ENTERPRISE SPARKS- Issue 19 (Jul-Sep 2018)

A quarterly publication of NUS Enterprise >> Jul - Sep 2018 // ISSUE 019

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Marrying Design and Technology 08

Reflections on Innovation Ecosystems: My Journey from Theory Research to USD25 billion

NURTURING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

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enterprise@nus.edu.sg |

enterprise.nus.edu.sg |

NUSEnterprise

MCI(P)118/04/2018

An Eye-Opening Experience in Indonesia

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

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Two Weeks for a Lifetime of Memories

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The Helping Hand to Guide Innovators

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Osteopore Honoured with Patent for Good Award

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Marrying Design and Technology SPARKS ideas with different thoughts and perspectives

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Reflections on Innovation Ecosystems: My Journey from Theory Research to USD25 billion SPARKS action with fireside chats and tips from experienced entrepreneurs

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Geboto: Creating Chatbots that Come to Life

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Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Cities Clinches Top Award SPARKS partnerships with industry and market leaders

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Forging Corporate Partnerships SPARKS passion with exciting entrepreneurial internships

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An Eye-Opening Experience in Indonesia SPARKS interest in past events and activities

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Flashback

SPARKS food-for-thought

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Starting ‘UP’ Right

Editor’s note Building an entrepreneurial community and ecosystem requires immense energy; to that end, NUS Enterprise has been heavily involved in a plethora of initiatives to provide the support, network, mentorship and connections for aspiring students and budding start-ups.

In this edition of Enterprise SPARKS, the Summer Programme captures the opportunities presented to the 100 students coming from across the globe to learn about Southeast Asia’s entrepreneurship landscape through lectures, workshops, industry visits and experiential learning activities.

From a thought leadership perspective, UC Berkeley Professor Alberto Sangiovanni sheds light on demystifying the perceived notions of the word “Innovation” and also shares his tips of how Singapore start-ups could learn from Silicon Valley counterparts.

A number of start-ups in the spaces of Internet of Things (Space Age Labs), design and technology (StandCraft) and medical surgical implants (Osteopore International) have won competitions and their co-founders share the value our ecosystem brought to them. SpaceAge Labs bagged first prize in the Amaravati Pitch Competition at the World Cities Summit, StandCraft won the URA-REDAS Spark Challenge and Osteopore was honoured with the Patent for Good Award. These victories warm our hearts and motivates us to keep going.

Accelerator programmes and corporate challenges are crucial initiatives in nurturing start-ups and helping to bridge talent and partners to the ecosystem. The industry insights and market access corporates provide help to open doors and shorten the gestation period for start-ups. At the same time, the solutions and innovations that arise are a novel way to solve challenges that the larger organisations face. In this edition, we share the partnerships we have forged with SingTel Innov8, Singaore Airlines and the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore, as well as other partners.

Nurturing entrepreneurship is truly a collaborative effort and NUS Enterprise looks forward to sharing the journey.

Enjoy!

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), Ng Su Fen Contributors: Krystal Jemima Joseph, Amarpreet Kaur, Isabel Ng, Joanna Hioe 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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Participants of the 2018 NUS Enterprise Summer Programme on Entrepreneurship

A traditional Sundanese dance by our Indonesian participants at the closing dinner

Drumming to the beat of social change with Mangrove Learning, a social enterprise that develops youth at risk through Taiko drumming

TWO WEEKS FOR A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES

Up Close and Personal - a chance to interview “books” in a human library. Benjamin Tan, founder of Rickshaw Coffee, sharing his start-up journey

Participants take the stage at Timbre+, a local gastropark where you can taste comfort hawker food and restaurant-grade cuisine in the same bite

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One big NUS Enterprise Summer Programme Family

HIGHLIGHTS:

100 Students

28

Institutions of Higher Learning

21

Countries

6

Continents

2

Weeks

1

Aim

To learn about Southeast Asia’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

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The NUS Enterprise Summer Programme on Entrepreneurship ran from 9-20 July this year.

Participants hailed from as far away as Mexico, Morocco and Zimbabwe; as well as neighbouring Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia.

For the first time, NUS Enterprise partnered Temasek Foundation International to incorporate the TF International-NUS STEP Entrepreneurship Initiative 2018, giving 60 youth leaders from Southeast Asia the opportunity to benefit from the programme.

Aimed at extending NUS’ entrepreneurship education mission beyond Singapore to students from around the world, the Summer Programme consisted of intensive workshops, lectures, company visits, and experiential learning activities. Gracing the opening event, NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye highlighted the importance of testing entrepreneurial ideas in a failsafe environment - one which the Summer Programme aimed to provide.

