Issuu

I SS U E

004

OCT - DEC 2014 MCI (P) 173/02/2014

The year was filled with exciting activities and events, fanning the flames of entrepreneurship and innovation to even greater heights. This issue captures the highlights from the past few months: the many collaborations we have forged with industry and academic partners; the progress and recognition achieved by our start-ups; and thought-leadership views on commercialisation and start-up businesses. A rousing end to the year in anticipation of an even busier one. Cheers to another good year ahead!

02 Making the first move: Commuthon 2014 New research consortium for spintronics 03 Disruptive technologies that create the future 04 Summer Programme NOC’s Tee-rrific outreach

05 Tech transfer: It’s not about the money, money, money 06 Building a company with over 200 million users

08 Sensational ViSenze clinches another win Going global - KAI Square recognised in Japan 09 Emphatic endorsements in Taiwan for NUS start-ups

10 NUS technologies on show for Energy RoadMap 2014 Second Go-toMarket talk 11 Advancing science by supporting high-impact research

13 Sky high valuation with BizEquity 14 Creatively enterprising: marrying design and business 15 2014 at a glance

16 Flash Forward

16 Useful Tinder

SPARKS interest with the latest in the start-up and entrepreneur scene within our community.

Red Hot

Making the first move: Commuthon 2014 SINGAPORE’S FIRST COMMUTER EXPERIENCE HACKATHON BY NUS ENTERPRISE AND SMRT

The winning teams at the NUS –SMART Commuthon on 31st August 2014.

Packed into Plug-In@Blk71, over 120 participants worked feverishly over the last weekend in August 2014 to develop innovative solutions for a more positive travel experience. Organised by NUS Enterprise and SMRT, the solutions spread across train, bus, taxi and open categories. Five teams each won a $500 cash prize, and the chance to realise their solutions through an additional $120,000 set aside by SMRT to fund selected projects for implementation. In addition to the cash prize, NUS Enterprise will support these winning teams through mentorship guidance, access to validation workshops and hot-desking support.

47% of the participants were from the NUS community and two out of the five winning companies were teams with alumni from the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC). One of the winners, aptly named ‘Your Move’, comprised a group of six alumni across different batches from NOC. ‘Your Move’ developed a mobile app that encourages train commuters to move deeper within the train carriages to avoid blocking access to the doors. The app leverages iBeacon technology and uses rewards and gamification tools to influence user behaviour. Tapidata, an NUS Enterprise incubatee, was another winner. This start-up offers taxi commuters digital electronic receipts on their mobile phones, an environmentally-friendly and hassle-free way to keep and sort receipts, especially useful when making transport claims. The solution benefits companies too, in providing improved data management options. “This is a first for the transport industry in Singapore, and we are excited to work with NUS Enterprise to provide a new and meaningful platform for public engagement. SMRT will be funding some of these innovations and we look forward to launching these in our network in the near future,” said Mr. Lee Ling Wee, Managing Director, SMRT Trains. ✦

New research consortium for spintronics

Members of the SG-SPIN Consortium (from left): Mr Russell Tham, President, Applied Materials South East Asia; Mr Rajesh Nair, Vice President, GLOBALFOUNDRIES Singapore; Prof Barry Halliwell, Deputy President (Research & Technology), NUS; Prof Low Teck Seng, CEO, National Research Foundation; Dr Lim Jui, CEO NTUitive, NTU; and Mr Patrick Chang, Director, Delta Electronics International (Singapore)

In December 2014, a new research consortium was set up in Singapore, encouraging researchers to explore innovative electron spin-based technologies for sensor, memory and logic applications. Called Singapore Spintronics Consortium (SG-SPIN), this will facilitate collaborative research partnerships between IHLs and industry. Spintronics is an emerging technology that utilises the intrinsic spin of electrons and associated magnetic moment, in addition to their electronic charge that is exclusively used in existing electronic devices. Spintronics technology is already used in hard-disk drives and magnetic field sensors. New potential

applications include non-volatile memory, logic and biomedical devices. SG-SPIN is led by Professor Wu Yihong from the NUS Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The consortium’s founding members - NUS, NTU, Applied Materials Inc., Delta Electronics and GLOBALFOUNDRIES – signed an MOU to demonstrate their commitment to collaborate in spintronics R&D activities. The NUS Industry Liaison Office took the lead in driving and facilitating this collaboration. Several R&D projects have been identified under SG-SPIN and will commence in 2015. SG-SPIN is supported by NRF Singapore. ✦

SPARKS interest with the latest in the start-up and entrepreneur scene within our community.

