ENTERPRISE SPARKS- Issue 8 (Oct-Dec 2015)

Oct – Dec 2015

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MCI (P) 042/02/2015

To quote the Chinese philosopher Laozi, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We cheer on the many within our community who have dared to make that first move and initiate that one small change that has made an impact and difference to society. We celebrate the achievements of new milestones in such entrepreneurial journeys, from student winners at the inaugural Singapore Airlines app challenge, to heroic hackathon wins in New York City and San Francisco, to winning ideas at the conclusion of the Modern Aging Initiative. We are thrilled that our Prof Wong Poh Kam has been presented with the World Entrepreneur Award for being an instrumental educator in the field of entrepreneurship, and rally behind yet another of his new initiatives, TechSG, that aims to further connect the Singapore tech start-up community. The entrepreneur’s journey is an exciting one, and we wish one and all, all the very best in new chapters and adventures in the new year!

02 Inspiring Small Change 05 Singaporean Presence at Digital-Life-Design 2015 Flying High with Singapore Airlines 06 Innovations for the Silver Industry 07 TechSG Connects the Community

08 Tech Landscape of Singapore

09 NUSRI’s Inaugural Business Plan Competition

10 Getting Out of the Labs Patenting Technology

11 First NUS Academic Marrying Membrane & Technology to Clinch Global Entrepreneur Sharing NUS Educator Award Technologies

12 New Bonds, New Connections 13 NOC’s Heroes in Fintech Hackathon 14 Coming out Tops at Crunch Time

15 Flash Forward

16 Useful Tinder

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

Inspiring Small Change A better society starts with us

When it comes to doing good, every bit counts, big or small. And that’s what the Small Change Festival aimed to do during its four - week run from 1 to 23 October 2015 - to raise awareness of Singapore’s most pressing social issues and inspire personal action through film and dialogue amongst the NUS campus community.

Organised by NUS Enterprise, through the Social Venture Lab@NUS initiative, the Small Change Festival broached the topics of social inclusion, urban poverty, the elderly, and the migrant worker community.

We look back at some highlights:

Opening the festival to a great turnout, the medley of short films in Small Change for Social Inclusion, such as Green Grass and Putri, touched on the discrimination of people with mental health issues, the redeeming journey of ex-offenders as well as the integration of people with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Our panel speakers for the evening included film director Quek Shio Chuan, LevelField Consultants Founder Judy Wee, Club Heal President Dr. Radiah Salim, and its Publications Executive Yohanna Abdullah. They shared firsthand encounters with these negative stereotypes and their stories roused much empathy from the audience.

Rewriting Stereotypes for Social Inclusion So how can we enable those at the margins of society to fully participate in community life?

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Breaking Cycles of Urban Poverty Following up with Small Change for Urban Poverty, we focused on the experiences of being homeless in Singapore and growing up in poor communities. Through the films shown, audience members saw through the eyes of children growing up in poor neighbourhoods – including drug abuse and suicides.

The panel discussion, moderated by social entrepreneur Edmund Goh, provided a range of perspectives from the likes of Beyond Social Services Deputy Executive Director Thangavelu Ranganayaki and Lakeside Family Services Families-inTransition Shelter Director Lim Geok Huat – individuals engaged with urban poverty through social work.

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

Enhancing the Well-Being of Elderly Persons In the third instalment, Small Change for the Elderly highlighted the realities of ageing in Singapore, with films like And So They Say and Filial Haven showcasing seniors’ reflections on life.

An audience member expressing her views on how to combat poverty in Singapore.

The panel included senior social worker Wong Yock Leng, Lotus Eldercare Director Dr. Tan Jit Seng, PEACE-Connect Cluster Operator Director Lucy Tan and RSVP Singapore Executive Director Edmund Song.

Highlighting how connecting to seniors on an emotional level could make a significant difference in their well-being, the speakers’ anecdotes often resonated with the audience, with members pitching in with their own views and stories.

Understanding Migrant Workers’ Stories Lastly, Small Change for Migrant Workers revealed the underlying complexities faced by migrant worker communities and those who want to help them.

Rafiqul Islam, speaking about the realities construction workers like him face. Anika from SDI Academy assisted with the translation.

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The panel, which included Executive Director of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) Jolovan Wham, Research and Communications Officer at NUS Asia Research Institute and Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) Volunteer Kellynn Wee and Bangladeshi construction worker Rafiqul Islam, brought us through the complex and multi-faceted issues faced by migrant workers, and discussed initiatives like classes to develop their skills for long-term impact when these individuals return to their home countries.

