ENTERPRISE SPARKS- Issue 20 (Oct-Dec 2018)

A quarterly publication of NUS Enterprise >> Oct - Dec 2018 // ISSUE 020

Expanding BLOCK71 Community and Connections

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Food Evangelists with a Mission

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Global Reach NOC Student Wins Blockchain Hackathon

enterprise@nus.edu.sg |

enterprise.nus.edu.sg |

NUSEnterprise

MCI(P)118/04/2018

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

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Innovation Challenges Galore

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Expanding BLOCK71 Community and Connections

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Celebrating Asia’s Top Social Ventures

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NUS Enterprise Ecosystem Makes a Buzz at SWITCH 2018

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NUS Partners Alipay to Build a More Inclusive Society

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Serving the Silver Market

SPARKS ideas with different thoughts and perspectives

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Future of the Token Economy

SPARKS action with fireside chats and tips from experienced entrepreneurs

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Food Evangelists with a Mission

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Social Venture Challenge Asia Alumni Return to Share their Stories

SPARKS partnerships with industry and market leaders

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The Lean Methodology Way for Tech Commercialisation SPARKS passion with exciting entrepreneurial internships

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NOC Student Wins Blockchain Hackathon

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Out of the Box Thinkers SPARKS interest in past events and activities

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2018 at a Glance

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Flash Back

Editor’s note 2018 has been an exhilarating year for NUS Enterprise. In tandem with the University’s drive to shape the future of education, research and enterprise, we not only launched numerous exciting programmes in Singapore, but also expanded our networks in ASEAN and beyond through the NUS Overseas Colleges and BLOCK71 initiatives. Our corporate partnerships are also increasingly going regional – even global – in scope and reach.

Through these efforts, we aim to continue establishing ourselves as the strategic node for innovation and enterprise in the region, creating meaningful connections and opportunities for coinnovation between NUS, start-ups, corporates, governments, as well as other universities in ASEAN. In this edition of Enterprise SPARKS, we look back at our achievements for the year, and share the latest developments over the last quarter.

A highlight was the expansion of the BLOCK71 family into two new locations in Bandung and Yogyakarta, in partnership with the Salim group. Corporate innovation challenges in verticals such as maritime, aviation and travel, cybersecurity, social enterprises, and the silver industry took center-stage in our myriad of events and helped build a larger entrepreneurial network that we are proud of.

The many victories our start-ups companies, budding entrepreneurs and thought leaders achieved this year at various industry events is commendable and highlights how being part of our entrepreneurial ecosystem presents the right opportunities and right connections to thrive and shine.

We also continue to enable enterprising individuals through programmes such as the Philip Yeo Initiative (PYI) and dispersing awards and grants to deserving students who demonstrate exceptional desire to make a difference.

We would like to thank all our friends and partners for their support and contribution in making NUS Enterprise a centrifugal force of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southeast Asia and beyond. We look forward to the next chapter of the journey.

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

SPARKS food-for-thought

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Expanding into The Philippines: Opportunities Abound

Editorial Team: Bhawani Balakrishnan (Lead), Ng Su Fen Contributors: Amarpreet Kaur, Krystal Jemima Joseph 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!

In 2018, NUS Enterprise launched three market discovery and validation programmes, focusing on the strategic areas of digital aviation and travel, cybersecurity and maritime. Working with corporate and government partners, the initiatives sought to address real-word industry challenges through sourcing and scaling start-up solutions.

Programme finales for the respective initiatives, held in October and November, provided an opportunity to showcase the progress made by participants.

INNOVATION CHALLENGES

GALORE

ICE71 Demo Day The pioneer cohort of the ICE71 Accelerate programme has graduated!

ICE71 ‘Innovation Cybersecurity Ecosystem at Block71’ is the region’s first cybersecurity entrepreneur hub.

Co-founded by Singtel Innov8 and NUS Enterprise, the initiative aims to strengthen Singapore’s growing cybersecurity ecosystem by attracting and developing competencies and deep technologies to help mitigate the rapidly increasing cybersecurity risks in the region.

From left to right: Founders of Cloudpurge, Silicon Cloud International, Secucial, SOCview and Apvera took turns to wow the crowd of investors and partners - sharing their innovative ideas to shake the cyberse-curity space!

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A key component of ICE71 is ICE71 Accelerate, an intensive three month programme designed to help early-stage cybersecurity start-ups sharpen their companies’ value propositions, go-tomarket strategies, commercial models and business strategies.

Apvera

On 16 October, the ICE71 Accelerate Demo Day was held at the Singtel ComCentre, with the theatre buzzing with VCs, investors and corporate representatives – all excited to see the five start-ups pitch.

Honoured keynote speakers present included Mr. Teo Chin Hock, the Deputy Chief Executive of CSA Singapore, Ms. Grace Cassy, Co-founder of CyLon, and Mr. Nishant Dave, Head of Strategy for Cisco Systems.

Cloudpurge

The start-ups each had five minutes to pitch and prove their innovation’s worth to the audience. Find out more about each of them on the right!

The event came to a close with a celebratory networking dinner, where the start-ups mingled and made meaningful connections with VCs and corporates. We would like to congratulate all the startups for their hard work and commitment in refining their products and services, and we cannot wait to see what they will achieve in the near future!

To find out more about ICE71, visit ice71.sg

A next generation threat intelligence platform that aims to enable organisations to deliver insight into user behavioral usage patterns.

Allows people to click links freely with no fear of getting malware, viruses or ransomware.

Secucial Creates an identity wallet for subjects and objects, linking digital and physical identities, and bringing all control back to the users. Those identities are based on a decentralised ledger and claims.

Silicon Cloud International Providing military-grade security and high performance cloud infrastructure for workflow-driven, collaborative development environments

SocView

An integrated security operations platform that streamlines alert management while maximizing the productivity and ROL of security analysts.

SIA AppChallenge Finals

From over 400 submissions, 12 finalist teams from across the world came together on 27 October for the Finals of the fourth Singapore Airlines (SIA) AppChallenge. The Challenge called for innovators to submit solutions for real business challenges faced in the aviation industry and enable SIA to soar to greater heights.

In partnership with NUS Enterprise, SIA was able to expand this year’s AppChallenge to a global level, with the finalists hailing from countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and even from as far as the USA and France!

Divided into the Student Category and Open Category, teams had to have a solution addressing at least one of the five challenge statements: 1. Improving Mobile App Engagement enhancing the user experience on flight with exciting and engaging features.

2. Offloaded Passenger Compensation Process - retaining offloaded passengers through fast and effective compensation management.

3. Enabling the KrisShop Experience efficient management of e-commerce transactions, as well as hassle-free checkin and collection of bulky pre-ordered duty free products.

4. Tracking Inventory Usage - providing better statistics to improve forecast accuracy for inventory and usage of service ware.

5. Tracking F&B Consumption - better facilitation of food distribution in order to curb wastage and better cater to passenger consumption patterns.