Red Hot

Disruptive technologies that create the future INAUGURAL TECHCRACKER SINGAPORE PRESENTED BY HORIZONS VENTURES, VERTEX VENTURE HOLDINGS AND NUS ENTERPRISE

The buzz of anticipation at the University Cultural Centre on 7 October 2014 was palpable as over 300 visitors from Hong Kong together with the NUS and the Singapore entrepreneur community gathered for presentations from seven start-ups in town especially for Techcracker Singapore. A conference showcasing ‘disruptive technologies’ from a range of industries, Techcracker Singapore was jointly organised by the Li Ka Shing Foundation, Horizons Ventures, NUS Enterprise and Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd. Techcracker was first organised in Beijing in May 2014 by Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures, Li Ka Shing’s venture capital firm that focuses investments mainly in disruptive technology start-ups from around the world. Some of its previous investees include tech giants such as Facebook, Skype and Spotify. The presentations from the seven founders held the audience spellbound with their passion and innovative ventures. Impossible Foods and Modern Meadow are set to revolutionize the meat and leather industries by producing plant-based and cultured meats and leathers that not only require no animal slaughter, but are also less harmful to the environment. Ariel Garten, CEO and co-founder of InteraXon, displayed her own brainwaves using Muse, a headband that helps people understand their own minds, and has a positive effect on their lifestyles. Space Glasses by Meta, another wearable technology, brought the Iron Man movies to life with interactive 3D glasses that merge the physical and holographic worlds with a wide range of applications in work and play.

(L to R) Mr S Iswaran, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Second Minister for Trade and Industry received by Prof Barry Halliwell, NUS Deputy President (Research and Technology), Dr Lily Chan, CEO, NUS Enterprise, and Prof Wong Poh Kam, Director, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, NUS Enterprise, at Techcracker 2014.

(3rd from left) Prof Tan Chorh Chuan, NUS President on stage with some participants to try the freshly prepared beef burger.

Ariel Garten demonstrating Muse, the brain sensing headband.

Some other ventures included Teralytics, a Singapore-based big data firm that demonstrated how efficient data capture and use can solve some of the most complex urban issues from traffic to the way we communicate. MeMed founder Eran Edan shared an inspiring story about his entrepreneur journey and the founding of a medical technology venture revolutionizing disease diagnostics and minimizing misuse of antibiotics. Also featured was Roli’s Seaboard, a radically new musical instrument that marries the sensitivity of a traditional musical instrument with the compactness and adaptability of digital technology. Besides inspiring the audience at the morning conference, the founders networked with invited guests and investors over lunch and made time for sharing sessions with small groups of students and entrepreneurs from the NUS community and visiting students from Hong Kong. They also provided useful perspectives in a ‘Pitch Jam’ session featuring specially invited NUS start-ups. Techcracker is set to empower a global community of change makers to build a more sustainable and responsible future by exploring new and innovative ways of tackling existing problems. Its stopover in Singapore was made possible through the close collaboration between the NUS Development Office, the NUS Office of Corporate Relations and NUS Enterprise. ✦

SPARKS interest with the latest in the start-up and entrepreneur scene within our community.

Red Hot

Gaining Singapore entrepreneurial insights: Summer Programme Held from 14th to 25th July, the 2014 NUS Entrepreneurship Insights Summer Programme was attended by more than 60 students from 17 countries. In its 9th year, the two-week residential programme has to-date hosted over 600 students from 32 countries helping many gain insight into local business practices and entrepreneurship development activities. Programme highlights included sharing sessions; a blindfolded clay-making class conducted by Clay-Street, a social enterprise that supports visually impaired potters; and visits to Lam Soon Group, an established household brand in Singapore, and Clearbridge Accelerator, an accelerator for medical technology start-up companies. “This programme not only taught me leadership skills but also provided a comprehensive educational experience. The site visits to

businesses, government organisations and cultural heritage sites were wonderful. I am extremely satisfied with the level of academic rigour and quality of instruction. I made strong friendships with students from different countries. The combination of lectures, dialogue sessions with entrepreneurs, small group discussions and project presentations were both interesting and enriching.” – Paras Dhawan, Bits Pilani-Dubai undergraduate and NUS Summer Programme 2014 attendee. ✦

The application period for the next Summer Programme will begin on 26th Jan 2015. For more details contact enterprise@nus.edu.sg.

Some of the Summer programme participants at the sharing session in July 2014.

NOC’s Tee-rrific Outreach

The ever burgeoning NOC family, beautiful in blue and brown on NOC Tee Day on 28th August 2014.

Winners of the Funniest Selfie.

The NUS campus was awash with blue, brown and gold on 28th August 2014 as NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) staff and alumni stationed themselves across seven faculties for selfies with students. Over a hundred snaps were captured and posted onto NOC’s Facebook page, leading to an overwhelming number of enquiries from prospective NOC applicants. Attractive prizes were given to the Most Liked, Funniest and Best Group selfies. Salute and thanks to over 60 NOC alumni who continue to walk-the-talk of entrepreneurship as brand ambassadors, infecting students with their passion and inspiring them to take on the challenge of becoming an entrepreneur. More smiles for NOC! ✦

Bright Ideas

SPARKS ideas with different thoughts and perspectives.