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

A Fitting End To Celebrate Small Change The Small Change Festival ended on a high, with five passionate changemakers and social entrepreneurs sharing stories of how they transformed communities of persons with disabilities (Debra Lam, Society Staples), migrant workers (Cai Yinzhou, Geylang Adventures; Sazzad Hossain, SDI Academy), and urban poverty (Desiree Yang, SaltSteps).

The talks rounded off with Humans of Singapore’s (Shitij Nigam) sharing on the power of a picture to create empathy, complemented by Our Better World’s (Rebecca Lim) showcase on their work with films to inspire action.

Having reached over 400 audience members from the student, social sector, and entrepreneur communities and the public, we hope that the Small Change Festival has inspired everyone who has taken part to make their own changes for a more inclusive society.

From L-R: Rebecca Lim (Our Better World), Sazzad Hossain (SDI Academy), Cai Yinzhou (Geylang Adventures), Desiree Yang (Saltsteps), Debra Lam (Society Staples), Shitij Nigam (Humans of Singapore), Prof. Wong Poh Kam (NUS Entrepreneurship Centre).

What small change will you make?

For more detailed reporting on specific events, please visit: medium.com/@SmallChange.

The Social Venture Lab @ NUS will be holding follow-up workshops to equip individuals who want to start small change. More details will be available on our website in due course. http://enterprise.nus.edu.sg/outreach/social-venture-lab

Asia’s most exciting innovation festival is back!

Presented by NUS Enterprise and AcreWhite, InnovFest unBound is a two-day festival showcasing Asian innovation to a global audience. The 2015 event brought together over 2,500 participants from over 60 countries. InnovFest unBound 2016 will be even bigger and more exciting.

Why be there: 1. Hear the movers and shakers from the technology and innovation space from Singapore, rest of Asia and the world. InnovFest unBound will feature some 120 industry captains from diverse backgrounds and fields.

2. Touch and feel the latest and most disruptive technologies and gadgets. The event features interactive-driven exhibits that offer an immersive experience.

Where Asian Innovation Meets The World 17-18 May 2016 Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, Level 5

3. Network with senior executives from global brands, thought leaders, inspiring entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, leading researchers, as well as fellow attendees.

Sign up and be part of the action now.

Contact innovfest@nus.edu.sg or visit www.innovfestunbound.com

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

Singaporean Presence at Digital-Life-Design 2015 NUS Enterprise, Singtel Innov8 and Infocomm Investments share insights on the Singapore entrepreneurial landscape From 6-12 September, Tel Aviv played host to the annual Digital-Life-Design (DLD) conference: a global network on innovation, digitisation, science and culture which connects business, creative and social leaders, opinion-formers and influencers for crossover conversation and inspiration.

As part of the event, Singapore representatives from Singtel Innov8, Infocomm Investments (IIPL) and NUS Enterprise teamed up with Vertex Ventures Israel, an Israeli investment firm with a long history of working with Asia, to panel a discussion titled “Singapore: The Gateway to Southeast Asia”. The panel comprised Edgar Hardless, CEO, Singtel Innov8; Dr. Alex Lin, Head, IIPL; Yoram Oron, Founder & General Partner, Vertex Ventures Israel; and Dr. Lily Chan, CEO, NUS Enterprise, who chaired the discussion.

The session was organised to link up key influencers from the Singaporean startup ecosystem – such as policy makers, investors and incubators – with Israeli start-ups interested in doing business in Southeast Asia. It began with Singtel Innov8 CEO Edgar Hardless presenting Singtel Innov8’s capabilities and various

Dr Lily Chan, CEO, NUS Enterprise (on screen) participating in the session on “Singapore: The Gateway to Southeast Asia” at the Digital-Life-Design conference in Israel on 12 September 2015.

initiatives around the world, with a focus on their work in Southeast Asia.

Mr. Hardless also provided an overview of the Singapore start-up scene and investment climate, and emphasised the different initiatives taken by the Singapore government to encourage entrepreneurship. One such example is the collaboration between IIPL, Singtel Innov8 and NUS Enterprise.

Following the presentation, the four panellists took questions from the floor ranging from why do business in a small market like Singapore, to IP protection rights and success stories of past collaborative efforts. The session concluded with a networking session over a delectable selection of desserts and drinks.

Flying High with Singapore Airlines Inaugural app challenge for aviation industry The finale of the inaugural Singapore Airlines App Challenge was held at NUS Enterprise@Blk71 on 10 October 2015.

Based on the theme “Your Travel, Your Way”, the competition encouraged students to think out-of-the box to solve real world business challenges related to the aviation industry.