Heartiest congratulations go to team Winging It from NUS for winning Grand Prize in the Student Category, and RFTrack (a mixed team from the University of Washington, Tsinghua University and Shanghai International Studies University) for clinching Grand Prize in the Open Category! They wowed the judges with innovative solutions targeted at improving SIA’s F&B and inventory management systems.

To learn more about the SIA AppChallenge, visit: appchallenge.singaporeair.com Winning teams RFTrack and Winging It posing with their well-deserved grand prizes!

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PIER71 Smart Port Challenge Pitch Day On 28 November, the Shaw Foundation Alumni House Auditorium played host to the PIER71 Smart Port Challenge Pitch Day. Coorganised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), NUS Enterprise and TNB Ventures, and supported by the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA), the challenge provided a platform for maritime companies and technology start-ups to come together to work on solving the key issues faced by the maritime sector.

In response to 20 challenge statements identified in areas of port operations, and shipping & maritime services, 17 out of the 122 proposals received were chosen to go through PIER71 Accelerate, an eight-week market and business model validation programme. The start-ups worked closely with mentors on firming up their business models, competitive analysis and developing their prototypes.

The Smart Port Challenge Pitch Day 2018 served as a rite of passage, where the start-ups ‘graduate’ from the market validation programme. With guest-of-honour Dr Lam Pin Min, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Health,

gracing the event, a 250 strong audience gathered to witness the results of the challenge.

Congratulations to the three winners!

First Place (SGD10,000): Ocean Freight Exchange - Ocean Freight Exchange has developed a web-based scheduler system, which takes in all relevant data to produce an optimal schedule for a fleet of bunker tankers, saving both time and revenue.

Second Place (SGD5,000): Skylab SkyLab’s in-house developed data transport accelerator platform (STATM) is able to overcome current limitations of satellite communications whilst at sea in the provision of real-time monitoring and management of plant, equipment, crew’s health, systems and communications.

Third Place (SGD3,000): Claritecs Claritecs has developed BunkerMaestro, a SaaS platform based on maritime expertise and AI algorithms that provides decision-makers in shipping operations with scheduling clarity.

Mentors, Judges and Start-ups commemorating their official graduation from the PIER71 Smart Port Challenge Pitch Day 2018!

Dr Lily Chan, Chief Executive Officer of NUS Enterprise said, “We have been fostering strategic partnerships to help bridge and provide platforms for start-ups to engage with the flagship industries. The maritime sector plays a crucial role in Singapore’s economy, but is known for being somewhat resistant to innovation and digitalisation. As such, it is heartening to see tech-savvy start-ups working closely with larger, well-established maritime corporates, to catalyse the digital transformation of the industry and create new opportunities for innovation-driven growth.”

All 17 start-ups will continue to benefit from the support of both NUS Enterprise and MPA, through access to international markets, as well as innovative technologies and maritime expertise.

To know more about PIER71 and the Smart Port Challenge, visit: pier71.sg

Other than receiving the grants, these start-ups have the opportunity to develop and test bed their prototypes, in order to prepare them for possible commercialisation.

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EXPANDING BLOCK71

COMMUNITY AND CONNECTIONS Launch of BLOCK71 Bandung and Yogyakarta Since its establishment in Singapore in 2011, BLOCK71 has evolved into an ecosystem builder and global connector, bringing about global entrepreneurship opportunities and establishing its presence in Jakarta (Indonesia), Suzhou (China) and San Francisco (USA).

On 25 October, we added two new Indonesian cities to the BLOCK71 family - BLOCK71 Yogyakarta and BLOCK71 Bandung - in partnership with Salim Group!

We were honoured to have H Mochamad Ridwan Kamil, Governor of West Java, Republic of Indonesia and Mr. Anil Kumar Nayar, Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to Indonesia present to grace the BLOCK71 Bandung launch. Over at BLOCK71 Yogyakarta, distinguished guests included Mr. Baey Yam Keng, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth Singapore and Ms. Jayashree Sadanandan, Executive Director of International Policy, Economic Development Board Singapore. A special thank you also to all our community partners who made this possible!

Capitalising on Indonesia’s thriving start-up scene, the two new BLOCK71 locations are strategically located in the key Indonesian cities of Yogyakarta and Bandung, and are in close proximity to local universities.

Start-ups at these locations can benefit from incubation support, entrepreneurial initiatives and opportunities to pilot new ideas or technologies in the Indonesian market and abroad via the global BLOCK71 network.

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BLOCK71 Bandung & Yogyakarta, by NUS Enterprise in partnership with Salim Group, will support innovation and entrepreneurship development in Indonesia by serving as an ecosystem builder and global connector. Mr. Baey Yam Keng (Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, Singapore) officiated the launch in Yogyakarta

Our expansion in Indonesia is in tandem with the growth of the local entrepreneurial scene. NUS’ three BLOCK71 locations in Indonesia will facilitate information exchange, strengthen connectivity, and promote growth between the start-up ecosystems in Singapore and Indonesia, and abroad.”

NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye

All smiles as we welcome two new BLOCK71s to the global BLOCK71 family!

Operations in the two locations commenced in mid-October 2018 and the first group of start-ups have taken up residence in BLOCK71 Yogyakarta and BLOCK71 Bandung in November 2018.

An initiative by NUS Enterprise in collaborative and strategic partnerships with established corporates and government agencies, BLOCK71 catalyses and aggregates the start-up community, as well as provides opportunities for growth and synergies in new markets.

Entrepreneurs in the BLOCK71 family can leverage BLOCK71’s global network of resources and contacts, the research capabilities and technologies of NUS, and the investment and business acumen of our partners, to kickstart and further their entrepreneurial journeys within their local geography and beyond.

Dr. Lily Chan, CEO of NUS Enterprise and Axton Salim, Executive Director of Salim Group commemorate BLOCK71 Bandung’s official launch with a signed plaque

Our two new BLOCK71 locations are strategically located in key Indonesian cities and are in close proximity to local universities

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CELEBRATING

The five winners of SVC Asia 2018, flanked by partners, judges and mentors

ASIA’S TOP SOCIAL VENTURES Ten of the best social ventures from across Asia gathered in Singapore from 15 to 18 October for the Finale Week of the fifth DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia (SVC Asia). The finalists were selected from a field of 870 entries from 42 countries, the highest ever number of participating countries and evidence of the growing traction in social entrepreneurship in Asia.

Co-organised by DBS Foundation and NUS Enterprise, the Challenge aims to identify and support innovative new ideas and existing social ventures that have the potential to generate positive, scalable and sustainable social impact in Asia.

Their time in Singapore was packed with meaningful activities, including a full-day bootcamp by SVC Asia Corporate Partner Accenture, where the finalists picked up best practices in digital marketing, data visualisation and storytelling. They also had individual coaching by experts from Accenture, SVC Asia Valued Partner Experian, and NUS Enterprise, to get them pitch perfect for the final round of judging!

