The Gear's, which also help start-ups gain cross-border partnerships and global perspectives, he said.
BCA is one of The Gear's programme partners, together with JTC Corporation, Enterprise Singapore, Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation, Action Community for Entrepreneurship and the Singapore Management University.
CityBot's Dr Chen said Kajima's support provides the start-up with a peek into current industry practices and real-world operational challenges.
'By engaging with these real-world scenarios, we can validate our products and services not only within Singapore, but also on a global scale,' he added.