Competition was intense, with some 30 teams from across different tertiary institutions participating in the event, and teams from NUS sweeping the three top prizes. Emerging champion was Team enthuSIAst, who developed an all-in-one app that integrates in-flight entertainment, shopping and even an

inventory management system to help the crew better manage requests from passengers. This winning team received a trip to Silicon Valley with the national carrier!

In second and third placing were Team Invulnerable and Team Lambda, whose respective prototypes were an inflight sleep pattern tracker and an inflight virtual assistant.

The challenge was launched in August and attracted overwhelming response from eight institutions of higher learning including NUS.

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Participants at SIA App Challenge Finale on 10 October 2015.

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

Innovations for the Silver Industry Modern Aging initiative equips entrepreneurs to serve seniors

The winning teams with (6th from left) Dr Lily Chan, CEO NUS Enterprise, Dr. William A. Hasteltine, Chairman and President of co-organiser ACCESS Health International and Prof Wong Poh Kam, Director, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre at the Modern Aging Singapore Final Pitching on 4th December 2015.

On 4 December 2015, six finalists from Modern Aging Singapore, jointly organised by ACCESS Health International and NUS Enterprise, showcased their ideas to an audience of 250. The top three teams received seed funding totaling $125,000 to develop their ideas further.

The Modern Aging Singapore initiative is an accelerator that seeks to inspire and empower entrepreneurs to create businesses to serve elderly interests. It equips entrepreneurs with mentorship, online learning modules, and a like minded community.

Within five months, teams rapidly learnt the ropes of an entrepreneurial endeavour. “The initiative showed us the route an entrepreneur has to take in order to bring a product to market,” said Benjamin Xue, team member of top winner Altrue. Altrue aims to give voice to elderly bedridden patients through a smart-sensing solution, Silver Lining, which detects and alerts caregivers of urine or faeces in a patient’s diaper.

The $50,000 seed funding received will go towards Silver Lining’s research and development and marketing, as the team works towards its launch in 2017.

Connections forged during the programme were also extremely valuable.

“The vast network and mentoring helped bring our ideas forward,” said Jerome Ng, part of the team behind coffee-machine equivalent for medication Pillpresso, which was also awarded top prize. The device notifies caregivers or loved ones, via a mobile app, when medication has been consumed. Pillpresso hopes to use

Panel discussion on “Modern Aging: New Mindsets, New Opportunities.”

the $50,000 seed funding from Modern Aging Singapore to complete its product development by end 2016.

SoundEye, which aims to develop an innovative monitoring technology, walked away as the first runnerup and received $25,000 seed funding.

With more than 500 people signing up for online courses on elderly needs and 100 business concepts submitted, the inaugural Modern Aging Singapore evidently struck a chord among Singapore’s innovators. “I believe the top six proposals, as well as the top 20 semi-finalists, attest to the creativity and interest of the Singapore business community in meeting the needs of the elderly,” said Dr William A. Hasteltine, Chairman and President of co-organiser ACCESS Health International.

“We are delighted to see participants of our first Modern Aging Singapore initiative bring their ideas to life and translate innovations and technologies 06

The audience listened to speakers share views on healthcare and business.

into new solutions that address the wellbeing of seniors and their caregivers,” said NUS Enterprise CEO Dr Lily Chan.

Seed funding recipients were judged based on the value proposition of their idea, market potential, economic and financial model, and team’s strength and entrepreneurial ability. These teams are eligible for incubation support by NUS Enterprise, including mentorship, funding assistance, access to international linkages, and invitation to relevant events.

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

TechSG Connects the Community...

Delivering greater insights into Singapore’s tech entrepreneurship ecosystem

(2nd from right) Ms Low Yen Ling, Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Trade & Industry officiated the launch of TechSG. (LtoR) Ivan Chang, WonderLabs; Prof Wong Poh Kam, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre; and Timothy Greisinger, IBM Singapore.

Good news for the tech community in Singapore! On 26 November 2015, a new digital platform was introduced

by NUS Enterprise in collaboration with IBM. Called TechSG, this is an open and collaborative platform by the start-up community for the community. TechSG integrates and augments existing information resources to provide comprehensive information on the key players within the Singapore tech entrepreneurship ecosystem. More than just an information depository, it will provide curated research insights and analytical tools for visualising and tracking the diversity, interdependency, growth dynamics and vibrancy of Singapore’s entrepreneurial community.

Blk73 and Blk79. NUS Enterprise will update TechSG regularly, and plans to have comprehensive coverage of the whole of Singapore ready by May 2016.

dynamism of Singapore’s entrepreneurial ecosystem versus those of other high tech hubs such as New York, London and Berlin,” said Prof Wong.