At the Grand Finale event on 18 October, the social impact community from Singapore and beyond congregated to celebrate the next generation of visionary social entrepreneurs who are improving

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lives across Asia. Five SVC Asia alumni also returned to share their experiences during a panel discussion – Read the highlights on page 16!

Following a short elevator pitch by each finalist, the five winning social ventures were announced, hailing from India, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Hong Kong!

They won a total of SGD135,000 in cash prizes, and will also receive mentorship and access to global networks to help them to scale their impact.

The finalists picked up essential skills to improve their business through a full-day bootcamp conducted by SVC Asia Corporate Partner Accenture

CMED Health - Bangladesh

AfterSchool Education - Hong Kong

The HEAD Foundation Innovative Social Enterprise Award (Education): SGD20,000

Experian Powering Opportunities Award: SGD15,000

CMED Health has developed an AI-driven cloud-based health monitoring platform for preventative healthcare, which allows users to store, monitor and access their health vitals. They train local health agents to provide these services across rural locations, educating society’s most vulnerable on the importance of regular health screenings and practices to lead a healthier life.

AfterSchool Education’s online platform provides students with a personalised and affordable learning experiences. Through a combination of inexpensive online courses, a gamified social learning community, and a tailored learning recommendation system, it aims to reduce educational inequalities by giving underprivileged students access to quality education.

Science For Society (S4S) Technologies - India Top Prize: SGD50,000 S4S Technologies is helping small and marginal women farmers to produce hygienic, nutritious dehydrated food products through a patented solar-powered, electricity-free food dehydrator. They have already sold some 2,000 units, impacting farmers and their families in reducing postharvest losses, earning additional income and enhancing food security.

Innaumation Medical Devices - India First Runner-up: SGD30,000 Innaumation Medical Devices is helping laryngectomy patients from poor socio-economic backgrounds to regain the ability to speak again. Prosthetic voice devices typically cost USD500USD1,000 each, out of reach for many patients in India. Their invention – a low-cost voice prosthesis device made of platinum cured medical grade silicon – is over 400 times more affordable than current devices in the market.

ATEC* Biodigesters International - Cambodia Second Runner-up: SGD20,000 ATEC* Biodigesters International has created the world’s first commercially scalable ‘plug and play’ biodigester, which converts animal manure and kitchen waste into biogas for cooking and organic fertiliser for farming. It helps rural villages to have gas for daily cooking needs, increases agricultural yields and household incomes, and mitigates greenhouse gas emissions.

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NUS ENTERPRISE ECOSYSTEM MAKES A BUZZ AT

SWITCH 2018

Between 17 to 20 September, NUS Enterprise was involved in the annual Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH). With the tagline “Today’s Inventions, Tomorrow’s World”, SWITCH 2018 served to bring together partners from around the world in the technology, innovation and enterprise ecosystem in a series of complementary tech events. SWITCH 2018 also played host to many partner events, such as Slingshot@SWITCH, Women In Tech and the DEMO Asia Summit.

BANSEA - Lifetime Achievement Award

L’Oréal Innovation Runway Finale

Professor Wong Poh Kam, Senior Director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre (a division of of NUS Enterprise) was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by BANSEA, during the 2018 Business Angel of Southeast Asia Awards. The prestigious honour is bestowed upon those who have contributed greatly to the angel investment community. Prof Wong’s outstanding leadership and his involvement in nurturing and building the next generation of leading entrepreneurs made him a strong, deserving candidate worthy of the title. Mr James Tan, Chairman of BANSEA, presented Prof.

Wong with the award.

L’Oréal Singapore partnered with NUS Enterprise, Enterprise Singapore and Startup SG to organise the L’Oréal Innovation Runway - an exciting start-up challenge calling for innovative ideas in Performance Materials & Products, Personalised Beauty Experiences and Sustainable Innovations. Now in its second year, the team at L’Oréal was eagerly looking out to partner with early-stage start-ups and small enterprises in the Asia Pacific Region and beyond, to work alongside L’Oréal in co-developing solutions to enhance customer experiences.

Prof Wong Poh Kam receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from Mr James Tan, Chairman of BANSEA

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The finale was graced by Guests-ofHonour Mr Chan Chun Sing, Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry; and Mr Mounir Mahjoubi, France’s Secretary of State for Digital Affairs.

Five finalist teams pitched during the challenge finale at the Slingshot@ SWITCH stage. The two winning teams - Sequential and String Bio Pvt Ltd - will have the opportunity to work with L’Oréal to further their solutions, as well as gain access to mentors and industry networks through L’Oréal, NUS Enterprise, and Enterprise Singapore.

On top of that, cash prizes of SGD5,000 and a SGD50,000 Startup SG grant were awarded to each of the winners.

Mr Pierre Yves Arzel, South Asia Zone General Manager L’Oréal, Mr Chan Chun Sing, Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry, winning teams Sequential and String Bio Pvt Ltd, Mr Mounir Mahjoubi, France’s Secretary of State for Digital Affairs and Dr. Mark Phong, Asia Director Advanced Research Labs and Business Development, L’Oréal

Sequential, a local team made up of Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) researchers, has developed the first proprietary face mask that deeply characterises the skin’s genetics and microbiome, taking a genetics and environmental approach to personalised cosmetics.

String Bio Pvt Ltd, from India, leverages methane as a source of carbon to manufacture green chemicals and feed/ food ingredients, encouraging a circular value chain for everyday products to create a more ecologically sustainable world. Their proprietary platform leverages synthetic biology, chemistry and process engineering.

Alchemy Foodtech wins Slingshot@SWITCH

Aptoide wins at DEMO Asia

Powered by Startup SG, Slingshot@SWITCH is an international deep tech start-up competition.

Through this platform, promising startups are able to showcase their technology and business ideas, gain early exposure to investors, corporates, industry leaders, mentors, media, and tech-savvy early adopters. Several NUS Enterprise supported start-ups were selected to pitch their innovations, including Alchemy Foodtech, Good For Food, PathoVax and Rovo.

Alchemy Foodtech, an NUS Enterprise @ Singapore Science Park start-up, clinched the top prize, walking away with an incredible SGD200,000 Startup SG grant! They beat out around 1,000 applications and 70 start-ups in the qualifying round.

Found to provide healthier options to consumers in an ever-lasting battle against diabetes, Alchemy Foodtech uses its 5ibrePlus additive to lower the Glycemic Index of staple foods like white rice, white bread and noodles.

Read more about their story on Page 15!

Alchemy Foodtech founders Alan Phua and Verleen Goh, posing with their grand prize alongside Mr Peter Ong

All the 15 participants of the Demo Asia Summit 2018

Over at the Advent stage, the 2018 Demo Asia Summit gathered industry leaders and elites, top investors, technology experts and corporate executives to discuss future business opportunities in Southeast Asia, with “Innovation without Boundary” being this year’s theme.

