ENTERPRISE SPARKS- Issue 24 (Oct-Dec 2019)

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A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF NUS ENTERPRISE

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OCT - DEC 2019

ISSUE 024

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INNOVFEST SUZHOU 2019

NUS GRIP LIFT OFF DAY RUN 3

B e B o ld.

B e Ch allen g ed!

08 INNOVATION CHALLENGES GALORE

enterprise@nus.edu.sg |

enterprise.nus.edu.sg |

NUSEnterprise

MCI(P)074/04/2019

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

03 NUS ENTERPRISE EXPANDS BLOCK71 TO VIETNAM 04 INNOVFEST SUZHOU 2019 06 MASTER OF SCIENCE IN VENTURE CREATION 07 NUS START-UPS GAINING TRACTION 08 INNOVATION CHALLENGES GALORE 14 NOC ALUMNI AND ENTREPRENEURS FETED AT NUS ALUMNI AWARDS 2019 SPARKS action with fireside chats and tips from experienced entrepreneurs

15 QUANTIFYING CYBERSECURITY RISKS SPARKS ideas with different thoughts and perspectives

16 SUZHOU: A GATEWAY FOR NUS START-UPS SPARKS partnerships with industry and market leaders

18 NUS GRIP LIFT OFF DAY RUN 3 SPARKS passion with exciting entrepreneurial internships

20 NOC OVERSEAS STUDY MISSION

Editor’s note 2019 has been an eventful year for NUS Enterprise, inclusive of new leadership, many start-up achievements and the expansion of our programmes and global presence.

This edition of SPARKS delves into the various signature programmes and challenges (SIA App Challenge, ICE71 Demo Day and PIER71 Smart Port Challenge) that culminate in pitches in the last quarter of the year. The journey for participating start-ups has been meaningful as they gained exposure to industry needs and provided solutions that were adopted, scaled and garnered traction from various stakeholders.

Other highlights include the Lift-Off Day for our NUS GRIP Run 3 cohort, which showcased start-ups with innovative solutions in AI and big data, advanced materials, sustainability and health. Since its launch in 2018, more than 50 deep-tech projects and companies have emerged from the programme.

We also include a feature on Innovfest Suzhou, which allowed us to bring our start-ups closer to the China market. With rapid growth in the Suzhou Industrial Park, our start-ups have benefitted by harnessing the potential of Suzhou to reach greater China.

We are also proud of the eight NUS Enterprise-related talents who were honoured at the prestigious NUS Alumni Awards 2019 for their significant and impactful contributions to NUS, society and the world.

The year truly ended on a high note with numerous rewarding moments across NUS Enterprise. As we forge ahead, we will introduce new initiatives and programmes that will propel our innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem to greater heights (including a new BLOCK71 location in Ho Chi Minh City!).

Stay in touch with us for more exciting times in 2020!

SPARKS interest in past events and activities

21 FLASHBACK 22 2019 AT A GLANCE

SPARKS food-for-thought

24 LEVERAGING TECH FOR GREATER SOCIAL IMPACT

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

Editorial Team: Bhawani Balakrishnan (Lead), Katherine Chinn Contributors: Chee Hui Ming, Fisch Liao, Mahima Srinidhi Hari, Nurul Asyiqin Bte Zaidi, Soh Hui Min, Thaveesha Diluni Thenuwara 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!

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In foreground, Professor Freddy Boey (left), NUS Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise), and Mr Nguyen Van Hung (right), Chairman of Becamex, signed the partnership in Binh Duong New City, Vietnam.

NUS ENTERPRISE EXPANDS BLOCK71 TO VIETNAM O

n 27 November, NUS Enterprise signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Becamex IDC Corporation (Becamex) to establish BLOCK71 in Vietnam with the aim of cultivating a vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country and beyond.

The MOU was signed by Professor Freddy Boey, NUS Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise), and Mr Nguyen Van Hung, Chairman of Becamex, at the Horasis Asia Meeting held in Binh Duong New City.

The joint initiative will support a two-way flow of talent, technologies and start-ups. Vietnamese and Singaporean start-ups may use BLOCK71’s global network of resources and contacts to kick-start their entrepreneurial journey and gain access to international markets.

“NUS is delighted to embark on this partnership with Becamex to expand BLOCK71’s presence in Southeast Asia. Our NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme has also expanded in this region by sending the first cohort of students for internships in Ho Chi Minh City in May this year. This new BLOCK71 in Vietnam

will enable entrepreneurs and innovators from both Singapore and Vietnam to access new markets, provide NUS students with interesting internship placements, and provide information and access to technology innovation and entrepreneurship programmes and courses available in Singapore such as full-time Master of Science programmes and the NUS Technology Access Programme,” said Professor Freddy Boey.

BLOCK71 in Vietnam will be the 8th BLOCK71 location in NUS’ global network of entrepreneurial gateways to overseas hubs.

The facility is expected to be operational by Q2 2020.

Set up and managed by NUS Enterprise with corporates and government agencies, BLOCK71 taps on the synergies derived from the deep experience of NUS Enterprise, widely acknowledged as the engine behind Asia’s leading universitybased entrepreneurial ecosystem, and Becamex’s track record as a leading developer of industrial infrastructure in Vietnam with access to seven business parks and over 900 corporate partners.

