Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia summit highlights success of millennials in tech

The first ever 30 Under 30 Asia summit, held in Singapore this week, celebrates 300 of the continent's most successful young entrepreneurs and innovators.

The event is part of the Smart Nation Innovations Week being held in the country, which also includes Innovfest unBound, the Tech Saturday carnival and the Big Bang Data exhibition, exploring the impact of data at Singapore's ArtScience Museum.

Alan Griffin, Forbes Media's managing director for Digital Asia, said: "We are delighted to bring Forbes' successful Under 30 Summit to Asia for the first time and look forward to hosting a dynamic and powerful group of millennials in Singapore. This summit will provide a unique platform for young entrepreneurs, game-changers and disruptors to come together, to learn, share, collaborate, be inspired and give back to the local community in Singapore.

"Singapore, ranked among the world's most competitive economies, is also one of the most globally connected countries. As a leading tech and innovation hub in the region, Singapore is the perfect location to host this summit."

In the 2016 BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneur Report conducted by Scorpio Partnership consultancy, 32 per cent of the 2,600 high net worth global entrepreneurs surveyed came from Asia, compared to 47 per cent from Europe and 14 per cent from the US. Among them, 32 per cent were under the age of 35, totalling 837 so-called 'millentrepreneurs'.

In the UK, it was recently revealed that 59 per cent of entrepreneurs under 35 are women, which surpasses the global average of 47 per cent. Only 16 per cent of UK entrepreneurs over 55 are women, however, pointing to a clear generational shift.

In 2014, just 5 per cent of founders in Singapore were women. Among this year's 30 Under 30 honorees in the enterprise tech category, just four (1.2 per cent) were female.

These honorees were Dian Guan, co-founder and VP for PatSnap; Li Hui, CEO of MikeCRM; Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO of Canva, and Michelle Sun, founder and CEO of Code First Academy.

"As Singapore pursues its vision to become a Smart Nation, it is important for us to provide our entrepreneurs and start-ups the opportunity to share knowledge, and to work towards a common goal of creating new innovations to tackle shared global challenges arising from ageing populations and urban density," said Steve Leonard, executive deputy chairman of IDA.

"Singapore, with the raw ingredients for entrepreneurs to build and grow their business, is naturally the best place to hold this summit in Asia. Our partnership with Forbes to bring the Under 30 Summit Asia as part of our Smart Nation Innovations Week will allow young innovators to come together to work towards this common goal."