At the Final Roadshow, Aptoide - an NUS Enterprise incubated start-up was awarded first place out of 15 other competing blockchain project teams.

Made up of a refreshing mix of aspiring blockchain enthusiasts and seasoned blockchain professionals, these teams came up with innovative products for markets such as public chain, big data, new retail, and real estate. The impressive 15, who stood out from over 1000 other applicants, hail from China, Poland, Singapore, Indonesia, and Portugal.

Launchpad@one-north Open House In conjunction with SWITCH, NUS Enterprise and BLOCK71 Singapore hosted the Launchpad@ one-north open house, where start-ups in the vicinity extended their welcome to keen entrepreneurs, job-seekers and ecosystem builders.

The area was buzzing with excited chatter as attendees networked over breakfast, and wandered around Block 71, 79 and 81.

To find out more about BLOCK71 Singapore, go to block71.co/singapore

A direct competitor of Google Play, Aptoide is one of the world’s top three Android app stores, with 250 million users yearly and 35 million monthly active users in the world. It garners over 300 million app and game downloads every month, with India, Brazil, Mexico, USA and Indonesia being their top five markets.

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NUS PARTNERS ALIPAY TO BUILD A MORE

INCLUSIVE SOCIETY NUS Enterprise has partnered Alipay, the world’s largest mobile and online payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group, to launch the Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge. The initiative aims to identify and support startups in Southeast Asia that are using digital technologies to build a more inclusive society. During the launch event on 16 November, Mr Geoff Jiang, Vice President, General Manager of Technology and Business Innovation Group at Ant Financial shared why Alipay is keen to delve into this space.

“Since Alipay’s inception in 2004, we have been dedicated to using digital technology to bring equal opportunities to the world. In particular, we want to make financial services simple, low-cost and accessible to the many, rather than the few. While the impact of one company may be limited, an ecosystem of partners who stand behind the same vision will be able to achieve much more. We look forward to working with our new partner NUS Enterprise, to identify and support the growth of the most innovative start-ups in Southeast Asia. It is exciting for us to be involved with teams creating lasting impact for their communities and addressing real world problems, such as aging, poverty and lack of access to development opportunities,” explained Geoff Jiang.

Roadshows and workshops were held in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia throughout November and December 2018, with applications closing on 15 January 2019. Pitch Days will be held in each country, with the three top teams per country winning SGD10,000 each. These nine finalists will then converge in Singapore for the grand finale, to be held in March 2019.

A panel of three start-ups comprising Give.asia, Wonderlabs Foundation and Jaga-me shared insights on leveraging digital technology for social impact

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Mr Geoff Jiang, Vice President, General Manager of Technology and Business Innovation Group at Ant Financial and Prof. Wong Poh Kam, Senior Director of NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, commemorated the launch of Social Innovation Challenge on 16 November 2018

The winning team will receive the grand prize of SGD50,000 to amplify their positive impact on society.

In addition to these financial rewards, winning teams will also gain support through networks, incubation, mentorship and partnership opportunities with NUS Enterprise and Ant Financial.

If you are keen to participate, sign up for this challenge at: alipaynusseachallenge.com

SERVING THE

SILVER MARKET The three winners of the 2018 Modern Aging Singapore accelerator programme. They were awarded a total of SGD100,000 in seed funding to grow their innovative solutions for the silver sector

When start-ups seek to create innovations for society, seniors are not often on their minds.

However, with Singapore’s elder population expected to double to 900,000 by 2030, there is an urgent need to develop solutions that cater to the needs of this demographic. The steady growth in the silver economy has created a strong demand for targeted services and products, and is set to be a prime market for budding entrepreneurs to tap into.

Now in its fourth run, the Modern Aging Accelerator Programme - a joint initiative

by NUS Enterprise and ACCESS Health International - serves as a platform to identify, develop and scale start-ups that serve the needs of the aging population and their caregivers. After going through a comprehensive business development programme, the eight finalist teams pitched to an audience of 200 during the Finale on 30 November.

Two invited keynote speakers shared perspectives and insights into issues around aging. Mr Jason Ho, Head of Group Human Resources at OCBC Bank spoke about the bank’s efforts to invest in older employees and create a strong learning, unlearning and relearning culture.

A/Prof Kenny Tan, Chief Executive Officer of St Luke’s ElderCare explained the importance of innovating care delivery for seniors in a manner that emphasises connection and empowerment.

Three winning teams – Timeliss, ĀN and Eden – were awarded a total of SGD100,000 in seed funding to further develop their innovative solutions that cater to the challenges and opportunities within the silver sector, namely - legacy planning, dental care and retirement planning.

SGD50,000

TIMELISS

Timeliss provides a holistic framework that brings health, wealth and legacy planning onto one platform, empowering people to prepare themselves for end-of-life matters.

They make this concise and accessible by providing information on what to do, with templates and checklists for those who wish to take action, as well as links to relevant professional services.

SGD25,000

AN

ĀN’s unique property monetisation model enables retirees to authorise institutional investors to purchase a portion of their home equity. Retiree private property homeowners will retain the right to live in the comfort of their own homes for life, while continuing to gain from potential capital appreciation of the remaining portion, and having the option of leaving behind their stake in the property for nextof-kin as part of their estate.

SGD25,000

EDEN

With nearly 80% of seniors above 65 years old missing teeth, most turn to dentures as a proven solution. However, existing dentures tend to be expensive, uncomfortable and low-quality, resulting in many seniors forgoing their dentures and living a reduced quality of life. Eden is developing the Easy Tray, an automated tray system that is customised to the user’s jaw and mouth structure, producing accurate dental impressions to create dentures that are affordable, comfortable and high-quality.

Modern Aging has become more than just an accelerator programme. It is also an education platform, to provide more information on the aging experience as well as a community which brings together industry experts, mentors, seniors, innovators and anyone interested in empowering people to live longer and live better.”

Dr Lily Chan, CEO of NUS Enterprise.

The Modern Aging Accelerator programme is supported by ACE Seniors, Active Global Specialised Caregivers, Centre for Ageing Research & Education, Duke-NUS Medical School, NUS Business School, OCBC Bank, SingHealth and User Experience Centre.

To find out more, visit modernaging.sg

Senior Role Models “Young Hearts” from Kallang CC amazed the audience with their lively and energetic performances

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The Blockchain Revolution has spread like wildfire, with individuals continuously being wowed by the infinite opportunities this new phenomenon presents. With blockchain’s potential to render financial and government institutions obsolete, there has been an explosive boost in investments in the token economy. How are these terms related, and what repercussions do they have for the way we carry out our day-today activities?

On 12 October 2018, BLOCK71 San Francisco hosted the ‘Future of the Token Economy’, with a full house of over 50 eager attendees sitting on the edge of their seats to delve deeper into the realm of decentralised transactions.