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Professor Ho Teck Hua, Senior Deputy President and Provost of the National University of Singapore, addressing the crowd on the future of Industry 4.0.

INNOVFEST SUZHOU 2019 I

nnovfest Suzhou, a leading international innovation and entrepreneurship festival in China, had its fifth edition at National University of Singapore Suzhou Research Institute (NUSRI) from 25 to 27 September in Suzhou, Jiangsu.

The event showcased the tech-enabled future economy of smart green technology solutions, functional foods and modern ageing. It connected over 1,300 entrepreneurs, corporates, investors, technology start-ups, professionals and academics, and government agencies with sources of innovation from around the world. More than 100 cutting-edge technology projects and technologies were on display, while 300 global companies and investment agencies such as Huawei, Wilmart, COFCO, Tencent, Boston Scientific, Sembcorp and GGV Capital participated.

The festival is co-organised by NUSRI, BLOCK71 Suzhou and NUS Enterprise. It commits to building a key cross-border platform, linking Chinese technology companies with Asian innovations.

Professor Ho Teck Hua, Senior Deputy President and Provost of NUS, kicked off the event with a keynote on the Myths and Promises of Industry 4.0. Professor Ho emphasised Industry 4.0 as a key development for not just the manufacturing sectors - but particularly for the advancement of technologies and deployment of solutions in modern ageing, functional foods, environmental solutions and smart green technology.

Dr Koh Poh Koon, Singapore Senior Minister of State for Ministry of Trade and Industry, opened the afternoon’s

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Sino-Singapore Entrepreneur Forum and set the tone for cross border learning and economic cooperation.

“NUSRI’s InnovFest Suzhou has become a useful event to understand China’s innovation landscape and to connect with key players. I would like to encourage more Singapore startups as well as Small and Medium Enterprises to leverage this platform to identify business partners, investors and resources to augment their market development efforts in China,” said Dr Koh.

Innovation is the spark for the growth of the global economy.

Innovfest Suzhou has been an important annual platform for cross-location collaboration.”

Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore

The event was also graced by Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Second Minister for Finance and Education of Singapore.

(1st row: 4th from left) Dr Koh Poh Koon, Singapore Senior Minister of State for Ministry of Trade & Industry and (1st row: 5th from left) Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Second Minister for Finance and Education of Singapore with other Singaporean and Chinese dignitaries at Innovfest Suzhou.

Focus Areas: Modern Ageing - looked at inclusive mobility and importance of a humanised design approach in designing spaces and places; Functional Foods – delved into nurturing future leaders in food industry and enhancing the well-being of the community, new developments and application areas of technology.

Smart Green Technology – discussed the application and adoption of smart technology beyond closed doors of laboratories and government facilities and into the everyday life. The future of AIdriven robotics to adapt to the environment rather than build an environment adapted to robots like factory line.

A fireside chat between Professor Chee Yeow Meng, NUS Associate Vice President (Innovation & Enterprise), and GGV Capital’s (seed-to-growth stage global venture capital firm) Managing Partner Jixun Foo, on new ideas for enterprise growth and the continued potential of China.

Environment Solutions – deliberated on innovation, industrial and service chains of environment pollution and ecological restoration in China and Singapore. Experts and industry pioneers showcased new technologies, materials and equipment for detection, monitoring solutions, governance and supervision.

Since 2015, Innovfest Suzhou with the support of Singapore and China governments, has helped technology-centric projects/enterprises to successfully land and obtain either financing or collaborations.

Professor Marcelo H. Ang Jr., Assistant Director of the Advanced Robotics Center (ARC) at the National University of Singapore, elaborates on the importance of evolving AI-driven robotics and how intelligent robots can be built that adapt to dynamic environments.

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Master of Science in

VENTURE CREATION

Transform

Innovate

mindsets

Access

IP and technologies

corporates

Network for market access

Mentorship in business development

Launch ventures

The NUS MSc (Venture Creation) is a one-year full-time programme that provides you with the skillsets and opportunities to bring your start-up ideas into fruition. It is a one-of-itskind Masters programme that provides an immersive start-up internship experience, and hands-on venture creation with support and guidance to maximise the chances of success.

Accelerate ideas into solutions

Find out more Visit our website bit.ly/NUS-MScVentureCreation

Supported by:

NUS Enterprise enterprise.nus.edu.sg

Or email us at pgc@nus.edu.sg

Administered by:

NUS School of Continuing and Lifelong Education scale.nus.edu.sg

Expert Panelists at Kopi Chat Deep Dive discussing on Digital Payments: Trends, Challenges and its future.

NUS START-UPS GAINING TRACTION F

rom 11 to 13 November 2019, NUS Enterprise and the NUS Industry Liaison Office participated at the SFF x SWITCH 2019 to showcase NUS technology, start-ups and programmes. It was three busy days at our booth where many came to us to find out more about the various initiatives.

Start-ups in our community who were awarded include: • Breathonix: Top 12 and sector award • Haulio: Top 30 and ST Engineering cash prize • Impress.ai: Top 30 • SpecQtral: Rolls Royce cash prize

Start-ups from our community exhibited and participated at Slingshot 2019. Among 2400 start-ups in total which participated in Slingshot 2019, Breathonix, a start-up from the NUS GRIP (Graduate Research Innovation Programme) emerged as one of the Top 12 at the annual competition and clinched the sector award.

