Daily Briefing: SG's Circulate Capital is dedicating half of its $140.5m ‘ocean fund' to India; SG employers reminded: No lohei for CNY

And How art consultant The Artling uses AI to help interior designers.

From DealStreetAsia:

From discarded debit cards to packaging material, plastic waste is choking up our streets and oceans. COVID-19 and circuit breaker restrictions made it worse as throwaways increased while collections got disrupted.

India generates around 10 million tonnes of plastic waste a year, 40% of which is not even collected, let alone being recycled. This is not just a massive problem but also an opportunity to create value from waste, with tech innovations.

The scale of this prompted Singapore-based Circulate Capital to dedicate half of its $140.5m (US$106m) “ocean fund” to India.

Read more here.

From HumanResourcesOnline:

Singapore's tripartite partners—the Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress, and Singapore National Employers Federation—have stated that work-from-home should remain the default arrangement for now, in order to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmissions at the workplace.

The decision to postpone further adjustments to the current Workplace Safe Management Measures (SMM), despite Singapore's transition into Phase Three of reopening, was made due to the higher risk of "potentially more transmissible strains as well as recent trends in COVID-19 cases in the community (including at workplaces)."

It was noted that even under the current Workplace SMM, peak-hour travel on public transport has increased by 11%, compared to November 2020.

As such, in the event employees have to report to the office, the tripartite partners have called on employers to implement staggered work hours "more extensively." "The public sector has contributed to this effort by enabling staff to adopt flexible workplace arrangements, such as hybrid working arrangements, flexible workplace hours, and staggered start times."

Read more here.

From e27:

The tech industry does not stand in a silo. In fact, it is integrating seamlessly with various other industries such as art and design, creating a harmonious dance between technology and the human sense of beauty.

The Artling, a Singapore-based art and design consultancy firm, is an example of such a company whose business offers the integration between the art and tech world.

Founded in 2013, the company connects buyers with sellers worldwide, assisting users in their art and design needs by enabling their listed creatives to build their own “storefronts” and “shoppable portfolios.”

It highlights the best of contemporary art and design from both emerging and established studios and galleries, offering end-to-end art consultancy services for both private and corporate clients. Its notable clients include Google, Twitter, JLL, the Four Seasons, the Ritz Carlton, and Swarovski.

Read more here.