Tech transfer: It’s not about the money... money... money... SEAN FLANIGAN SPEAKS ABOUT CHALLENGES IN RESEARCH COMMERCIALISATION

When the Bayh-Dole Act passed in 1980, allowing universities to retain ownership of inventions created with the use of Federal research dollars, tech transfer offices flourished across the United States. But the industry has come under fire in recent years, with dual accusations that universities themselves act as an impediment to innovation through patenting and commercialisation efforts, while simultaneously not doing enough to maximise revenues through these same activities. Combatting the criticism is Mr Sean Flanigan, immediate past President of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). Speaking in Singapore on 25th August 2014 on “Challenges in Research Commercialisation: Focusing on the Impact of Research, Not Return on Investment,” the InnovFest 2013 speaker called for a better understanding of technology transfer, as well as a broader view of the value and impact that it can have for society. “There have been three million jobs created in the US economy based on university technologies alone,” Flanigan stated. But these and other more intangible markers of success – the value of lives saved due to new drugs, the contribution to an educated workforce, the advancements made in standards of living, etc. - often get lost when more immediate and easily quantifiable measures are called for. Compounding the problem is AUTM’s own annual report of licensing revenue data, which itself has contributed to the perception that success is best measured in financial returns.

Flanigan argued that the risk of relying solely on financial markers places technology transfer offices in the precarious position of having internal priorities and expectations misaligned with those of their external stakeholders. Such emphasis additionally neglects the nuances and complexity of the entire process, conflating activity with outcome and trivialising the amount of time it takes for research to move into the marketplace. In reality, as demonstrated by a Columbia University study quoted by Flanigan, only 50% of patented technologies have been licensed by their fifth year of availability. More worryingly, increasing budget restrictions are threatening the centrally important role of research at many US universities. Given the direct correlation between research expenditure and subsequent technology commercialisation, Flanigan argued it is imperative for tech transfer offices to now shift and diversify both their means of engaging with industry, as well as the ways in which they convey their impact. “If we continue to report the same kind of snapshot- the Polaroid look of each year, we’re not going to get the full picture; we’re not going to be able to demonstrate the broader impact that these technologies can have,” Flanigan remarked. Instead, he argued that multi-modal measures must be used to supplement traditional measures, encompassing not just the value to the university but to its partners. These measures might include the Licensing Success Rate (LSR), which prioritises commercialisation

SPARKS ideas with different thoughts and perspectives.

over revenue maximisation, as well as human impact stories that focus on the end-user of commercialised technologies, such as those being compiled through AUTM’s “Put A Face On It” campaign. In order to generate this impact, new commercialisation methods and partnerships are needed to help transition university research into the economy. This includes enhancing sponsored research opportunities, as well as pioneering flexible IP terms, non-traditional deals and innovative new programmes to engage companies, inclusive of those that have not previously interacted with universities. While not every university will gain the stature of a Stanford or an MIT, Flanigan stressed that external expectations of duplicating their success misses the point. By placing public benefit at the center of its mission, tech transfer offices of any size are capable of creating meaningful impact in their own right. “It’s not about the money; it’s about making a difference.” ✦

Bright Ideas

Mr Sean Flanigan, immediate past President of the Association of University Technology Manager, discussing the impact of technology transfer on society on 25th August 2014.

Bright Ideas

SPARKS ideas with different thoughts and perspectives.

Building a company with over 200 million users GLOBAL START-UP@SINGAPORE PRESENTS MING LEI

speed. The typical response time for other search engines was 1.25 seconds. Baidu’s response rate was less than 1 second. Half a year later, competitors caught up, so Baidu focused on providing rich content – at least double the number of webpages of search. And when competitors caught up again, Baidu focused on providing accurate rankings – the top listed item should be the right one. Marketing Ming Lei sees marketing as an accelerator – it can help to win customers faster, or lose customers faster. Only start marketing once the product is ready. Since users have many choices, if they don’t like your product, you won’t get a second chance and negative publicity spreads faster. New marketing strategies place the product as the marketing plan and users as the marketing channel. Social media is tremendously powerful as users trust their friends over an advertisement. Mr Ming Lei, co-founder of Baidu, the world’s largest Chinese search engine, and CEO of Kuwo, a leading online digital music company in China, sharing insights on the challenges of building a successful mobile internet business.