Following on from SFF x SWITCH exhibition and conference was the Innovation Lab Crawl on 14-15 November where innovation labs across Singapore opened their doors to participants offering an opportunity to network with start-ups and key innovation players. NUS Enterprise and its programmes too, also opened their doors to visitors.

Breathonix sector winner @Slingshot 2019.

13 NUS GRIP start-ups and 10 NUS technologies showcased at the conference.

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INNOVATION CHALLENGES GALORE We had an exciting few weeks with the conclusion of the recent runs of our three signature corporate innovation programmes – ICE71 Accelerate, the PIER71 Smart Port Challenge, and the SIA AppChallenge. Read on to find out what took place during these events!

SIA AppChallenge 2019

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n collaboration with Singapore Airlines (SIA), we held the finals of the SIA AppChallenge on 18 October 2019.

With attendees ranging from the CEO of Singapore Airlines to corporate partners as well as members of the NUS community, the auditorium was bustling with energy from the audience and our pitching teams!

For the fifth run of this challenge, over 500 teams from 70 countries submitted proposals. The teams were divided into two categories: the StartUps and Innovators category, which was open to all profiles from various backgrounds, and the Students category, open to students enrolled in any Singapore university. The problem statements addressed in this challenge revolved around several categories, including on-ground experience, lounge experience, inflight experience, aircraft maintenance, resource management, and KrisShop.

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The event was held at School of the Arts (SOTA), Singapore and saw more than 150 attendees.

Winners:

As the 1st Prize winner of the Start-Up and Innovators category, DreamWorld AR clinched SGD12,000 and the opportunity to further their innovation through the SIA Accelerator Programme.

Start-Up and Innovations Category: NUS Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise), Professor Freddy Boey, giving his closing remarks.

1st Place: DreamWorld AR Country: USA Innovation: DreamGlass Air - the world’s first portable AR private theatre that is lightweight, and has the widest field of view, priced at a fraction of other similar products in the market.

2nd Place: VimAI Country: Finland Innovation: An AR-based way-finding system that allows airlines to provide passengers with necessary information in every location of all airports on the SIA journey, without installing beacons/markers.

Our panelists (left to right): Kelvin Tan (Director, NUS Enterprise), Michael Maltese (Director of Innovation in Asia Pacific, Japan and China, Cisco), Dr. Prashant Pradhan (Asia VP & CTO, IBM), and Ameet Nivsarkar (Vice President & Country Head, TCS).

After all the teams pitched, NUS Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise), Prof Freddy Boey, gave his closing remarks for this year’s run of the competition. This was followed by a panel discussion moderated by NUS Enterprise Director Kelvin Tan on the topic of “Open Innovation: Innovating Through Collaboration”.

Only ten teams from the Start-Ups and Innovators category and three teams from the Students category made it to the finals, giving them the opportunity to pitch and bring fresh new ideas into the aviation industry. With their unique and brilliant innovations, it was definitely a challenge for the judging panel to pick the final winners. We would like to congratulate all the winners from both categories. We are also proud to have all the winners of the Students category hailing from NUS!

3rd Place: Spiral Country: Singapore Innovation: Platform agnostic augmented reality software designed for Aerospace MRO engineers. It provides intuitive access to maintenance manuals, work instructions and other functions which would otherwise need to be carried in printed form or on tablets.

Students Category: 1st Place: No Code No Life Country: Singapore (NUS) Innovation: Web app that makes cabin services more accessible to passengers. By simply scanning the QR code, passengers can access flight info, order meals, browse KrisWorld, etc.

2nd Place: G.I Joe Country: Singapore (NUS) Innovation: Image recognition to track passengers’ bags throughout the airport, giving passengers peace of mind throughout their journey.

3rd Place: Fight to Flight Country: Singapore (NUS) Innovation: Cloud-based integrated aircraft maintenance platform for intuitive and effective maintenance execution, management and oversight, all on the go within an iPad.

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PIER71 Smart Port Challenge 2019 Grand Final

A big thumbs up to everyone for making Smart Port Challenge 2019 a success!

Professor Freddy Boey kicking the Grand Final off with a welcome address.

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rom over 200 applications, 24 start-up teams were selected to participate in the PIER71 Accelerate programme as part of the Smart Port Challenge.

The five week programme exposed the start-ups to using the lean methodology, led them through business model and market validation, and provided them with access to a series of masterclasses and workshops that deepened their knowledge and exposure to the maritime and entrepreneurship landscape. The teams were also paired with mentors comprising industry veterans, domain experts, and even serial entrepreneurs, to guide them throughout the validation process and offer additional market access opportunities.

This year’s challenge focused on solving key industry issues in the areas of port operations, shipping, and maritime services and logistics. After an intense semi-final, the top 10

Dr Lam Pin Min giving his keynote address on the significance of innovation in the maritime industry.

ten teams were selected to pitch to an audience of investors, corporate partners, venture capitalists, and members from the maritime industry. The stakes were high as each team competed for a chance to win cash prizes of up to SGD10,000 and up to SGD50,000 in grants from MPA to develop and test -bed prototypes.

