Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times: Asian Innovation, Inclusion, and Impact during COVID-19

ASIA BUSINESS COUNCIL HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 7 3 Temasek (Singapore) Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times Crisis Management at Temasek To be sure, Temasek’s response to COVID-19 was informed by its previous experiences in crisis management; throughout the years, it has weathered the SARS, H1N1 Bird Flu, MERS, and the Zika virus, among others. It was, therefore, relatively easy for Temasek to implement visitor-management systems, thermal scanning, and contact tracing when the coronavirus broke out in January 2020, and staff were also relatively experienced with crisis management through regular exercises. In fact, Temasek had established a crisis management teammore than ten years ago as a standing committee with representatives from various departments, including legal, communications, human resources, finance, and operations. In “peace time,” the crisis management team has regular meetings twice a year to go through issues like security screening, cybersecurity breaches, and fire drills, but there is also a small, dedicated two-person team that works full-time to support business continuity planning. For COVID-19, Temasek activated a team of 20-30 people that met every day at the height of the pandemic and shared its learnings with its portfolio companies along the way. Effective crisis management was no doubt an enabling factor for Temasek’s innovative and impactful initiatives for the wider community. Future Outlook Looking ahead, the main focus of Temasek is investing and creating value through the companies in which it invests. While China overtook Singapore in 2020 as Temasek’s largest single country of exposure by underlying assets, the company invests globally, guided by four themes 4 and six trends. 5 It does not have country allocation targets, but as its portfolio is substantially marked to market values of its holdings, exposure will vary along with country market performance. In relation to investments from a life sciences perspective, Alsagoff notes that there are, in general, challenges associated with aging, mental health, dementia, and more. The world is shifting toward artificial intelligence and machine learning, which can be integrated into healthcare models for the future. And while there may, in some instances, be inertia from doctors and the existing healthcare framework, technological enablers are coming to the forefront, transforming health care, diagnostics, therapeutics and standards of care. The investment opportunities in life sciences will include telemedicine and the internet of medical things, which will open new areas of potential growth. From a broader angle, the digital landscape is changing lives, and COVID-19 has accelerated the transition into the digital realm. For example, given the persistence and complexity of cyberattacks, there is a need to constantly enhance The world is shifting toward artificial intelligence and machine learning…technological enablers are...transforming health care, diagnostics, therapeutics and standards of care. The investment opportunities in life sciences will include telemedicine and the internet of medical things, which will open new areas of potential growth.