Nattapon Srichan from Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University shared, “In two weeks, I’ve gone from nothing to having a big idea of how to make changes in society.

I’m excited to bring back the lessons I’ve learned and solve the problems in my country.”

Learning Through Gamification Mobile applications were used to create an immersive experience for participants, such as Gametize, a gamification platform which rewards students with points upon completing a mission. Kahoot! was used to quiz students about their knowledge of Singapore, and Pigeonhole helped to facilitate question and answer sessions.

Up Close and Personal Participants conversed with notable tech entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders in Singapore through cosy and informal chit-chat sessions.

These included NUS alumni Inian Parameshwaran, Founder of SaaS start-up Dexecure; and Mindy Ong, Field Director of Actxplorer, a socially impactful travel platform.

The students also had the opportunity to understand

the different types of entrepreneurship, namely social entrepreneurship, tech entrepreneurship, and intrapreneurship.

Understanding Entrepreneurship Lectures on the Lean Start-up Methodology by Professor Wong Poh Kam, Senior Director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, were particularly insightful. The iterative process focuses on testing a business’ hypotheses against market realities with a minimum viable product (MVP) and the business model canvas.

Ultimately, a good productmarket fit means that a start-up is able to recognise and serve its customer segment needs, fill a market niche by relieving the pain points or creating gain points, and make lots of money while doing so.

Social Entrepreneurship Laina Greene, co-founder of Angels-of-Impact, a community of investors and entrepreneurs, introduced the Social Business Model Canvas, based on the idea that social entrepreneurs should clearly outline their social impact and financing models, to achieve the dual aims of profit and social impact.

Ready for action - teams (known as clans) piece together their first clue to unlock the next level of the NUS Hunger Games

Tech Entrepreneurship Participants visited local start-up Shopee to see a technology company in action. Launched in 2015, Shopee rapidly expanded into Southeast Asia by building a strong presence in e-commerce.

As participant Ian Wu from NUS said, “Shopee is an inspiring example of how start-ups in Singapore can grow with the ASEAN market and maintain their start-up DNA.”

Intrapreneurship

NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye gave a welcome address to the 100 students at opening of Summer Programme

Professor Tom Kosnik showed participants how to work within a company to effect change through a lecture on intrapreneurship.

These theories were amplified through a panel discussion with Yvonne Lim, Director, Global eCommerce Sales Operations at Razer, and Sarah Chan Milletari, Business Development Manager (SEA-ANZ) at L’Oréal. Both imparted key insights on being entrepreneurial within an organisation, knowing how to leverage resources to maximise impact, and communicating well.

The Summer Programme concluded with a pitching competition, where students were divided into teams to come up with their own innovative start-up idea and to pitch to real investors such as IncuVest, Quest Venturesch. At the closing dinner, diverse participants showcased their unique performances and traditional costumes, leaving all with a night to remember.

On what she gained from the programme, Kenza Squalli Houssaini from Université Paris 8 remarked:

Up Close and Personal - with tech entrepreneur Ali Aljunied of Tagronauts, a platform for instant prints

I learnt how to solve problems differently – we have to not come in with solutions, but try to first go and deeply understand the problem.”

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Mentors play a pivotal role in helping to direct and develop budding start-ups and innovators that are looking to succeed. They are often a beacon of light, navigating early start-ups through rough waters with their experience, deductions and recommendations. What does it take to be a good mentor?

On 31 July 2018, over 65 business veterans, entrepreneurs, and subject matter experts came together to attend the Lean LaunchPad Educators’ Workshop, which serves to orientate new instructors and mentors to the Lean LaunchPad Singapore (LLP) programme. Conducted by Professor Wong Poh Kam, Senior Director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and Lead Faculty of LLP, participants went through an informative and interactive eight-hour workshop session.

Prof Wong kicked off the workshop with classic start-up venture examples, and

THE HELPING HAND TO GUIDE INNOVATORS Another instructor of LLP, Associate Professor Neo Kok Beng, spoke about how having a hypothesis and testing it out with the target market is an imperative stepping stone to determining the final selling product. He also discussed what mentors should do in order to lead their start-ups through their thought processes while tackling their business model canvases.

Panelists shared views on the importance of having a liberal mindset when guiding mentees

touched on what is expected of mentors during the programme. He encouraged them to stimulate the creativity and problem-solving side of their mentees by playing devil’s advocate to their various business ventures. This would in turn prompt strategic problem solving, with the guidance of the mentors in question.

A panel consisting of six professionals from varying backgrounds shared their personal encounters with mentorship, as well as the importance of having a liberal mindset when communicating with their mentees.