We kick-started the Grand Final with a welcome address by NUS Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise), Professor Freddy Boey, followed by the keynote address of Senior Minister of State for Transport and Health, Dr Lam Pin Min. Dr Lam spoke on the challenges present in the port industry, and how innovators today are able to shape a better future for the industry through their unique technology. Given the importance of Singapore as a maritime hub, initiatives such as the Smart Port Challenge are key in bringing out bright ideas that can benefit the industry and economy in the long run.

Dr Vivek Premanadhan, CEO & Founder of Dravam, giving his winning pitch on an innovative fuel quality monitoring solution.

Out of the teams, Dravam, a Singapore-based start-up which graduated from the NUS Graduate Research Innovation Programme (GRIP), emerged as the champion of the competition, clinching SGD10,000 in cash. Their patented solution aims to ensure better quality of bunkered fuel and addresses the industry’s need for quicker bunker quality testing. With the technology implemented here, it is sure to strengthen Singapore’s position as the world’s largest bunkering port.

Coming in second place was KoiReader Technologies, a USbased start-up that came up with a machine learning visual recognition system to improve the checking of financial and declarative documentation. Their technology extracts unstructured textual data from images and translates them into usable structured data, improving process accuracy while reducing any risks associated with mis-declaration of dangerous goods.

Keith Ng (right), CEO & Co-founder of Performance Rotors, explaining his unique drone solution to visitors at the exhibition.

Finally, we have Teqplay, who clinched the third prize with their platform that enables improved judgement and decisionmaking. Originating from the Netherlands, this start-up is a context broker that provides information and tools to empower the shipping industry to make better-informed decisions in both planning, execution of port calls and within the maritime supply chain. By combining public data with machine learning and artificial intelligence, they are able to create a shared picture to allow for smarter decision-making, and ultimately faster and cheaper port calls.

Judges of the Grand Final also gave a special mention to Performance Rotors, another Singapore start-up, recognising their unique drone solution as having many new possibilities in the area of maritime inspection.

Congratulations to the winning teams of Smart Port Challenge 2019. We hope this experience has been enriching for everyone involved in this journey, and look forward to following your success in reimagining the maritime industry!

The top 3 winning teams of Smart Port Challenge 2019 taking home a total of SGD18,000.

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ICE71 Demo Day

This is the third run of ICE71 Accelerate, with the final ten start-ups originating from various countries such as Singapore, Australia, Bulgaria, France, India, Nepal, and New Zealand.

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CE71 held its third ICE71 Accelerate Demo Day on 5 November 2019, marking the end of a 3-month accelerator programme for early-stage cybersecurity start-ups, designed to help a product market fit in a unique technical and demanding industry. Throughout the programme, start-ups managed to sharpen their value proposition and commercial models, while also receiving mentorship and access to corporate customers that enabled them to further their ventures.

On Demo Day, these start-ups were given the opportunity to pitch to more than 150 investors and cybersecurity leaders from around the world, all in a bid for business opportunities.

We also had the honour of having Sunila Shivpuri, APAC Chief Information Security Officer of Deutsche Bank, as our keynote speaker. She strongly encouraged the start-ups to think deeper about how their product can be seamlessly integrated into organisations, whether it is through overcoming high costs or simplifying efforts for change.

Jonathan Luff, co-founder of CyLon, our programme partner, was also present as guest speaker at the event. He spoke on potential opportunities present in the market for cybersecurity start-ups, and mentioned that despite the everchanging trends in cybersecurity, the potential for growth is massive and should be tapped on.

With their innovations, the start-ups brought in new cybersecurity solutions into the market, with their products targeting consumers, enterprises, and even governments.

Some of these start-ups have already completed their proof of concept, while others are already expanding

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“More than $20 billion were spent this year alone on cybersecurity solutions, and there were over $5 billion early-stage investments by VCs.” – Jonathan Luff

their businesses internationally. The programme served as a stepping stone for the start-ups to receive more funding and further refine their innovations to better suit the market.

At the end of the event, the audience and the start-ups were treated to networking dinner, in which they had the opportunity to ask further questions as well as expand their business connections with other key players in the industry.

We hope that the start-ups have benefited immensely from the programme, and wish them all the best in their future endeavours! Read on to the next article to find out more about the ten finalists of ICE71 Accelerate’s Cohort 3!

About the ten start-ups at ICE71 Demo Day

Ms Sunila Shivpuri, Chief Information Security Officer, APAC, Deutsche Bank AG, giving the keynote address.

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Aiculus (from Australia) provides cybersecurity and A.I. products to help organisations embrace API (Application Programme Interface) technology without endangering their risk profile.

BlackScore (from Singapore) has developed an AIbased risk assessment platform for digital identities. It has recently concluded its proof of concept with the immigration authority in the Middle East.

One of the start-ups, Cyble, pitching to leading investors, potential customers and cybersecurity leaders.

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FlexibleIR (from India) equips organisations with effective incident response capabilities by providing tool agnostic, evolving and shareable playbooks. It has successfully reduced the cost of breach by over 25% on average at a major security service provider in India that is globally managed.

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Mimirium (from Bulgaria) is a distributed user-owned personal database with an anonymous business interface. Earlier this year, it partnered the National Statistics Institute of Bulgaria for a case study on the use of IoT for Smart Cities as part of the ESSnet Big Data project.

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Polaris (from Singapore) builds next-generation application security solutions that secure the web presence of internet-facing organisations. Its Web Presence Protection (WPP) platform will be fully interoperable with the entire BGP.net infrastructure across more than 20 Points of Presence globally.