On 10 October 2014, NUS Enterprise and NUS Business School coorganised another instalment of the Global Start-Up@Singapore seminar, this time presenting Mr Ming Lei, co-founder of Baidu, the world’s largest Chinese search engine, and CEO of Kuwo, China’s leading online digital music company. Ming Lei engaged the audience with his views on building a global internet company and growing the user base to over 200 million in a highly competitive market like China. Here are some of his tips:

Doing business in China China now has the largest population - 1.4 billion users, and a fastgrowing economy – more than 8% over the last 20 years. Internet penetration is still low, representing a large potential for growth. However, there is a lot of competition and thousands of eager entrepreneurs setting up copycat businesses. Ming Lei recommended that businesses find a local partner to help them better understand China. The country is unique - there are many government regulations, the legal system, culture and user demography are different and relationship and trust are very important. Looking to the future, Ming Lei stressed the need for entrepreneurs to have a strong innovation drive. To all the Singapore entrepreneurs, his advice was “Think Global, Team Global, Grow Global”! ✦

Choose the right market and user base Finding a fast-growing market is the most important factor. Fastgrowing means early stages of growth at 100% and later stages at 50%. A large user base, preferably above 100 million, is also important especially if you do not yet have a clear business model. Another strategy is to look for segmented markets with no dominant player. Those with high costs and competitors providing bad service represent great opportunities, as users will be looking for alternatives. In China, the market size for e-commerce is $2 trillion; for online advertisements it is $240 billion; and for online advertisements it is $180 billion. This is why Alibaba could grow bigger than Amazon. Build the product When developing a product, everyone wants to make the perfect solution. In reality this is hard due to limited resources. Instead, Ming Lei felt it is better to identify one important feature and make it much better than the competitors. The other features should still be average; otherwise, you won’t attract users. For example with Baidu, in the early days they focused on

(L) Prof Wong Poh Kam, Director, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre moderating the Q & A session with Mr Ming Lei, co-founder of Baidu at the Global Start-Up@Singapore seminar on 10th October 2014.

SPARKS action with fireside chats and tips from experienced entrepreneurs.

Trail Blazers

Sensational ViSenze clinches another win RED HERRING TOP 100 ASIA AWARDEE

Oliver Tan (right), Co-founder and CEO of ViSenze, and Alex Vieux (left), Publisher and CEO of Red Herring at the award ceremony on 29th August 2014

On 29 August 2014, National University of Singapore (NUS) technology spin-off ViSenze won yet another award, this time gaining a place among the 2014 Red Herring Top 100 Asia, a prestigious list honouring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from Asia. ViSenze, a two-year old company, has gained international exposure and is on an accelerated mode of growth. The victory was no easy feat; the rigorous selection process evaluated criteria such as financial performance, technology innovation, management quality, strategy, and market penetration. This was augmented by a review of the track record and standing of start-ups relative to their peers, allowing Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list a valuable instrument of discovery and advocacy for the most promising new business models in Asia. “Winning the Red Herring Top 100 Asia Award is a milestone for ViSenze,” said Oliver Tan, Co-Founder & CEO of ViSenze. “We set out to simplify the visual web with our simple but really smart visual tools. So this win is a firm testament to our R&D innovation, execution and management strength. It is also a timely highlight as we cross two years in our existence.” To the judges, ViSenze embodies the vision, drive and innovation that define a successful entrepreneurial venture. This truly is a mark of distinction for a promising new company and its entrepreneurs. ✦

Going global - KAI Square recognised in Japan AWARD OF EXCELLENCE AT FUKUOKA GLOBAL VENTURE AWARDS

KAI Square, an innovative surveillance solutions provider, was honoured with the Award of Excellence at the Fukuoka Global Venture Awards on 18th October 2014. The Fukuoka Global Venture Awards is a business plan competition for Japanese companies expanding internationally or foreign venture firms aiming to establish a presence in Japan. Dr. Neo Shi Yong, CEO of KAI Square, said, “To win the Award of Excellence is a special honour as the Japanese judges foresee a potential in our solutions for the Japanese market”. He provided insights about their signature product, VideoAnalytics-as-a-Service (VAaaS). VAaaS is an off-the-shelf video analytics solution that rides on KAI Square’s flagship product, KAI Unified Platform. VAaaS helps users, such as retailers, analyse video footage from surveillance cameras to gain insights about their businesses, such as customer demographics, number of people visiting their stores, effectiveness of marketing campaigns, staff allocation and more. Currently, VAaaS has helped retailers from over 10 retail sectors in six countries – Singapore, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia. KAI Square hopes to expand the product’s use throughout Asia. With the rising trend in online shopping in many parts of Asia, including Japan, KAI Square hopes to provide an affordable video analytics solution to help Japanese traditional retailers increase sales. “Web analytics

help online retailers understand their customers; likewise, video analytics help traditional retailers understand their customers”, said Dr. Neo. “Understanding your customers is the key to retail success. We hope more retailers would use video analytics to gain understanding of this.” Founded in 2006, KAI Square has helped transform businesses across many industries in the private and public sectors in Asia. It has bagged many prominent awards, testament to its growing market leadership in the security industry. ✦

KAI Square team members with Prof Wong Poh Kam, Director, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre (2nd from right) at the award ceremony in Fukuoka on 18th October 2014.

