
L-R: Natarajan MM (Arrow); Esmond Wong (Arrow); H.E. Dr Ulrich A. Sante (German Ambassador to Singapore); Dr Koh Poh Koon (Senior Minister of State, Singapore); Dr. Helmut Gassel (Infineon) and Chua Chee Seong (Infineon)
Arrow Electronics has entered into a partnership with Infineon Technologies to boost the innovation capital of start-up businesses across Southeast Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand.
“With technologies rapidly evolving in the last few years, startups constantly face challenges to stay ahead of the game,” said Natarajan MM, vice president of sales for South Asia at Arrow. “They are often in need of engineering expertise, especially in areas such as wireless connectivity, sensing and controlling and system integration.
"This is where Arrow can come in to bridge these knowledge gaps and accelerate turning innovative ideas to impactful inventions/businesses."
The agreement cementing the partnership was signed during Infineon Technologies' OktoberTech Asia where industry players and partners of the vendor had the opportunity to showcase a range of solutions around the future of mobility, robotics, smart living and smart cities.
"We are excited to extend our long-standing collaboration with Infineon and put a wide range of Infineon innovative products in the hands of the innovators and engineers, especially in the areas of the autonomous car, electrified low-speed vehicles, robotics, industry 4.0, and smart home and city applications," said Natarajan.
The agreement signing was witnessed by event attendees such as Dr Koh Poh Koon, senior minister of state, ministry of trade and industry and national development and H.E. Dr Ulrich A. Sante, German Ambassador to Singapore.
"Infineon offers a wide range of microelectronics that connects the digital world of data with the real world of things, from sensors to security chips," said Chua Chee Seong, president and managing director of Asia Pacific at Infineon Technologies.
"Infineon's collaboration with Arrow will offer start-ups the capabilities and innovations to develop the next generation of intelligent and intuitive devices."
A series of keynote speeches headlined the event with concurrent technical tracks and an innovation showcase of nearly 40 mobility, smart living and robotic applications.
Arrow also announced a collaboration with the Singapore-based Internet of Things (IoT) accelerator AIRmaker, with the provider helping the start-up accelerator become more effective and productive in their idea-to-impact product journey.
The business did this by helping the accelerator overcome technical challenges and gain critical IoT technology know-how, to turn a design into a product ready to be manufactured.
"As a start-up accelerator, we have seen a lot of talented entrepreneurs and promising startups in Singapore who are ready to take off and thrive,” said Kwai Seng Lee, managing director, AIRmaker. “They have great business ideas and the vision to contribute to the nation.
"Global technology companies such as Arrow bring technology know-how and engineering expertise that can help startups throughout their idea-to-impact innovation journey."
The distributor continues to gain prominence in Asia with Palo Alto Networks naming the organisation its top distribution partner for 2018 across the Asia Pacific region during its 2019 sales kick-off in Toronto, Canada in September.