Reefknot Investments, a Singapore-based global Joint-Venture Capital Fund between Temasek and Kuehne + Nagel, has today announced the launch of the Centre of Excellence for Global Emerging Supply Chain Technologies (GESCT).
GESCT aims to drive new business models and transformations in the supply chain and logistics industry. Founding members of this industry-leading Think Tank include global thought leaders in their respective fields - Steve Leonard, Founding CEO, SGInnovate; Simon Fich, Head of Global Corporate Development, Kuehne + Nagel; Marc Dragon, Managing Director, Reefknot Investments. Also signing on as individual members of the GESCT are Wolfgang Lehmacher, Former Director & Head of Supply Chain and Transport Industries, World Economic Forum, and Kong Wai Wei, Global Supply Chain Director, Starbucks Corporation.
The GESCT is designed around an ecosystem approach which will drive rapid learnings and
synergies across the various participants. The current core team of 5 founding members, together with ecosystem partners they will actively curate, will work together to discuss and share the implications of new business models and technologies in the supply chain and logistics industry.
A Memorandum of Understanding between Reefknot Investments and the founding GESCT members was also signed today as these global industry leaders commit to working together to drive activities related to creating value and impact for the GESCT.
Marc Dragon, Managing Director of Reefknot Investments said, "As transformation within the supply chain and logistics space continues at an accelerated pace, information around new business models and technologies that influence and impact within and around this space remains fragmented, creating siloed bodies of knowledge. The GESCT aims to be a global industry Think Tank and Centre of Excellence that would share Points of View on implications of
new technologies and business models to the industry, that would not only be useful for our
ecosystem partners, but for the industry at large."
Steve Leonard, Founding CEO, SGInnovate said, "Supply chains are – by their very nature – often complex and globalised, with many people, partners and processes involved. We believe that exciting new areas of technology such as artificial intelligence have the potential to not only
disrupt existing supply chain operating models but also reduce the environmental impact of current systems. SGInnovate's deep tech community of 30,000 individuals and dozens of partner organisations will create value for the GESCT initiative in a variety of ways. SGInnovate is a leading deep tech startup builder, and we will invest our money and our time to help start and scale companies that are able to tackle difficult challenges for the supply chain and logistics industry."
Primary activities the GESCT will pursue include:
- Contribution to the exchange of knowledge, publications and materials via regular forums, Expert Panels and Thought Leadership Papers
- Co-development and curation of Supply Chain Business Models and Technology Trends
- Active involvement with startups, corporates and academia to drive learnings in this space
Wolfgang Lehmacher, Former Director & Head of Supply Chain and Transport Industries, World Economic Forum, added, "Large scale operational and business model transformation – with supply chain and logistics innovation at its core – is upon us. The accelerating digitisation of
global value chains are about to drive many game-changing solutions and platforms, enabled by
technologies like cloud computing, internet of things and artificial intelligence towards maturity
and mass application. In this context, the creation of the Centre of Excellence for Global
Emerging Supply Chain Technology, namely the GESCT, comes in very timely. My ambition as
a member of the Think Tank is to contribute to make the GESCT the point of reference and the
indispensable exchange forum for thought leaders and practitioners in the field of supply chain
and logistic innovation."