SPARKS action with fireside chats and tips from experienced entrepreneurs.

Trail Blazers

Emphatic endorsements in Taiwan for NUS start-ups 2014 GLOBAL TALENTREPRENEUR INNOVATION & COLLABORATION (GLOBALTIC) AWARDS

(L to R) Mr Kenneth Lou, CEO and Co-founder, Novelsys, Mr Kelvin Tan, Deputy Director, NUS Enterprise and Mr Jayden Ooi, CEO and Co-founder, Collappe at the Global Talentrepreneur Innovation & Collaboration Award ceremony on 22nd August 2014.

Two companies founded by NUS alumni and students took home prizes at the 2014 Global Talentrepreneur Innovation & Collaboration (GlobalTiC) Award ceremony on 22nd August 2014. Novelsys received the top prize in the youth pre-start-up category, securing the JohnnyTiC Award and a US$2,000 cash prize. Jayden Ooi from Collappe was recognised with the Best CEO prize, for his leadership performance and strategic vision. Both Novelsys and Collappe were winners at the Start-Up@ Singapore 2014 business plan competition organised by NUS Enterprise and NUS Business School earlier this year. The win made them eligible for the GlobalTiC Award. Nominated by NUS Enterprise, and supported with coaching and guidance by NUS Enterprise mentors, both went on to beat 11 other teams from Asia, Europe and South America. Novelsys was founded by three NUS students who have taken a year off their studies to work on developing the company’s flagship product – ampere™. This is a wireless charging sleeve for mobile phones, which does away with bulky power banks and other wired charging solutions. Novelsys plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign in end 2014, and targets shipping products to early adopters by 2015. “Competing at the GlobalTiC was a fantastic experience. Over the past year, we have honed our pitch and presentation skills - through Start-Up@Singapore, the Practicum grant and most recently with mentorship provided by Kelvin Tan, Deputy Director, NUS Enterprise at GlobalTiC,” said Kenneth Lou, CEO and Co-founder, Novelsys. The team from Collappe comprises NUS alumni and students. They are developing a chat-based mobile app that boosts collaboration during project work. Their solution encompasses the simplicity and convenience of mobile messaging, together with the productivity of desktop solutions. A minimal viable product has been developed and is undergoing closed beta user testing. Collappe has plans for a full launch in Q1 2015. “We made Collappe for students. However during the GlobalTiC Awards, we received positive validation from industry professionals as well, who suggested the potential for corporate use. We may explore this further in the future. The competition has opened up bigger networks for reaching out to overseas students in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and India,” said Jayden Ooi, CEO and Co-founder Collappe. ✦

Ampere, a wireless charging sleeve for mobile phones invented by Novelsys, an NUS start-up company.

Fired Up

SPARKS partnerships with industry and market leaders

NUS technologies on show for Energy RoadMap 2014 INAUGURAL SYMPOSIUM BY THE NATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE SECRETARIAT AND THE NATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION

(Left) Mr André Nobre from NUS SERIS explaining the solar irradiance monitoring map to the media at Energy RoadMap on 30th July 2014 at Suntec City Convention Centre.

The NUS Industry Liaison Office participated in the inaugural Energy RoadMap symposium, jointly organised by the National Climate Change Secretariat and the National Research Foundation on 30th July 2014. Themed ‘Accelerating Research to Deployment to Address Singapore’s Energy & Climate Change Challenges’, the symposium

Posters on solar photovoltaics exhibited by NUS.

showcased the findings of five key technology roadmaps that were developed in the past two years. The five technology roadmaps are: solar photovoltaic, building energy efficiency, industry energy efficiency, green data centres and carbon capture and storage/utilization. These roadmaps highlighted the research, development, demonstration and deployment pathways for technologies that help increase energy efficiency, lower carbon emissions and increase energy security for Singapore in the medium to long term. 32 NUS technologies were showcased at the event. The symposium served as a platform to further develop partnerships between government agencies, academics and the private sector to accelerate research and deployment of technologies to help Singapore meet energy and climate change challenges. Over 500 participated from academia, industry, government agencies and international governing bodies, such as the International Energy Agency. ✦

Second Go-to-Market talk held at Faculty of Science INTRODUCING ILO’S SERVICES

With the success of the first run of the Go-to-Market talk at the Faculty of Engineering in February 2014, NUS Industry Liaison Office (ILO) organised a similar event at the Faculty of Science on 25th September 2014. As many as 70 academics, researchers and faculty members attended the talk, which gave insights into the various aspects of ILO. Apart from the IP filing processes and contracts management, the talk also delved into case studies on commercialisation and technology translation and innovation partnership. There were also speakers from the various government agencies such as SPRING, AStar and MOE to share the funding options available for researchers to tap to bring inventions to the market place. The aim of this event is to introduce ILO services and expertise in the area of technology commercialisation and explain how ILO can help researchers move their innovation from the lab to the market. ✦

Participants raising questions on commercialisation.