TechSG is designed and curated by NUS Enterprise, and developed by start-up company Wonderlabs. The platform is driven by IBM Cloud technology, being built with Bluemix, IBM’s open standards cloud platform. With the introduction of TechSG, Singapore becomes the ninth city to join IBM’s Digital City initiative. This fuels innovation and entrepreneurship at the local level by connecting partners, developers and entrepreneurs. Other ‘Digital Cities’ include New York, London and Bangalore.

The November 2015 event only revealed the first phase of TechSG, or what Prof Wong Poh Kam, Director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, called “the Minimal Viable Product”. This contains information covering more than 250 organisations within the Ayer Rajah LaunchPad area, consisting of Blk71,

“This event is the first of a series of efforts to solicit inputs from the start-up community, and we will experiment with some of the innovative ideas generated over the next few months. This includes new ways to crowdsource information updates in real time and new analytical tools to benchmark the vibrancy and

“As Singapore moves towards becoming a Smart Nation, there is no better time than now to accelerate our growth in the tech industry. Singapore is home to some of the brightest developers and entrepreneurs we have seen, with plenty of potential to leapfrog into the global tech scene. TechSG will be a valuable resource for start-ups, incubators and accelerators, and an excellent showcase of talent and innovation that highlights why Singapore is such an exciting place to invest in. IBM is proud to be expanding on our existing partnership with NUS Enterprise to contribute to the development of TechSG with IBM Cloud,” said Timothy Greisinger, Managing Director, IBM Singapore.

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SPARKS ideas with different thoughts and perspectives

Tech Landscape of Singapore Strategies to accelerate the development of the tech sector

As a critical component of the national blueprint to establish Singapore as a knowledge-based economic hub, the tech sector in Singapore has received considerable policy attention. Speaking at the introduction of TechSG, Professor Wong Poh Kam, Director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, presented an overview of Singapore’s tech landscape which highlights its importance to the economy. The presentation drew on findings from an ongoing research project funded by the National Research Foundation and conducted by NUS Enterprise.

There are 15,782 firms in Singapore’s tech sector, accounting for around 10% of registered businesses nationwide. Tech firms similarly generate 10% of total sales by Singapore businesses. However, the tech sector contributes close to 30% of value added created in the economy and 27% of remunerations. These figures underline the economic significance of the sector and its role in creating skilled jobs.

Closer examination reveals that growth in tech services is outpacing tech manufacturing. Over the last five years, the number of tech services firms increased at 4.4% annually, more than double the growth of tech

manufacturing firms. This pattern of robust firm formation in services is in line with Singapore’s transition towards a more knowledge and service-oriented economy. Correspondingly, tech services outperformed tech manufacturing in terms of growth in total sales and value added generated.

A key strategy to accelerate the development of the tech sector is to build a business ecosystem that attracts, encourages and supports entrepreneurial start-ups. Efforts in this direction appear to have borne fruit. More than one quarter of tech firms are start-ups aged 5 years or younger. As at end of 2014, there are 5,637 active tech start-ups in Singapore, employing 33,000 people.

The number of tech start-ups has more than doubled in the last ten years (2,757 start-ups as at end 2004), with especially rapid growth in the most recent three years (3,808 start-ups as at end 2012).

This growth is driven exclusively by tech services where the number of start-ups has almost tripled between 2004 (1,539 start-ups) and 2014 (4,380 start-ups).

Employment creation by tech services start-ups has also multiplied from 6,500 jobs in 2004 to 19,000 jobs in 2014.

Comparison with the rest of the economy confirms that tech services is the fastestgrowing start-up sector in Singapore. In

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the last 5 years, the number of start-ups in tech services grew at 16% per annum, compared to average growth of 9% per annum in other sectors. The highest employment growth among start-ups is also achieved by tech services, at 11% per annum compared to average 3% annual employment growth for start-ups in other sectors.

The composition of Singapore’s tech startups has changed substantially in the last decade. The share of tech manufacturing enterprises has shrunk from 44% to 22% of tech start-ups. This shift towards tech services can be attributed almost entirely to ICT start-ups. In 2004, around one-third (33.2%) of tech start-ups were involved in computer-related and information services activities. Ten years later, ICTrelated firms now account for more than half of tech start-ups (51.2%). These figures affirm the vibrancy of Singapore’s tech landscape and the relevance of the LaunchPad@one-north initiative, in particular the pioneering Blk71 project which has successfully incubated many start-ups in the Infocomm and digital media spaces.