Buglab (from France) taps on the power of blockchain to enable attainable, versatile, and reliable penetration testing for digital enterprise solutions.

Cyble (from Australia) provides visibility to supplier cyber threats and risks through automation, integration and intelligence.

Cylynx (from Singapore) specialises in blockchain analytics and forensics to simplify compliance processes for regulators, financial institutions and other virtual asset service providers.

First Watch (from New Zealand) provides commercial and domestic security solutions. Its solution was first piloted in a dairy plant in New Zealand and has since been secured by joint sales for deployment. Pilot testing at a second site, a water utility, will commence in early 2020.

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Seknox (from Nepal) empowers modern IT operations with strong and accessible security solutions. Currently, it protects almost 82% of malicious access requests per month.

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Ten alumni and a three-member team (Wateroam) received “Outstanding Young Alumni” accolades at the NUS Alumni Awards, held on 27 November.

NOC ALUMNI AND ENTREPRENEURS FETED AT NUS ALUMNI AWARDS 2019 21

members of the NUS community were honoured at the NUS Alumni Awards 2019, including eight awardees from NUS Enterprise’s NOC programme and/or incubation ecosystem. Held on 27 November by the NUS Office of Alumni Relations, the prestigious awards, held biennially, “celebrate and honour alumni who have distinguished themselves through significant and impactful contributions to their alma mater, society and the world.”

NUS Enterprise-related winners in the “Outstanding Young Alumni Award” category included:

• • •

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Ms Goh Yiping, Partner, Quest Ventures Ms Guan Dian, Co-Founder and Vice-President, PatSnap Dr Li Jingmei, Breast Cancer Researcher

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Mr Muhammad Shamir Bin Abdul Rahim, Founder and CEO, VersaFleet Mr Veerappan Swaminathan, Founder, Sustainable Living Lab Team Award - Mr David Pong, Mr Lim Chong Tee, Mr Vincent Loka, Co-Founders, WateROAM

The category recognises alumni under the age of 40 who have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields and/or rendered excellent service to NUS and the community.

Ms Goh Yiping, Ms Guan Dian, Dr Li Jingmei, Mr Muhammad Shamir bin Abdul Rahim and Mr Veerappan Swaminathan are all alumni of the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme.

In addition, all of the above (with the exception of Dr Li) have founded start-ups incubated by NUS Enterprise.

QUANTIFYING CYBERSECURITY RISKS

BlackScore exhibiting at Milipol 2019, the leading event dedicated to homeland security and safety, held in Paris, France.

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he ICE71 Accelerate programme targets start-ups who already have an early-stage product or service developed, but also welcomes both concept-stage start-ups and later-stage businesses who may benefit from the access to partners, mentoring, and investors. Each intake sees many potential innovations being further developed, with entrepreneurs from around the world joining our accelerator programme. Let’s take a deeper look into what one of our participating start-ups from our third cohort, BlackScore, does and how they have benefited from the ICE71 Accelerate programme!

BlackScore is a start-up based in Singapore that is an AIbased risk assessment platform for digital identities. Using any identifying data point, such as an email address, phone number, or social media account, their platform constructs a digital identity, which is then scored using billions of data points of mostly unstructured data from the surface web, deep web, dark web, social media, and mobile applications. This score then becomes a profile for the individual, which can be used for automated risk assessment and classification by organisations.

Having extensive experience in the field of computer science, CEO and Founder Ori Sasson was inspired by the abundance of data available on the Internet that had not been used by organisations due to the lack of manpower and expertise to analyse such data. Ori then decided to start BlackScore, which helps organisations to process such high volumes of data to be used to identify any points of concern and threats to cybersecurity.

Ori Sasson, Founder and CEO of BlackScore, pitched during the ICE71 Accelerate Demo Day, held at Singtel Comcentre.

Throughout the programme, Ori and his start-up have benefitted greatly from a structured programme that covers different aspects of running a start-up. This includes fundraising, marketing, and assessing one’s market fit.

“As a cybersecurity start-up founder, I found it helpful that I could interact with various cybersecurity professionals across industry, academia, and government sectors through ICE71’s ecosystem. The interaction with the other cohort members has also provided me ample opportunities to cross-pollinate ideas, gain market perspective, and explore collaboration opportunities,” said Ori. Overall, BlackScore’s technology has great potential, and we look forward to seeing them achieve greater success after the ICE71 Accelerate programme. If you are interested in finding out more about BlackScore and their innovation, do check out their website at http://www.blackscore.ai/. If you are interested in finding out more about our other start-ups from the ICE71 Accelerate programme, do visit https://ice71.sg/accelerate/ for more information.

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SUZHOU: A GATEWAY FOR NUS START-UPS

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ituated at the heart of Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), BLOCK71 Suzhou offers a key gateway to a strategic entrepreneurial hub, access to cutting-edge technologies and talents, as well as the ability to tap into the broader China market. At the recently held Innovfest Suzhou 2019 festival, a group of thought leaders, experts and industry veterans discussed what makes the city so unique--- and how Singapore start-ups stand to benefit.

Why Suzhou?

The Location By high-speed rail, Suzhou is a four-hour commute from Beijing, a one-hour commute from Nanjing and a mere 25-minute journey from Shanghai. The city’s proximity to China’s major cities proves a key asset to Singapore startups looking to expand, enabling access to a larger pool of potential talents, customers, and partners.