Fired Up

SPARKS partnerships with industry and market leaders

Advancing science by supporting high impact research NUS FORGES STRATEGIC ALLIANCE WITH THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC

NUS and the Life Sciences Group of Thermo Fisher Scientific began a strategic alliance in August 2014 for a three to five year programme. Facilitated by the NUS Industry Liaison Office, the collaboration aims to advance fundamental knowledge through basic and applied life sciences research in areas that improve food and animal safety and human health. The NUS-Thermo Fisher Scientific Strategic Alliance kicked off with a call for applications for short-term and multi-year sponsored research projects in the areas of new devices for biological science; mammalian cell biology and synthetic biology; methods and tools for analysis and understanding of the human microbiome; human stem cell-based programmes; and applications for Thermo Fisher Scientifics’ Capillary Electrophoresis Systems. Successful research projects will receive multiple year grants of up to $300,000 per year from Thermo Fisher Scientific. In addition, Thermo Fisher will be providing short-term grants for innovative investigations that need rapid and flexible support to projects that meet the Alliance’s goals. To encourage collaboration between both parties, each project will be managed by an NUS Principal

Investigator and a research collaborator from Thermo Fisher Scientific. A joint steering committee, comprised of scientists from NUS and Thermo Fisher Scientific, will be responsible for reviewing and awarding grants to these high-impact research projects. Ron A. Andrews, President of the Genetic Sciences Division of Thermo Fisher Scientific, said “The need to establish better understanding of biological science is increasing every day, around the world. The strategic alliance with NUS is an ideal form to increase true innovation and we appreciate Singapore’s vibrant scientific environment that brought us together. We are glad that we can further deepen our commitment in this country where we can be true partners to promote R&D and deliver more solutions for the better lives of people.” In addition to supporting research projects, the NUS-Thermo Fisher Scientific Strategic Alliance will also support annual life science symposiums held at NUS. This aims to accelerate crosscutting perspective exchange of knowledge and opinions amongst scientific experts. ✦

NUS and Thermo Fisher inked a three to five year partnership to advance research in food and animal safety and human health in August 2014.

Fired Up

SPARKS partnerships with industry and market leaders

ILO participates at TechInnovation 2014 SHOWCASE OF NUS TECHNOLOGIES AND RESEARCH CAPABILITIES

NUS presence at TechInnovation 2014.

The NUS Industry Liaison Office (ILO) participated at TechInnovation 2014 from 23rd to 24th September at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre. The event was a platform to showcase NUS technologies and research capabilities to prospective industry partners. ILO displayed 18 technology posters in the areas of energy and environment; health and personal care; materials and nanotech; and, infocomm and electronics. ✦

(R) Dr Ting DorNgi, Associate Director, NUS Industry Liaison Office, fielding questions on NUS technologies.

Outreach to the Waste Recycling Community CONNECTING INDUSTRY WITH ACADEMIA

More than 50 industry members and academics gathered on 2 October 2014 for a seminar on waste recycling technology, jointly organised by the NUS Industry Liaison Office (ILO) and the Waste Management Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS). The seminar was part of an outreach effort to connect companies with available technologies that can help better manage waste generated from various sources. Technologies presented included those in the areas of carbon nanotubes, aerogels, biomass gratification, modelling, alternative fuels and heat transfer. Industry representatives benefitted from a greater understanding of NUS’ knowledge capacity in the sector while NUS academics had a chance to better understand the challenges industry faces in tackling waste management issues. This was another industry connect event presented by ILO as it strives to bring NUS technologies closer to market commercialisation. ✦

Participants gaining insights into NUS knowledge capacity and technology development expertise at the Seminar on Waste Recycling Technologies on 2nd October 2014.