A distinguished panel, consisting of Teck Chia, Partner at Binance Labs; Ada Yeo, Product Manager at Coinbase; and Edison Lim, Blockchain application developer at NUS Enterprise incubated start-up Zilliqa, engaged the audience in a thought-provoking and fruitful discussion.

Moderated by Kenneth Bok, Founder and Producer of De/Centralize, the lively conversation lasted throughout the hourlong event.

Cryptocurrencies, as early as the humble beginnings of the widely-known Bitcoin, have steadily been gaining traction as an alternative to existing currencies, such as fiat money. However, their role has since evolved to enable more functionalities for users, such as representing an asset or a utility.

Cryptocurrency tokens are usually “mined” by processing blockchain transactions, and are then stored in wallets, which can be accessed with a private key combination and exchanged publicly with a public key combination - which are the equivalent to our very own bank account and security pin numbers. This direct process conveniently eradicates the role of a third party, such as a bank, to govern the transaction. With a trusted, centralized source removed from the picture, how secure are token transfers?

Edison, who researches blockchain security, notes that the application of a blockchain plays a pivotal role in ensuring the security of data transfer and sharing.

Due to the intricacies of cryptography, a minute error may result in catastrophic repercussions. He stressed the importance of a developer being accurate and

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FUTURE OF THE

TOKEN ECONOMY concise in his or her craft, to ensure an impenetrable code structure.

Despite the blockchain being dubbed to be a majorly secure network, there are many factors that seem to be hindering mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and tokens, thus slowing the growth of the token economy. One major point being the volatility attached to the value of a token, according to the properties of its dependent blockchain. For instance, one token may be equal to 15 bitcoins on a particular blockchain, while another token could be the equivalent to 5 bitcoins; and the values can fluctuate daily. This is unlike the stability found in fiat money, where the governance of a central bank determines the exchange value definitely.

On the flip side, the token economy brings with it undeniable benefits, such as low cost, instantaneous transactions, and the promotion of a trusting economy. This can be extremely helpful, particularly in cross-border transactions, which currently face fluctuation in exchange rates, intermediation costs from the banks and payment processor, and time lag. As a result, cryptocurrency tokens are seen as the future of finance by many, and coins like Bitcoin are increasingly being accepted as a form of payment.

To learn more about the future of the token economy, tune in here: bit.ly/BLOCK71TokenEconomy

What is Blockchain?

A modern technology that allows people to communicate directly while maintaining the trust and security between both parties.

What are cryptocurrencies?

A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency designed to work as a medium of exchange. It uses cryptography to secure and verify transactions as well as to control the creation of new units of a particular cryptocurrency.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system, where exchanges are made via wallet software. Due to it being decentralized payment, the value of the bank balance is set entirely by the supply and demand of the market.

What is a wallet?

A blockchain wallet is a digital wallet that allows users to manage bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

What is fiat money?

Inconvertible paper money made legal tender by a government decree.

What is mining?

Mining is the process of solving complex mathematical algorithms (block) in order to validate new transactions and record them on the global ledger (chain).

FOOD EVANGELISTS WITH A MISSION Husband and wife team Verleen Goh and Alan Phua are on a mission to combat diabetes among Singaporeans through their start-up, Alchemy Foodtech, incubated at NUS Enterprise@Singapore Science Park.

With their recent SGD200,000 first place win at the SLINGSHOT@SWITCH competition, we speak to them about the company and what’s next for them.

What inspired you to start Alchemy Foodtech?

When we brainstormed on current issues, specifically in Singapore, we came to a consensus that diabetes was becoming an issue, and today it’s almost an epidemic.

You see, it’s not the average sugary desserts and drinks that get to us Singaporeans. It’s the staples, the ‘Asian necessities’, including white rice and our extensive selection of noodles and breads. With this knowledge, we decided to focus our research on making the staples healthier and with a lower GI count - without changing the taste, colour and texture of the foods.

Who does Alchemy Foodtech hope to reach?

It’s simple, Alchemy Foodtech hopes to reach out to people who are slightly health conscious, yet not willing to make the arduous switch to unrefined grains or are unresolved in changing their dietary habits. These are individuals who understand the problems surrounding diabetes and want better blood glucose management, but seem to find the whole process of changing their diets quite challenging.

Verleen Goh and Alan Phua working on creating healthier food options with their very own 5ibrePlus technology

Alchemy Foodtech’s “Health by Stealth” 5ibrePlus technology is best suited to tackle these concerns - with its ability to lower the blood glucose spike after consuming such foods, while still maintaining its’ taste, texture and colour.

Who is your competition?

Currently, our competition includes other lower GI products, such as unrefined brown rice and low GI coarse grain breads. Our obvious edge against them is that we work with food manufacturers to make lower GI products - without the taste and texture modifications. To dispel any doubts, we have done lab and accredited human GI studies and the results prove that our 5ibrePlus technology does in fact reduce the GI while our sensory evaluation shows no taste deviation.

What was your reaction to winning Slingshot@SWITCH? We were actually pleasantly surprised at the outcome, considering we could not attend any of the workshops, mentoring or networking dinners, as it coincided with our wedding dates. We were so fearful that we would be ill-prepared for the competition; but I guess it turned out well!

What’s next for the company?

We just announced the first close of our pre-series A (lead and co-lead). The second close (for following co-investors) will be announced in a few weeks! Winning the SGD200,000 definitely helps us with the development of lower GI foods, for further research and also to bring products to market with food manufacturers so that we will be able to protect the masses.

What are three key takeaways from your journey so far?

01 There will always be wrongs.

Entrepreneurs are there to right the wrongs.

02 Work on something with potential global impact. Where there is potential impact, there also tends to be a lot of help and resources available.

03 Things always cost more and take

longer than initially expected. Build buffer into your plans.

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To mark the fifth year of the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia (SVC Asia), five previous awardees were invited back to share their journeys and progress during a panel discussion at the Grand Finale. The panel comprised Michelle Lee, Founder of I’m Soul Inc (Singapore); Nanlapat Santisutham, Chief Strategic Officer of Learn Education (Thailand); Palmmy Wongphatharakul, Cofounder of Siam Organic (Thailand); Quin Thong, Founder of ANA by Karma (Hong Kong)l with Neil D’Souza, Founder of Zaya Learning Labs (India) as the moderator.

Here are some highlights.

Neil: Please share a bit on your journey as a social entrepreneur.

Michelle: Unlike many other entrepreneurs who start companies while they are young, I am 61 years old. Starting a social enterprise is not for the faint-hearted. You must have faith in what you are doing. I’m Soul Inc has gone through a lot of experimentation and we are now expanding to the region.

Nanlapat: I joined Learn Education earlier this year, moving from a stable job in a large company. The toughest part is getting the first paying customer. You need to ask the right questions to examine the needs of the market, so you can develop the right solution. Discovering what your customers can afford to pay and who makes the decision is also important. Get this right, and you will soon see your business pick up.