National University of Singapore Research Institute in Suzhou, China.

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Suzhou is also home to the two important industry fields of machinery and manufacturing, which are valued at RMB 200 billion, as well as the three emerging fields of biomedicine, nanotechnology and ABC (AI + Big data + Communications).

This is in addition to SIP, an open innovation combined testbedding zone whose members include leading educational institutions, research laboratories, large corporates, and a network of investors.

Two BLOCK71’s Sited in two locations within SIP, BLOCK71 Suzhou is a strategic gateway bridging the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems of Singapore and China and enabling a two-way flow of talents, technologies and start-ups. The facilities, operated by NUS Enterprise in partnership with the NUS (Suzhou) Research Institute (NUSRI) and Capitaland, provide start-ups a base from which to explore new opportunities, ‘set up shop,’ and expand their networks.

BLOCK71 Suzhou also provides expertise and resources in research, incubation, technology translation and commercialisation, as well as comprehensive support services and access to a global network of resources, technologies and corporate contacts. Prominent start-ups who have benefitted from the support of BLOCK71 include Patsnap, Taidii and Kosmode, who have set up and grown their presence in China.

Access to Technology With its close relationship to NUSRI, BLOCK71 Suzhou startups are also able to access the research institute’s reservoir of technology, researchers, talents and business networks, providing numerous opportunities for them to build defensible businesses, differentiate themselves from the competition, and further their entrepreneurial journeys in China.

Access to Talent Given Singapore’s small population size, access to manpower is of utmost importance. Enter Suzhou with its top-notch start-up innovation support and infrastructure. SIP has been instrumental in breeding and nurturing a talent pool for small countries like Singapore to tap on, a fact bolstered by the presence of 29 leading universities from around the world.

One NUS start-up that has benefited from this environment is Patsnap, whose move to China was motivated in part by the country’s affordable engineering talent and larger market volume. With the help of NUSRI and BLOCK71, the patent analytics platform has rapidly scaled, now employing over 700 staff worldwide, and being selected as a Promising SIP Unicorn in 2018.

Access to Grants and Funding With its privileged location within SIP, BLOCK71 Suzhou start-ups can also tap into favourable policies for funding and grants provided by the local government. For instance, preferential tax policies and cash rewards are given to emerging start-ups who are categorised as ‘high flyers,’ helping to ease the financial burden for those who want to settle in Suzhou.In total, more than 35 NUS-supported start-ups have obtained over Rmb45million in local SIP government grants since the establishment of NUS’ incubation platform in Suzhou, including NUS start-up Taidii, which won a competitive Pioneer Grant worth over Rmb3million in 2014.

Access to Markets Suzhou attracts a sizeable number of foreigners each year who want to set up their start-ups in the city. This creates an international community of like-minded entrepreneurs working in close proximity with each other, an effect multiplied by the global network of BLOCK71. This increased likelihood of collaborations creates a thriving marketplace of ideas and talents, leading to innovative partnerships and cross-border alliances.

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NUS GRIP LIFT OFF DAY RUN 3 BOOSTING DEEP-TECH START-UPS T

he NUS Graduate Research Innovation Programme (GRIP) officially unveiled its latest cohort of deep technology start-up teams, as they presented during the NUS GRIP Run 3 Lift-off Day on 12 December.

After three months of rigorous hard work, they showcased their technology and market-readiness to over 400 potential investors, partners, and key players of the Singapore innovation ecosystem.

Among the attendees were Chairman of NUS Board of Trustees Mr Hsieh Fu Hua, NUS President Prof Tan Eng Chye, NUS Senior Deputy President and Provost Prof Ho Teck Hua, NUS Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise) Prof Freddy Boey and Dr Gerard Ee, Chairman of Agency for Integrated Care (AIC).

Prof Freddy Boey welcomed the guests with fantastic news of new partnerships with Enterprise Singapore and Antler to further support the development of deep tech start-ups; new programmes such as the MSc (Venture Creation) to transform mindsets and accelerate translation of ideas into solutions; and Technology Access Programme (TAP) to bring more NUS technologies to the world stage.

When we conceived GRIP, one of the key pillars was that things should move, and move fast. One of the fundamental beliefs we have in GRIP is that you don’t need more money; you need less time. That is why, for us, it is important to put all the jigsaw pieces together, and very fast. But only up to a certain extent - we are a university, we don’t pretend to be great investos.

We are investors of human beings, and investors of students.”

Professor Freddy Boey, NUS Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise).

Fifteen teams shared about their business models, focused on technologies in advanced materials, sustainability, health, AI, and big data.

These research-based innovations have the potential to meet the existing needs of the market, revolutionising many processes that we rely on today.

To date, eight teams from Run 3 have been selected to receive SGD100,000 seed funding from the National University of Singapore (NUS). The fund will enable these start-ups to refine their products and expand their businesses. To solidify their position in the market, NUS will incubate these start-ups over the next nine months.

More information on the NUS GRIP programme can be found at nus.edu.sg/grip.

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AuroraFood was one of the 15 start-up companies that showcased its innovation of developing cutting –edge diabetic friendly baking mix with no sugar alternatives added.