Fire Starter

SPARKS passion with exciting entrepreneurial internships

Sky high valuation with BizEquity NOC ALUMNI HELMS ASIAN SUBSIDIARY OF US CLOUD-BASED BUSINESS VALUATION SERVICE PROVIDER

BizEquity team at NOC Graduation event in Philadelphia. (L to R) Marc Sng, ex-NOC intern, Michael Carter, CEO & Founder, John Hallinan, Director of Sales, Naman Shah, Market Lead Asia Pacific, Jiajun Lin, Marketing Associate and Semyon Fishman, CTO

NOC alumni Naman Shah (Philadelphia) and Andrew Yeo (Silicon Valley) head the APAC office of BizEquity, a US start-up that raised $5.1M in Series A funding in October 2014. BizEquity is looking at expanding into the Asian market as they see a huge potential for growth. Formed in 2011, its APAC headquarters was set up in July 2014 as its subsidiary and is incubated at one of NUS Enterprise’s incubators, Plug-In@Blk 71 at Ayer Rajah Crescent. Prior to joining BizEquity, Naman, an economics and business graduate from the Faculty of Social Sciences, worked in Ernst & Young and headed business development for Freshmentors, a Silicon Valley company. Andrew, a statistics graduate from the Faculty of Science, worked in Yahoo, GFK and CISCO. The two are primed to expand BizEquity’s business in this region, with Naman overseeing business development and marketing and Andrew heading data and operations. BizEquity is a cloud-based business valuation service provider. It is the world’s largest provider of online business valuations. To date the company has valued over 27 million businesses in the USA. It has been granted seven patents in the last two years for its software and algorithm. Earlier this year, the company expanded to the UK and Canada, and now has its eyes set on the Asia Pacific market. Michael Carter, president/CEOof BizEquity, selected Singapore over China, South Korea and Japan for several reasons. “Singapore is the linchpin to BizEquity’s Asian market penetration strategy and a good base by which to democratize business valuation knowledge to the over 50 million businesses in China and 48 million in India,”

said Carter. “With a solid legal system, world-class talent pool from top universities like NUS, and an entrepreneurial environment, Singapore is the perfect place to set up Asian operations for any company looking to expand East.” For the last three years, BizEquity partnered NUS Overseas Colleges and has hosted over seven interning students as part of its team. Prof Teo Chee Leong, Director of NUS Overseas Colleges said of the partnership,”We are very pleased that BizEquity has chosen to base their operations in Singapore to focus on the Asia Pacific region. BizEquity coming to Singapore is of special significance to us as we have been partnering them the last few years via our NUS Overseas College in Philadelphia programme.” Naman said, “We are looking forward to APAC as our big focus market, with Singapore being the foothold and entry point.” He added that incubation with NUS Enterprise has been a privilege and honour. It has helped them develop relationships with fellow tech start-ups, attend numerous events and connect with mentors. This network is helping them to establish in Singapore. The office space is lively, innovative, energetic, and augmented by a great support team. Moving forward BizEquity plans to launch the Singapore edition of the software by year-end, bringing on board new clients and partners from this region. Other plans include expanding the team and possibly hiring one to two interns from the NOC iLead program. By Q2 of 2015, BizEquity will push on to expand in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and Japan. ✦

SPARKS passion with exciting entrepreneurial internships

Fire Starter

Creatively enterprising: marrying design and business NOC ALUMNAE GRACE CHOW ON FLOWERS AND BUSINESS

illustrators out there engage creative managers to help them with the business side of things. These include proposals, negotiations, contracts, invoicing and chasing payments. I have also learned that you do not always have to be the best, you just need to be a little different from the rest. I am not the best fashion illustrator out there. I don’t even have an Art degree! But my works are different because I incorporate flower petals in my designs and no one has done it before. So I guess in this aspect, my works stood out from the rest. Any “wow” moments? Creation of a Hibiscus dress.

Iris dress created by Grace Ciao.

Fourth-year business student Grace Chow Geng Yen, alumnae of the NUS Overseas Colleges and iLEAD programmes (2013), shares her experiences and learning journey in the iLead programme. Enterprise SPARKS gets up close and personal with Grace. What were your experiences like in the iLEAD programme? During my time in iLEAD, I interned as a product designer at Burpple. Besides helping to design mobile and web products, I had a lot of fun creating infographics and designing collaterals for Burpple’s marketing campaign. The co-founder and lead designer, Elisha, taught me a lot about visual aesthetics. I was designing app icons in the beginning and had to pay attention to the finest details. The other co-founders gave me plenty of learning opportunities as well. I did not just do design; I was also involved in both the community and growth aspects of the business. I even picked up the skills to design and code my own website later. My experience at Burpple has been nothing short of amazing and it has inspired me to venture out on my own as well.

I actually have plenty of “wow” and “WOW” moments. I guess this is because I don’t ever regard any project to be too small or too worthless to take up. Every project that I have been engaged to do is unique in its own way. Sometimes I get email enquiries to do things I never thought I could do. Coach wanted me to do live illustrations of their shoppers. “Wow” because I have never done live illustrations like that before and it can be a little pressuring having everyone watch me draw. And “WOW” because I actually did it and now I know this is something I can do for other brands as well. Where do you see yourself moving forward in this entrepreneurial journey? For now I want to continue doing fashion illustration and providing creative directions to fashion brands. I have a community manager and plan to have more designers in my team. Besides this, I have also thought of turning my gown designs into reality one day. ✦

What you are doing now on your design-related business? My projects really vary. Sometimes I am engaged to design marketing collaterals, other times I provide creative direction for marketing campaigns. How has the programme’s experiences benefitted your venture? The iLEAD programme taught me a lot about management. Managing projects, time, people, expectations and such. Many

Grace creating 10 inspired fall fashion clothings to be exhibited for an event at 313@ Somerset.