NUS Enterprise project on “Growth Dynamics of High-Tech Startups in Singapore – A Longitudinal Study” (funded by NRF SRIE grant) 1

SPARKS action with fireside chats and tips from experienced entrepreneurs

NUSRI’s Inaugural Business Plan Challenge Bringing together Chinese and international projects On 30 August 2015, NUS Enterprise concluded its inaugural National University of Singapore (Suzhou) Research Institute (NUSRI) - Flex Global Business Plan Challenge 2015.

The five - month long Challenge aimed to promote a global innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem by inviting students and new graduates from leading local and foreign universities to showcase their innovative business plans. The competition attracted 85 projects from China (Suzhou, BJ, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenzhen), Singapore, Silicon Valley and Brunei.

As many as 15 teams were selected for the finals. NUSRI launched a two-day Lean Start-up training programme to prepare the participants for the final presentations. The participants had the opportunity to be coached by Dr Virginia Cha, an entrepreneur and angel investor at the workshop.

NTU team Qlipp clinched the 3rd Prize, while NUS start-up Jublia won a special prize. The top prize went to a project from Chengdu.

The judging panel commented that the projects were of high quality and attracted much interest from venture

Participants and the panel of judges at the NUSRI Inaugural Business Challenge on 30 August 2015.

capitalists. A few of the projects already recieved funding.

Some members of the judging panel were Mr James Tan, QuestVC; Mr Paul Choo, UOB Investment; and Mr Lucas Clarke, Flex, Vice – President, Engineering & Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Mr Xu Wen Qing, Deputy Chief, SIP Tech Bureau and Mr Zhang Xiao Ying, Director, Higher Edu Town graced the presentation event.

Competition workshop conducted by Dr Virginia Cha, NUS Enterprise mentor.

First NUS Academic to Clinch Global Entrepreneur Educator Award Prof Wong Poh Kam recognised for exceptional contribution towards entrepreneurship education At the eighth World Entrepreneurship Forum (WEF), held from 19 to 22 October in Hangzhou, China, Prof Wong Poh Kam, Director of NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, was accorded the prestigious Entrepreneur for the World Award (Educator Category). He was conferred the award by Mr Tugrul Atamer, Executive Chairman, WEF. Honoured for his immense contribution in promoting and nurturing entrepreneurship education, Prof Wong was one of five luminaries in the entrepreneurial space to receive an award this year.

Known as the “Start-Up Godfather”, Prof Wong played an instrumental role

in setting up the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme. NOC has helped to create an entrepreneurial culture within NUS and has seen more than 2000 students participate since its inception in 2001. More than 250 start-ups have sprung from this programme.

Besides being a noted entrepreneurship scholar, Prof Wong has pioneered several widely regarded entrepreneurship education programmes and played a pivotal role in building a vibrant entrepreneurship support ecosystem in NUS and Singapore.

Prof Wong shared that his achievement would not have been possible without the support of the Singapore government and its policy towards institutions of 09

higher learning. His hope is to see more entrepreneurship educators contribute to building a vibrant entrepreneurship community not only in Singapore but across Asia.

(L) Prof Wong Poh Kam, Director, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, conferred the Entrepreneur for the World Award (Educator Category) by Mr Tugrul Atamer, Executive Chairman, World Entrepreneurship Forum on 22 October 2015.

SPARKS partnerships with industry and market leaders

Getting Out of the Labs Commercialising technology with Lean LaunchPad Singapore Since the inception of the Lean LaunchPad Singapore (LLP) in 2013, more than 50 research projects and 150 participants have gone through the rigours of the lean methodology to bring their inventions closer to market.

Teams from other Institutions of Higher Learning such as NTU–CREATE, Nanyang Polytechnic, and Singapore Polytechnic also participated in the 4th run of the programme from August to October 2015. The innovations centered around deep technologies that ranged from a pump to a protein assay, a medical device and even a drug formulation.

Throughout the 10-week programme, participants comprising scientists, engineers, researchers and entrepreneurial leads got out of their labs to test and validate their initial assumptions of the market opportunities of their technologies. As one scientist reaffirms “Without those interviews I would not have known about the market niche until after I produced a product that missed the mark.”

Participants and mentors of the 4th run of Lean LaunchPad Singapore at the final presentation on 16 October 2015.

The LLP process provided new insights and perspectives on varied fronts, benefitting the teams by improving their understanding of their technology’s relevance through iterations made to improve the inventions.

The 5th run of the programme will feature a Water Technology track in partnership with PUB Hydropreneur Programme and run from January to March 2016. For more information email: LLPSG@nus.edu.sg

This unique entrepreneurial experience was augmented by sound advice and guidance from industry mentors, who provided invaluable industry connections.