AuroraFood AuroraFood has developed a cutting-edge baking mix with a slower sugar release and no sugar replacers, allowing thousands of people to transform sweet indulgence into healthy, diabetic-friendly choices. They have blunted the sugar spike that usually follows consumption of sweets by 20% by using a natural extract from cereals and berries. The team has secured partnerships with various companies, and is in talks with baking mix manufacturers and luxury hotels to bring their products to customers. The team has been through a long, arduous journey - they started developing the technology almost eight years ago, and are proud to showcase it at GRIP Lift-Off Day. “It really feels that the research has become impactful - before, it was just papers and publications, but now, we hope that people can directly benefit from this technology,” said Dr Gao Jing, CEO and co-founder of AuroraFood.

CBE Chemicals CBE Chemicals has developed a technology that converts otherwise burnt and buried waste carbon, which has no application and takes up landfill, to activated carbon, which has a growing demand and market for uses such as wastewater treatment. The team’s key innovation is their process, which is cost-effective and has a much more positive environmental impact as compared to conventional processes. One of the team’s strategic partners is Sembcorp, which will be providing the company with the raw material, while their customers include various companies from Singapore and China.

(L to R) NUS Provost Prof Ho Teck Hua, NUS President Prof Tan Eng Chye, Chairman of NUS Board of Trustees Mr Hsieh Fu Hua and NUS Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise), Prof Freddy Boey.

Six teams presented their innovations at the AI and Big Data track to over 140 attendees.

Team CBE Chemical – Innovators of cost- effective carbon waste convertors.

Vinayak Ghate of Safelight pitched on their technology that looks at harnessing the power of visible light that is safe to humans.

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NOC OVERSEAS STUDY MISSION

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s a part of their NUS Overseas College (NOC) experience, students from NOC Singapore embarked on an eventful overseas study mission trip to Jakarta and Nagoya from 1st to 14th December 2019. Here’s what they had to say about the journey and the lessons learnt!

From Indonesia to Japan, the overseas study mission trip for this batch brought us to Jakarta and Nagoya. Indonesia, being the fourthmost populous country, presents bountiful opportunities and huge market potential for both SMEs and start-ups. On this trip, we managed to visit start-ups from different industries ranging from agriculture, finance, and e-commerce, and even had the opportunity to visit Gojek, one of the few unicorn start-ups in Indonesia. Many of the start-ups we visited such as Crowde, Amalan and Aruna were able to leverage on the knowledge / technological gap among their citizens and offer solutions that address problems arising from this information gap. The solutions offered by these startups were usually mobile / Web applications as these digital platforms were able to solve most of the problems faced by a particular target group. It was truly eye-opening to experience the kinds of market gaps in a developing country like Indonesia and how these gaps differ from Singapore’s context.

Students on a field visit to Crowde, a local start-up working to boost public’s confidence in the agricultural sector by creating opportunities for small and medium farmers to develop businesses and implement their ideas.

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In contrast to Indonesia, the high educational standards and funding into R&D in Japan have resulted in an increase in the number of deep-tech start-ups in the country, many of which are spin-off companies from Nagoya University. These start-ups include Optimind, which has developed a novel algorithm to optimise last mile delivery, and LaView, a medical device company focusing on measuring the health of blood vessels. Even in some of these start-ups, Japan’s corporate culture could be seen, such as when engineers came to work in suits. Through our visits to Toyota, Denso and JR, a striking observation was the Japanese’s embodiment of “Kaizen” continuous improvement and “Monozukuri” - spirit of making things. It is no wonder that Japanese products are so highly regarded by foreigners. Their attention to detail and pride in whatever they do, no matter how small, has been an integral part of Japanese culture and as future entrepreneurs, these are traits that will help value add to our start-ups in future.

Students on a visit to Nagoya University, Japan’s 3rd highest ranked higher education institution.

FLASH BACK NUS ENTERPRISE EVENTS & ACTIVITIES: OCT - DEC 2019 Stay updated on our upcoming events at: enterprise.nus.edu.sg/events

OCT

NOV

02

ICE71 Distinguished Speaker Series: Cheri McGuire

03

ICE71 Start-up Pitch at Singapore International Cyber Week

05

The NOC Connection

10

Kopi Chat Deep Dive: Social Impact

12

GRIP Run 3 Venture HotHouse Workshop 3 – IP & Growth Strategies

04

DEC NUS LLP Final Presentation Day PIER71- Singapore Landscape: Entrepreneurship Support and the Maritime Industry

05

ICE71 Accelerate Cohort 3 – Demo Day

07

PIER71- Smart Port Challenge Grand Final

12

How to Invest and Fundraise

14-15 SWITCH Lab Crawl

15

Jakarta Tech Showcase Day @ BLOCK71 Jakarta

14

16

Postgrad Career Fair Rise of the Food Disruptors: Trends & Innovations

Explore with PIER71: Legal Needs for Entrepreneurs with Chris Wilson Singapore Airlines AppChallenge Finale

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22

Chongqing “Talent Cups” Competition (Singapore Qualifiers) Cyber Solutions Showcase for SMEs