Palmmy: I’ve been on this journey for seven years now. There are so many ‘downs’ before we saw the ‘ups’ and finally got to where we are today. It is a lot of hard work, sacrifice, arguments and crying.

But I carried on because I had a lot to prove.

Quin: When I started ANA by Karma, I was not trying to save the world – I just wanted a holiday! I went to Bhutan and met a village woman who could weave beautiful scarves. Unfortunately, she did not know how to sell them. I bought eight scarves, took a photo of them and put it on my Facebook, to ‘crowdfund’ her scarves amongst my friends. I sold 40 scarves and when I gave the village woman the money, she cried as she had never seen so much money before. When I got back to Hong

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SOCIAL VENTURE CHALLENGE ASIA ALUMNI RETURN TO SHARE THEIR STORIES

Kong, my friends all wanted to buy more scarves, and because of that I became a social entrepreneur.

Neil: We’ve already heard stories of tears and during my journey at Zaya, I also cried a lot. How often do you regret starting on this journey and how do you overcome it?

Quin: Yes, there were struggles and I also cried many times. But every small thing that I do for my weavers is such a big thing for them, so it is worth the tears. I now have 100 weavers that depend on me for their livelihood. My main regret is when I feel that I’m not good enough.

For example, I came up with the idea of creating luggage belts with people’s names woven in. However, trying to teach illiterate weavers the alphabet is tremendously difficult!

Palmmy: I have no time to think of regrets.

When I am running the business, every day I need to solve a problem. Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes you fail and learn how to do it better. If someone knocks you down or you face a setback, just try again.

Michelle: At my age, many people think I should be staying at home looking after the grandchildren. And yet Asia is facing a rapidly ageing population. Whenever I have a regret, I always think that I want to be able to contribute actively in my own way. This keeps me going.

Neil: What are you most proud of in your entrepreneurial journey?

Nanlapat: During Learn Education’s early days, we met a teacher who was interested in our solution but his school had no money to pay. We decided to help anyway to make social impact and gave our learning solutions for free. The school was in the Northern part of Thailand, 80km from the city in a mountainous region. The students were hill tribe children, and this was the first time they saw a computer or experienced clicking a mouse. This school was a primary school, and most children stopped education there, as it would take them 4 hours to travel to the city for secondary education. We found later that having our solution in the primary school resulted in more students deciding to continue education at the secondary level.

This reminds us why we are doing this and the type of impact that we can make.

Michelle: My proudest moment was actually last Sunday, at the President’s Star Charity. I’m Soul Inc was invited to perform onstage. I assembled a team including senior citizens with stroke and dementia and students with learning disabilities. Our message is that everyone is able to perform together as one community. I know that the performers will never forget this moment for the rest of their lives.

Neil: And for me, my proudest moment was finally being able to build the team that can continue doing what Zaya has been doing. Just last year, I was able to step back, and the organisation continues to grow, with minimal intervention from me, while maintaining the same values.

THE LEAN METHODOLOGY WAY FOR

TECH COMMERCIALISATION Participants and guests at the NUS Final Presentation Day on 29 October 2018

Congratulations to the 24 graduating teams from the latest Lean LaunchPad (LLP) Singapore NUS and NTU cohorts! Over the course of 10 weeks, the teams were committed to developing, testing (and some even pivoting) their business model hypotheses in real markets.

For the NUS run, 19 teams from various organisations and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) shared their key learnings and market insights for their innovations at the Final Presentation Day on 29 October.

The teams were categorised into three tracks, namely – Infocomm Technology, Engineering & Medical Technology, and Cap Vista. The Cap Vista track is a new partnership with Cap Vista Pte Ltd, the

strategic investment arm of Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency, which invests in companies with deep, innovative technologies and applications in defence and security.

For the NTU run, they graduated their fourth cohort on 18 October, consisting of five teams from the Engineering Track. Dr. Lim Jui, CEO for NTUitive, was present to give out the official certificates to the teams and congratulate them on a job well done!

Since July 2017, the national LLP Singapore programme has conducted six runs, with over 70 participating teams from organisations across Singapore. To learn more about the programme, visit leanlaunchpad.nus.edu.sg

JENNIFER DODGSON FROM TEAM VOX DEI I really like the lean methodology because it lets us soft-launch our product with minimal risk. I’m putting everything I’ve got into this venture, so I’m already taking a pretty big risk and I’d like to avoid compounding it by going for a big traditional-style launch without being sure that the market is interested.”

GAVIN KOON FROM TEAM PROJECT 2D MAGNETIC SENSOR I think my biggest takeaway is that what you value the most and the things you spend the most time working on don’t matter if you don’t understand the industry in the first place.”

TZE CHONG FROM TEAM MAPEX

Dr Lily Chan, CEO of NUS Enterprise, Prof. Wong Poh Kam, Senior Director, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and Prof Jerome Engel, Adjunct Professor (Emeritus) at UC Berkeley joined the Final Presentation Day for the NUS run

(3rd from left) Dr. Lim Jui, CEO for NTUitive presented certificates to the five LLP teams at NTU’s Final Presentation Day on 18 October 2018

LLP Singapore brought me through the whole customer discovery process.

Now I know a more structured and evidence-backed method to test if our hypotheses are correct before proceeding with product specifications and development.”

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Winners photo with QuarkChain founder and CEO Qi Zhou (2nd from left). The team comprised of – from left to right – Dylan (market research and slide design), Shilpa (slide design), Joel (developer), Siva (lead), Keerthi (developer)

Blockchain is the new black - and it’s probably time we embrace it. The term ‘Blockchain’ tends to come up in every conference and discussion we have, but do you know that Blockchain can be applied to help society? NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) Silicon Valley student Keerthi Chandra and his team participated in the World Blockchain Hackathon in San Francisco, winning first place in the QuarkChain challenge with their solution, Wellcoin! Keerthi shares his journey with Enterprise SPARKS.

Genesis I am an NUS undergraduate majoring in Information Systems, on the NOC Silicon Valley programme. I’m currently working as a Solutions Engineer in Workato. My team consisted of 5 members, two from NUS and the rest whom we met at the hackathon itself. One of the members had a start-up which specialised in preventive healthcare, and he wanted to extend a blockchain arm to it. When he shared his idea with us, we were invested in the idea and immediately decided to work with him. I was one of the two developers in the team who created the solution ‘Wellcoin’ using QuarkChain’s blockchain technology. Personally, I have never coded in blockchain before the hackathon, so this was a huge learning curve – one that I really enjoyed.

Concept

Valuable Lessons

People tend to neglect the importance of practicing good preventive health, and spend thousands of dollars are spent on curing illnesses instead. Our aim is to create a new cryptocurrency - one which would incentivise people to practice good preventive health. Incentives could possibly include physical therapy treatments, massages, and in the future maybe even discounted health insurance.

For this, the necessary market research and validation had previously been performed by Siva, our lead. We created a prototype of this cryptocurrency on the QuarkChain blockchain. There is a good need for this solution as this would not only motivate people to be in better shape but also bring business to |partnering organisations like physical therapy centres.