2014 at a glance

NUS Overseas College, New York - January

DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia - January to June

InnovFest - April

Friday Feeds - May

Kopi Chats - May

Global Start-Up@Singapore - June

NUS - SMART Commuthon - August

NUS - Thermo Fisher Partnership - August

Start-Up Runway - October

SG-SPIN Consortium - December

Flash Forward

SPARKS interest in upcoming events and activities

SOMETHING IS ALWAYS BREWING WHERE ENTREPRENEURS GATHER. CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THESE EXCITING EVENTS AND HAPPENINGS.

WHEN 8 Oct 10 Oct 13 Oct 14 Oct 16 Oct

WHAT N-Counter: Networking Night Global Start-Up@Singapore Seminar: Building a Mobile Internet Consumer Business with More Than 200 Million Users by Lei Ming Lei, founder, chairman and CEO of Kuwo Lean LaunchPad@Singapore Preview 1 Lean LaunchPad@Singapore Preview 2

7 Nov 11 Nov 1 Dec 5 Dec 8 Dec

Kopi Chat@NUS on Disruption and Innovation in the Financial World by Yoram Tietz, Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Israel. Google for Entrepreneurs Day Tea-session with Mr Qian, Chairman of Flon Holdings The NOC Connection (Homecoming) PA Tech Connects Conference Conference 2014 Kopi Chat on Speak your language by Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise Group Friday Feeds! Roti Prata Kopi Chat on 7 Things I Learned As A First Time Start-Up CEO by Juha Paananen, Head of Studio at Nonstop Games NOC Local – Tech Scouting in the Start-Up Nation Get-Together at PGP Science & Technology Policy Research Seminar Strategic Positioning and Team Building Business, A Force for Good – Public Forum on Conscious Capitalism

12-13 Jan 15 Jan 27 Jan

LLP@SG Run 3 Bootcamp Social Venture Challenge Launch NOC Tea Chat with Tom Kosnik

17 Oct 17 Oct 18 Oct 18 Oct 28 Oct 31 Oct 5 Nov

WHERE N-House NUS Business School I Cube Building Engineering Design and Innovation Centre University Hall Blk71 Ayer Rajah I Cube Builiding U-Town U-Town Blk71 Ayer Rajah Blk71 Ayer Rajah Blk71 Ayer Rajah I Cube Building PGP5 I Cube Building N-House Shaw Foundation Alumni House Auditorium TBC TBC Faculty of Engineering

Useful Tinder

SPARKS food-for-thought.

INSIGHTS FROM JUHA PAANANEN, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF NONSTOP GAMES, WHO SPOKE AT KOPI CHAT ON 5TH NOVEMBER 2014. NONSTOP GAMES, A SINGAPORE START-UP WAS ACQUIRED BY KING DIGITAL (MAKERS OF CANDY CRUSH) AT US$100 MILLION IN AUGUST 2014.

“From start-up to acquisition: 7 things I learned as a first time start-up CEO” #1

Form a strong founding team which comprises of tech, business members or members with different skillsets so as to complement each other.

Be stubborn but listen to feedback. While you are sticking to your stand, always listen to feedback from your team and customers.

Keep things simple. This will keep your start-up’s runway longer. Have equal equity between founders, avoid complex structure and be stingy with your equity.

Obsess about your product and customers, not competitors or how startups die. Do not let your competitors worry you or you will start worrying why and how other startups are dying.

Picking investors. Most investors are good in providing money but you need to build the product yourself. As a rule of thumb 20% of investors are helpful in addition to providing money, 60% provide you with money but not much more and 20% can be actually harmful and slow you down.

Focus. Just be focused on what you want to do and do it best.

Take care of yourself. Entrepreneurs are also human beings; you bonus will be tired at times. So take care of yourself and be re-charged again!

Don’t over-estimate the effect of PR. A good piece of tech publicity (like front page of TechCrunch) can draw folks to your website but the effect of actual conversion to customers is very limited.

Enterprise SPARKS Editorial Team NUS Enterprise 21 Heng Mui Keng Terrance, Level 5, Singapore 119613 Email: enterprise@nus.edu.sg Company Registration No. 200604346E

Contributors: Chan Yiu Lin, Katherine Chinn, Samridhi Singh

We are happy for you to share or reproduce the content of this publication but do let us know before you do as it is proprietary to NUS Enterprise. Thank you!