Patenting Technology Understanding patenting strategies in the commercialisation process On 21 September 2015, as part of Lean LaunchPad Singapore (LLP), a talk on “Getting the Fundamentals Right: Patenting Your Technology” by Daniel R Collopy from Spruson & Ferguson was organised to help researchers and academics gain insights into how to commercialise their technological innovations.

The sharing by Daniel was an excellent opportunity for researchers to get a basic understanding of the fundamentals of patent protection. The topics covered patenting issues such as patenting strategies, patentability of a technology and the “Freedom-to-Operate”.

Daniel also gave an overview of patent portfolio building and management

processes which emphasised the importance of an IP strategy for a company. In addition, he explained the keys to seeking technology feedback while managing public disclosures.

The talk benefitted researchers not just from Faculty of Science but also from the various departments of NUS as well as participants from the LLP programme.

Attendees found the topics covered very useful in their commercialisation processes. At the tea-break networking session, the researchers had the chance to discuss further and gathered more related tips from Daniel.

Keep in touch via LLPSG@nus.edu.sg for more information, upcoming talks and sharing sessions.

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Daniel R Collopy from Spruson & Ferguson shared perspectives on IP strategies for commercialisation on 21 September 2015.

SPARKS partnerships with industry and market leaders

Marrying Membrane & Technology Consortium boosts membrane-related research in Singapore On 28 September 2015, NUS Membrane Science and Technology Consortium (MSTC) was launched with the objectives to scale basic, applied and translational research in this field, with particular emphasis on water, energy and environmental applications within the municipal and industrial sectors.

This will help to raise Singapore’s visibility in the membrane technology domain, encouraging more research collaborations, translational and commercialisation activities, and funding opportunities.

Currently, more than 25 faculty researchers (MSTC Fellows) have signed up under the MSTC, across the NUS Faculties of Engineering and Science.

Various large and small enterprise companies as well as government agencies have also joined the MSTC Industry and Government Affiliates Programme (IGAP). Further linkages are being developed with global academic and institutional partners involved in membrane-related research.

The MSTC also signed on a new Australian academic partner, the University of New South Wales’ UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology, during the event.

Advances in membrane science and technology have wide applications in areas such as water purification, environmental protection, energy security, climate change, urbanisation, and food-and-beverage processing. The

(From left) Director of the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology Prof Greg Leslie, MSTC Coordinator Prof Gary Amy and Prof Chua Kee Chiang, Dean, NUS Faculty of Engineering Dean signed a new academic partnership on 28 October 2015.

global demand for membrane technology has been rising rapidly and innovations in this area are expected to open new markets in the coming decade.

“The MSTC will encourage collaborations, which will hopefully lead to the development of novel membrane materials and innovative membrane process technologies. We also hope the MSTC will help further build up international recognition of NUS as being at the forefront of membrane research as well as a key player in translational research leading to new applications that

benefit mankind,” said Professor Ho Teck Hua, Deputy President (Research and Technology), NUS. More than 100 attendees comprising industry partners, academics and government agencies attended the event, including Mr Harry Seah, Chief Technology Officer of Singapore’s national water agency PUB, National Research Foundation Programmes Directorate Director Mr George Loh and NUS Faculty of Engineering Dean Professor Chua Kee Chaing.

Showcasing NUS Technologies at Tech Innovation 2015 The NUS Industry Liaison Office (ILO) participated at Tech Innovation 2015, organised by IPI Singapore from 22-23 September 2015.

Industry partners and other collaborators had the opportunity to understand NUS research and development capabilities as well as NUS ready-to market inventions or technologies. More than 12 NUS

technologies in the areas of Infocomm, Electronics, Energy, Environment, Green Building, Personal and Health Care, Materials and Chemical were presented and drew interest from the delegates from Singapore and around the world.

Delegates having a discussion on NUS technologies at Tech Innovation on 23 September 2015.

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SPARKS passion with exciting entrepreneurial internships

New Bonds, New Connections Bringing everyone together at NOC Connection Day

On 17 October 2015, more than 300 students attended the NOC Connection Day. It was an exciting day for the newly selected NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) students as they looked forward to obtaining more information on their placement by their respective overseas managers.

Held in conjunction with Connection Day, Homecoming Day 2015 was organised to congratulate the NOC July 2014 and January 2015 returnees on their successful completion of the programme. More importantly, Homecoming provided an excellent networking platform for returnees to share their experiences with the incoming students.

The event featured insightful talks from the various returnees regarding their experiences in each college. It was particularly interesting to note the rise of the China market and its large potential as shared by two seniors, Xander Khoo (NOC Shanghai) and Jackie Lim (NOC Beijing).