Joining hackathons really taught me how valuable time can be and that hackathons are always filled with such amazing ideas!

Hackathons are a great avenue to 1) learn a lot in a very short amount of time and also 2) network with some brilliant people.

Challenges

NOC has provided me with this wonderful opportunity to come to Silicon Valley and intern in Workato, while studying entrepreneurship in Stanford. Apart for the great experiences and lessons I’ve gained from work and Stanford, there’s so much to absorb from the thriving entrepreneurial hub that Silicon Valley provides. The NOC community at BLOCK71 San Francisco is also really awesome for setting up events with really impressive personalities. One event I recently attended, was a discussion with Carousell’s CTO Lucas Ngoo. I am truly grateful for this opportunity and I’m really excited to continue this journey and bring my learnings back home!

Some of us were initially very skeptical on how this cryptocurrency would gain enough recognition for it to be used in exchange for the aforementioned incentives. But after a long and fruitful discussion with my teammates and the hackathon organisers - who were very helpful with their advice, we realised that there was indeed potential for us to ensure that this cryptocurrency can scale.

Words of Wisdom Learning never, ever stops. Every hackathon or entrepreneurial event you attend, will definitely help you gain a lot more perspective on the market and how other entrepreneurs have made it big!

There’s always so much more that can be learnt, especially with technology evolving so rapidly. In short I guess I’d say, “hustle smart, hard” - because time is precious.

The NOC Edge

NOC STUDENT WINS

BLOCKCHAIN HACKATHON

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OUT OF THE BOX

THINKERS Every year, the Philip Yeo Initiative (PYI) awards the Philip Yeo Grant to deserving NUS students who embark on the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme. These students embody the ‘Make A Difference, Change Our World’ (#MADCOW) spirit of Mr Philip Yeo. We caught up with two of this year’s Philip Yeo Grant awardees, Martin Indrawata (NOC Israel) and Chuah Jia Ying (NOC New York), to know more about their personal experiences and understand how the Philip Yeo Grant has made a difference to their journeys.

Apart from working, Martin enrolled in an Entrepreneurship Module in Tel Aviv University. Together with his project team, he developed a conceptual software-based career roadmap which secured pilot test agreements with Ironsource, a late-stage start-up in Israel.

Halfway across the globe, Jia Ying had an internship with Kisi as a content editor, working with multiple writers and creating content briefs for them.

Martin (left) with his colleagues at a Singtel Innov8 networking event

Our newest additions to the PYI Family!

Jia Ying was also grateful for the Philip Yeo Grant in assisting her throughout her stint in New York.

In Israel, Martin interned at Singtel Innov8, a corporate venture fund managed by Singtel Group. He was tasked to scout for and assess start-ups based in Israel for investment and partnership opportunities.

“The first skill I learnt was to give order to my work in an unstructured environment.

As there were only four people in the team, I had to wear the hat of a full-time employee rather than an intern! I took on the responsibility of meeting other start-up founders, attending tech-related events, performing research work, organising events and much more!”

The Philip Yeo Initiative (PYI) is a ground-up movement, administered by NUS Enterprise, which aims to generate the MAD spirit into the next generation of leaders. Each PYI Grant, valued at up to SGD5,000, helps recipients cover overseas living expenses during the NOC programme.

#MAD EXPERIENCES: NEW YORK

#MAD EXPERIENCES: ISRAEL

“The first two months were characterised by plunging myself into the Israeli technology ecosystem to understand the market players and their technology. I learnt that sound co-investment strategy between the government and the private sector is the key to making Israel an exceptionally suitable environment for start-ups to flourish.”

JOINING THE PYI FAMILY

Philip Yeo Grant awardee, Jia Ying during her NOC New York stint

“I learnt how to use Google Analytics and Search Console to track our SEO progress and better optimise our content. Over time, my role evolved and expanded to making videos and design materials ranging from marketing collaterals, banner ads, product stickers and company-T designs!”

“I also interviewed founders of co-working spaces and transcribed that information into case studies on our website, took part in multiple seminars and workshops with founders of start-ups as guest speakers and participated in my very first hackathon – HackPrinceton! It was truly an eye-opening experience being able to see the brightest minds come together in a single event to come up with innovative solutions.”

“The NOC programme has definitely honed my analytical skills and equipped me with the knowledge of the lean startup methodology. More importantly, it has connected me with like-minded friends who are inclined towards entrepreneurship.”

The grant has allowed me to pursue my entrepreneurial aspirations with peace of mind. Coming from a working-class family, living in New York for a year would have posed a huge financial burden for my family.”

Chuah Jia Ying

Apart from the financial assistance received, recipients are also presented with numerous opportunities to network with the wider PYI community and be invited to exclusive events to learn and be inspired.

The PYI community includes associates and fellows from the Philip Yeo Innovation Fellows Programme, mentees of Mr Philip Yeo and Mr Philip Yeo himself. These opportunities enable grant recipients to continue to be involved in the entrepreneurial community, and provide valuable support for them in their entrepreneurship journey.

Find out more: NOC Awards – www.bit.ly/NOCAwards Philip Yeo Initiative – philipyeoinitiative. sg

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2018 AT A GLANCE 01

Launch of NOC Toronto and NOC Southeast Asia (Jan 2018)

Our flagship NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme extended its presence in Southeast Asia, launching in Jakarta, and also broke new ground in Toronto, in partnership with the University of Toronto.

Launch of ICE71 (26 Mar 2018)

02

The region’s first cybersecurity start-up hub, ICE71 Innovation Cybersecurity Ecosystem @ BLOCK71 - was jointly launched by NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority and the Cybersecurity Agency of Singapore. Over 160 guests from start-ups, regulators and corporations attended the event.

03

Innovfest unbound (5-6 June 2018)

Southeast Asia’s largest and most exciting innovation festival - Innovfest unbound 2018 - played host to over 13,000 delegates from 100 countries. For the fourth year running, the event, co-organised by NUS Enterprise and unbound in partnership with the Infocomm Media Development Authority, celebrated disruptive technologies and showcased Asia’s most innovative developments.

Launch of PIER71 (6 June 2018)

04

The launch of PIER71 – Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined @ BLOCK71 – by NUS Enterprise and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore marks the start a joint effort to accelerate maritime innovation in the region. Partnerships were also inked with Innospace, Rainmaking Innovation, Wärtsilä and Wilhelmsen to provide start-ups with more opportunities and access to resources.

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05

Innovfest Suzhou (20-21 June 2018)

Over 1,100 individuals from around the world came together to exchange insights on the latest innovations and entrepreneurship developments in China and beyond. Coorganised by the NUS Suzhou Research Institute (NUSRI), BLOCK71 Suzhou and NUS Enterprise, the annual event aims to build a key cross-border platform to link Chinese companies with overseas innovations.