The HANGAR Christmas Party

12

NUS GRIP Run 3 Lift-Off Day

13

BLOCK71 Christmas Party

Deep Dive GRPC For .NET People BLOCK71 Open House

Kopi Chat Deep Dive: Mobile Payments 15

Singapore Airlines AppChallenge Briefing Networking Session 18

11

Market Validation Programme Demo Day

N-House Wicked Wednesday 17

ICE71 Year- End Social

11-13 SWITCH Conference

Lean Launchpad Workshop 8

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10

NUS IAP Industry Roundtable Series: Stewards for a Sustainable Future PIER71 Drinks Night SFF x SWITCH Innovation Lab Crawl

19

Tencent-NUS Cloud Startup Program Launch Security vs. Convenience

28

Kopi Chat: Fundraising

29

The Possibility of Augmented and Virtual Reality

Kopi Chat Deep Dive: Social Impact 30

NHouse Pitch Night

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2019 AT A GLANCE The Year in Numbers

New Leadership

approximately

300

start-ups incubated

>300

new students enrolled in NOC programme

>SGD1B

raised in funding by our NOC alumni start-ups, incubatees, and NUS spin-offs

>150

awards won by our community

In 2019, Prof Freddy Boey appointed as leader of NUS Enterprise.

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n April, Professor Freddy Boey assumed leadership of NUS Enterprise in his capacity as NUS Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise). Prof Boey will build on NUS Enterprise’s strong legacy through an emphasis on IP commercialisation and deep-tech venture creation.

GRIP Strength

GRIP start-up SinGrow showcased its white strawberry innovation at the GRIP Run 2 Lift-Off Day.

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he new flagship Graduate Research Innovation Programme (GRIP) completed three successful runs this year, accelerating more than 50 deep tech start-ups and projects based on NUS research. Many of these ventures have gone on to raise external funding, and/ or win competitions and accolades.

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Entrepreneurial Impact

Collaborating with Corporates

NOC alumni pictured at The Hangar.

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n July 2019, NUS Enterprise released results of a major survey of NOC alumni- revealing that more than 1/3 have started their own businesses and more than 76% are currently involved in the innovation & enterprise (I&E) ecosystem. The study provides concrete support that NOC alumni have greater entrepreneurial propensity as compared to other NUS alumni and that they disproportionately contribute more to Singapore’s I&E ecosystem.

Deepening Asian Ties

More than 500 applications from around the world were received for the SIA AppChallenge this year.

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US Enterprise collaborated with a number of industry partners for innovation programmes, hackathons and challenges. Designed to bridge corporate problem statements with start-up solutions and/or build innovation ecosystems around specific verticals, these programmes included: • SIA Accelerator Programme • SIA AppChallenge • ICE71 with Singtel Innov8 • PIER71 and Smart Port Challenge with Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore • Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge

A Record Year

The signing ceremony for the establishment of NUSGRTII.

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• • • •

US Enterprise continued to build bridges and make inroads into the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets in 2019: The NOC programme was extended to Shenzhen, Ho Chi Minh and Bandung NUS Enterprise soft-launched TechASEAN, the most comprehensive resource for accessing information on Southeast Asia’s entrepreneurs, start-ups, and investors A new BLOCK71 programme was announced for Ho Chi Minh City, in partnership with Becamex NUS signed a major collaboration agreement with the People’s Government of Guangzhou Municipality and the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City Administration Committee for the establishment of the NUS Guangzhou Research Translation and Innovation Institute (NUSGRTII)

Participants in the 2019 Summer Programme on Entrepreneurship.

• •

14,000 attendees at flagship Innovfest unbound festival in June 2019 180 attendees at NUS Enterprise Summer Programme on Entrepreneurship

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LEVERAGING TECH FOR GREATER SOCIAL IMPACT O

n 22 October, The Hangar by NUS Enterprise hosted a special Kopi Chat Deep Dive, bringing together a panel of speakers to discuss social enterprises and the use of technology to create impact for the greater good. Moderated by Professor Wong Poh Kam from the NUS Business School, the panel comprised Claire Wong, Head, DBS Foundation; Lim Hock Chuan, Chief Executive, Temasek Foundation; Aseem K Thakur, Co-Founder, Give.Asia; and Bjorn Lee, Founder, MindFi.

Get in the (Mental) Game

Here are our top takeaways from the session for aspiring social entrepreneurs:

Hire Slow to Grow Fast

It’s More than a Mission

Social enterprises may be centered on making a social impact, but they need to have sound business plans in order to survive.

Claire and Hock Chuan stressed that in assessing which companies to support for grants and/or investment, key criteria they consider includes the feasibility of the technology, the viability of the business, the innovativeness of the solution, as well as the founding team behind the company.

Aseem noted that one of the biggest hurdles entrepreneurs often have to overcome is psychology. “In order to succeed in start-ups, you really need to have a high level of mental resilience, imagination and belief in what you’re doing. The start-up game is actually a mental game.” As such, the better a founder is at conquering their fears and improving their mentality, the better they will be at convincing customers and attracting investors.

Although counterintuitive to the “move fast and break things” attitude typically associated with Silicon Valley culture, both Bjorn and Aseem noted the importance of hiring the right people—which often means hiring slowly. Doing so helps ensure that employees “bring their soul to work,” which in turn will help the company grow faster in the long run.

Bridge the Gap

While entrepreneurs often face the conundrum of having to prove that their technology works (which requires funding) in order to secure funding, there are a number of available resources to help. Organisations such as Temasek Foundation and DBS Foundation help to bridge the gap where commercial funding is not available, providing support for translational research, trials, access to their networks and more.

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