Programme highlights included a sharing session by a distinguished NOC Alumnus, Mr Kelly Choo, the current Group Account Director at iSentia Brandtology.

His inspiring story on how he succeeded only after numerous attempts and the lessons he learnt motivated the students to take on the challenge of becoming an entrepreneur.

Dr Lily Chan, CEO of NUS Enterprise, also gave a short address to allow the newly selected students to learn more about NUS Enterprise and its purpose.

Meng Xiangyun, Research Assistant, NUS Integrated Digital Media Institute demonstrated an augmented reality technology that will enable better customer interaction at the SMART Tech “Show and Tell” on 20 August 2015.

NUS Overseas College (Israel) students received certificates at homecoming event on 17 October 2015.

She encouraged the returnees to embark on the entrepreneurial journey and explained the various funding and incubators available.

Associate Professor Teo Chee Leong, Director of the NOC Programme, shared some interesting NOC statistics.

The students learnt how the NOC programme has grown from strength to strength since its inception in 2001, with NOC New York being the latest addition.

Professor Teo also awarded the Jacob Phang Memorial Scholarship to Chua Yew Wee (NOC Stockholm).

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There was a mini gallery with photos contributed by NOC Stockholm alumni to celebrate its 10th anniversary. 10 NOC alumni start-ups such as Shopback, Klug and Workato were present to showcase their products and companies. Many students eagerly checked them out and asked burning questions.

Toward the end of the event, it was evident that new bonds and friendships were forged among the students, both returnees and incoming ones. They had an enjoyable time mingling and sharing their thoughts with one another during the networking dinner.

SPARKS passion with exciting entrepreneurial internships

NOC’s Heroes in Fintech Hackathon Super-duper idea comes in tops

The By Work team. (From left to right) Albert Ho, Goh Jian Kai, Chia Teck Yuke, Choo Yan Sheng and Colin Pang at the Heroes versus Hackers competition on 11 October in New York.

Albert Ho, an NUS Overseas College (New York) student who participated with three other NUS students in the Heroes vs Hackers Hackathon in October 2015, shares the team’s experience.

Our team, By-Work, competed in the ‘Land of Lost Identity’ category, in which contestants were required to create ‘the digital identity of the future’ for people who cannot access financial services because they lack conventional forms of personal identification. When we first chanced upon the topic, we immediately thought of financial inclusion: how to provide the financially excluded a digital identity so they can access financial services. However, as we learnt in various entrepreneurship courses we are currently taking, we could not scope the need for financial inclusion effectively.

This was the biggest challenge we faced, but it was not a problem that we really felt passionate about solving. Instead, we

then thought about ourselves and what pain points we faced as international students in New York City.

We thus developed a financial credit identity profile system which calculates an alternate credit score based on a person’s employment data sourced from various records, such as LinkedIn and company systems. This enables international expats coming to the United States to gain faster access to financial products and services without the need for a Social Security Number or FICO credit score (a measure score of credit risk). This problem is indeed close to our hearts and faced by many international talents and students.

The second challenge we faced during the hackathon was the time constraints.

We had to ideate, design wireframes, code the demo prototype, practise for the pitch and even prepare for possible questions during the pitch within 36 hours.

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Overall, the experience has been fascinating. My team and I were so excited - even shocked - about the win due to the tough competition in this category.

I think the most memorable moment was when we presented our demo prototype; we managed to impress the judges and audience through a sense of humor and surprise which excited them throughout our two-minute presentation. I think we clearly illustrated our product’s values and benefits in our demo presentation, correctly addressing the challenges of financial credit identity.

Our most important takeaway is the need to identify a problem that is worth solving! Having clearly-defined roles and responsibilities is another important insight.

Joining hackathons to learn about the industry is indeed an extremely fulfilling and worthwhile experience!

SPARKS passion with exciting entrepreneurial internships

Coming Out Tops at Crunch Time NOC students’ novel to-do list app wins fans

Winners of Microsoft Office 365 sponsor challenge at the TechCrunch 2015 Disrupt San Francisco Hackathon ( Left to right) Choo Yan Sheng, Jason; Low Jia Yu, Nicole; Er Mei Yi, Emilie; and Abdul Hadi.

A group of NUS Overseas College students participated in the annual 24-hour TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco hackathon from 19-20 September 2015, San Francisco, USA. Choo Yan Sheng, Jason shares their experience of being part of the hackathon.

Tell us about your idea Our idea is called DayList, which integrates your to-do list into individual calendar events in the Microsoft Office 365 cloud platform. Within each calendar event, you can create a list of tasks for that event and tag resources that you require to perform that task, such as a file from Microsoft OneDrive, an Outlook email or any URL. With DayList, you no longer need to toggle between your to-do lists and calendar apps, and can now directly access the resources you need.