NUS Enterprise Summer Programme (9-20 July 2018)

06

The Summer Programme welcomed 100 students from 21 countries to discover the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Aimed at extending NUS’ entrepreneurship education mission beyond Singapore to students from around the world, the two-week programme consisted of intensive workshops, lectures, company visits, and experiential learning activities.

07

NUS Enterprise @ Singapore Science Park Moves to Curie (Oct 2018)

NUS Enterprise @ Singapore Science Park moved from the Franklin building to Curie. With the space doubling to 8000sqft, it now hosts a larger event space, plus new rooms and facilities such as dry-labs to meet the specialised needs of deep tech companies.

DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia Finale Week (15-18 Oct 2018)

08

Ten finalists, five awards, a week of unforgettable experiences. The 5th DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia saw the winning social ventures from India, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Hong Kong take home a total of SGD$135,000 to scale their social impact.

09

ICE71 Accelerate Demo Day (16 Oct 2018)

The first cohort of start-ups from ICE71 Accelerate successfully graduated at the Demo Day! Designed to help early-stage cybersecurity start-ups sharpen their value proposition and business strategy, the five start-ups showcased their solutions to an audience of VCs, investors and corporate representatives.

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Launch of BLOCK71 Bandung and Yogyakarta (25 Oct 2018)

10

Building on BLOCK71 Jakarta which was launched in 2017, we opened two new BLOCK71 locations in Indonesia - BLOCK71 Bandung and BLOCK71 Yogyakarta, in partnership with Salim Group. In total, we now have six BLOCK71s all around the world, contributing to the rapid growth of the BLOCK71 Family worldwide!

11

SIA AppChallenge Finals (27 Oct 2018)

In collaboration with Singapore Airlines, the fourth run of the SIA AppChallenge had 12 finalists in the Student and Open categories fly in to Singapore to pitch their solutions that best fit SIA’s five identified business challenges.

Launch of Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge (16 Nov 2018)

12

NUS Enterprise teamed up with Alipay to launch the AlipayNUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge, which aims to support the growth of start-ups in Southeast Asia that are using digital technology to build a more inclusive society.

13

PIER71 Smart Port Challenge Pitch Day (28 Nov 2018)

After going through the 8-week PIER71 Accelerate programme, 17 venture teams pitched their innovative technologies to digitalise the maritime industry, in response to pressing challenges identified by maritime corporates.

Over 250 people attended the Pitch Day, with three teams walking away with SGD18,000 in cash prizes.

Modern Aging Singapore Finale (30 Nov 2018)

14

Eight teams with innovative solutions for the silver sector pitched to a 200 strong audience at the fourth Modern Aging Singapore accelerator programme Finale. Three winners received seed funding totaling SGD100,000 to spur the development of their businesses that serve the aging population.

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NUS Enterprise Events & Activities

OCT - DEC 2018

Stay updated on our upcoming events at: enterprise.nus.edu.sg/events

OCT

NOV

3

Industry Roundtable Series – Connected Devices: Transformative Innovation – Disruption by Design

01

DSTA HackerFest Workshop with AWS, NVIDIA and Bohemia Interactive Simulations

3

Kopi Chat – Deep Dive on Tech’s Role in Sustainability

07

4

Maybank Kim Eng Hackfest Workshop

DSTA HackerFest Workshop with Microsoft, NCS and SUTD

6

NOC 101 – which NOC College should you choose?

10

Wicked Series at N-House! The future of Social Enterprise Business Model

16

11

Modern Aging Seminar Series: Robots and Seniors

Launch of Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge

21

17

Industry Roundtable Series – Future Health: Healthful Innovation – AI in Healthcare

Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge: Jakarta Roadshow

22

The Right Way To Handle Things Going Wrong

26

Kopi Chat with CyberInt’s Amir Ofek

14

Industry Roundtable Series – Environmental Solutions: Cool Innovations: Technologies for more Comfortable Environments

18

Lean LaunchPad Singapore NTU Run - Final Presentation Day

25

Marketing in a World of Fake News

28

PIER71 Smart Port Challenge Pitch Day

29

Lean LaunchPad Singapore NUS Run - Final Presentation Day

29

NOC Alumni Industry Groups: New Age of Health and Wellness

31

Industry Roundtable Series – Connected Devices: Accelerated Innovation – Do it like a Start-up

30

Modern Aging Singapore Finale 2018

31

Wicked Series at N-House!

Pitch Night!

DEC 01

Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge: Singapore Workshop

04

The New Digital Economy for HR: AI and Chatbots

05

Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge: Malaysia Workshop and Roadshow

06

Doing Business in the U.S.

06

Secure Cloud First Strategy

08

Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge: Jakarta Workshop

11

The Hangar Year-End Party

13

BLOCK71 Singapore Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

17

Lean LaunchPad Singapore Info Session for Entrepreneur Leads

23

EXPANDING INTO THE PHILIPPINES:

OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND As your start-up grows and gains traction, it’s time to look at expanding your business beyond local borders. But, how do you decide where to expand to?

On 12 September, we gathered at BLOCK71 Singapore for “Entrepreneurial Link: Singapore x The Philippines”. The ‘Entrepreneurial Link’ series by NUS Enterprise serves as a bilateral platform for knowledge exchange and networking between start-ups, investors and corporate partners in Singapore and key overseas players. It also aims to deepen the links between the Singapore entrepreneurial ecosystem and the respective overseas entrepreneurial hubs.

With the Philippines now one of Asia’s most promising start-up hubs, we welcomed a panel of experienced entrepreneurs who have set up their business there to share some insights and factors for consideration. Amit Saberwal from RedDoorz, Gui Faria from Upteam, Chew Hwee Yong from Enterprise Singapore and Melissa Kang from Meloy Fund took centre stage as Josef Werker of Penbrothers moderated the panel.

Huge Market Disruption Potential With the Philippines currently in its developmental stages, there are many pockets of opportunities to be tapped on. Issues such as poor traffic conditions and stagnant consumerism with the current demographic are pain points to solve through market disruption. Challenges such as these should provide sufficient motivation for relevant start-ups to set foot into this emerging market.

Abundance of Human Capital The Philippines has a great abundance of human capital to offer, with an average of 750,000 fresh graduates being introduced into the job market every year and people aged 20 to 30 making up close to 20% of the country’s population. This puts the country in a prime position when it comes to economic growth and market potential.

Highly Motivated Workforce With 749,999 other people graduating at the same time, competition is tight for jobs. For employers, this serves as a bonus as the chosen candidates come in incredibly motivated and energetic, ready to put their knowledge and skills to good use. With growth opportunities and a comprehensive wireframe to guide them towards career succession, these fresh graduates will be ready to take the job market by storm and contribute greatly to your company.

Lower Costs Incurred On average, a Singaporean employee earns almost five times as much as a Filipino employee. For companies looking to expand regionally, the Philippines provides the perfect environment for trial and error, without damaging the bank.

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