We realised that the current calendar apps and task management apps (to-do lists) do not integrate well enough to maximise productivity. Often, besides having to toggle between 2 separate apps, we need to take an additional step of finding the files, URLs or emails that we need to perform individual tasks. So why don’t we organise our tasks/to-do lists according to calendar

events? Furthermore, why don’t we allow users to tag the resources they need to perform the tasks directly on the calendar?

What’s your experience in participating in the hackathon?

The experience was fascinating. My team and I were very excited about the hackathon as this was the first hackathon we participated in San Francisco, apart from other hackathons held in New York City where we live and work. During the hackathon, we were working very hard to develop our DayList prototype the night before we had to demonstrate. I think the most memorable moment was when we were able to submit our project entry at the last few minutes of the closing deadline, as we saw all our efforts paid off. Some of us were quite shocked that we managed to win the challenge category, given the tough competition in this hackathon. This was one of the biggest hackathons held in the United States, and we were very honoured to participate in such a wonderful event where we got to meet new people from all over the world and learn new technologies within a short period of time. One interesting part about us was that we flew all the way from New York City to San Francisco just for the hackathon!

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What were the challenges faced and how did you overcome them?

The first challenge in this hackathon was that we had to choose a suitable challenge out of many challenges specified by various sponsoring companies. After choosing the Microsoft sponsored challenge, we then had to brainstorm ideas and deal with the technical aspects of integrating our solution with Microsoft Office 365. Finally, there were also the time challenge, but we were able to develop a working prototype with the help of Microsoft representatives.

What was the key lesson, and how do you think the NOC experience prepared you all for it?

The key takeaway was that we have to stay focused and keep ourselves motivated as a team, despite the tough difficulties faced in our hackathon journey. We also learned that teamwork was very important to keep us going in times of difficulty. The NOC experience had well prepared us to fight through any difficulty or challenge we face as entrepreneurs in our life and overcome them with our entrepreneurial fighting spirit and passion!

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SPARKS food-for-thought

On 16 October 2015, NUS Enterprise was privileged to host Charles Adler, co-founder of Kickstarter, when he dropped into Singapore for a 26-hour whirlwind visit. At a Kopi Chat session, Charles shared his experience in founding Kickstarter with friends Perry Chen and Yancey Stricker, to a room packed with over 120 participants. Kickstarter was launched in 2009 and has since become one of the most successful crowdfunding platforms, bringing tens of thousands of creative projects to life. Here are some of the learning lessons shared by Charles Adler:

Kickstarter began for you as a side project. How did you support this?

When I first began working with Perry and Yancey, we thought it was going to be a short-term project. But after a couple of weeks, I really sunk my teeth into it, as I believe in the basic idea of providing support to allow creative ideas to reach fulfillment. That was when I became a co-founder. Perry, Yancey and myself worked on Kickstarter for two years before launching, and none of us took a salary. I was previously doing some website design and development work and I kept a couple of clients on the side, so that I could pay the bills and also have something to fall back upon, in case Kickstarter did not work out.

It also helped that the three of us are pretty minimalistic – I had two pairs of jeans and a pair of pants, and that was good. Initially I worked on Kickstarter for a couple of hours every day – typically from 2 to 4am. As time went on, I was spending more time on Kickstarter. We then raised seed funding from friends and family, and formal investment came later.

Kickstarter recently became a B Corp.

Can you share more on this? Was it tough to convince your investors on this?

The B Corps movement is something that we’ve been talking about for a long time, and it’s been in our DNA from the very beginning. As a B Corp, we provide a series of benefits to the community, so that we hopefully can have some social impact upon the world. It’s about making sure there is a balance in doing what we need to do to stay profitable and doing what we need to do for the sake of the community. Our investors had absolutely no problem with this.

What have you been doing since you left Kickstarter in 2013 and what’s next?

I’ve been spending more time with my family, which has been awesome. I’ve also been doing more travelling, experiencing different places and cultures. In terms of what is happening next, I am tinkering on another exciting project. I’m not able to share too many details for now, however I can say that it has a similar theme to Kickstarter, as it focuses on enabling people to experience and fulfil their creativity.

*Note from editor: Certified B Corps meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.

ENTERPRISE SPARKS Editorial Team

NUS Enterprise 21 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Level 5 Singapore 119613 enterprise@nus.edu.sg www.enterprise.nus.edu.sg Company Registration No: 200604346E

Contributors: Albert Ho Jason Choo Joanna Hieo Melissa Zhu