To find out more about the Lean LaunchPad programme, or how to get involved as a mentor, visit leanlaunchpad.nus.edu.sg

OSTEOPORE HONOURED WITH PATENT FOR GOOD AWARD NUS spin-off company Osteopore International clinched the Patent for Good Award, jointly awarded by Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) Society and CEO Asia, at the Brands for Good Award Ceremony on 26 July 2018.

Osteopore designs, develops and markets 3D printed bioresorbable polymer implants for neurosurgical, orthopaedic and oral maxillofacial surgery use. Its core technology provides multiple opportunities for growth through developing innovative surgical implants and for pursuing rapid regulatory approval for its products to initiate near term revenue opportunities.

NUS Enterprise has been instrumental to the success of Osteopore since its inception. All the patents evaluated for this award were developed in NUS, and assigned to the company. Most of the safety and efficacy trials were conducted in NUS or through NUS. It is because of NUS’ platform technology that Osteopore was able to help the surgical community

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bring quality back to the patient’s life and minimise or eliminate future cost from late complications.

“This award epitomises our mission to harness technology in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and 3D printing to help patients. The good that we do can only be achieved through our partnership with clinicians who incorporate our technology in the treatment of patients,” said Goh Khoon Seng, CEO of Osteopore.

He added that his company successfully demonstrated the commercialisation of the patents through products that serve the betterment of mankind. The products were able to help reconstruct damaged skulls, facial bones, jaw bones, metacarpal bones, tibias and femurs in paediatric and adult patients, and most importantly helped patients regain their quality of life through protective and aesthetically natural-looking heads, eyes and faces. In addition, the products helped patients eat normally and regain function of the hands and legs.

Osteopore has successfully implanted over 10,000 devices since 2006.

(L to R) Goh Khoon Seng, Director & CEO, Prof Teoh Swee Hin, Co-founder & Chairman and Dr Lim Jing, CTO at the Brands for Good Award ceremony on 26 July 2018

Other NUS supported start-ups that also garnered the Patent for Good Award were AWAK Technologies, an innovative sorbent technology enabling dialysis to be performed on-the-go, and WateROAM, which provides durable and portable water filters for disaster relief and rural development. Healthy snack delivery start-up Boxgreen won the Brands for Good Award.

MARRYING DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY upgrade. All the electrical components were designed for easy removal and replacement, when wireless charging technologies, lights and sound quality improved over time. The structure itself is separated into multiple modules, allowing for easy replacement of the parts when necessary.

Finally, it was important for the fabricated parts and electronics to be integrated in an aesthetically pleasing manner. We planned the design of each module carefully, including how the electronics will run inside the modules to avoid being seen.

The First of Many Co-Founders: Shirley Lee and Galven Lee

NUS Enterprise start-up StandCraft clinched the top prize of SGD10,000 in the URA-REDAS Spark Challenge, a national competition in search of innovative solutions to raise the quality of the urban environment. Their “Peace and Power” birdcage pavilion is equipped with wireless charging for phones, soothing music and interactive panels, creating a delightful space for city dwellers to rest and recharge. Co-founder Galven Lee speaks to us about the company’s journey.

Genesis In early 2017, my co-founder Shirley Lee took up a project to design visual merchandise for a fashion label in Shanghai. Sometime later, she received an e-mail inviting applications for the NUS Innovation and Entrepreneurship Practicum Grant. This kick-started our entrepreneurial journey, as we thought about how technology could be applied to automate the design industries.

Idea Simply put, we want to be the Wix or Canva of the 3D world, offering an online library of customisable 3D templates to marketers, business owners and creative agencies. After the customer selects their structure, be it small or large, we

would build it to order and deliver within a week. We realised we were on the cusp of a revolution in transforming the largely manual process of design and client engagement towards one powered by design automation, rapid manufacturing and mass customisation.

The Winning Design The Birdcage was a breakthrough idea inspired by the striking, radial and semienclosed form of a bird cage. Shirley’s architectural expertise and my experience in user experience led to a design that was user-centric, interactive and multi-sensory.

The greatest challenge came with manufacturing the Birdcage in a costefficient way without compromising on design excellence. With no prior manufacturing experience, we found a trusted manufacturer who provided handson assistance with materials, structural integrity and refinement of the joints. To finance the substantial costs of R&D and fabrication, we sourced for advertisers to brand themselves. This involved venturing into advertising sales - coming up with media kits, advertising placements and assisting our client to produce advertisements.

Another challenge laid in designing the Birdcage in a modular manner to be reusable, easy to transport, assemble and

The Birdcage is only the first in our portfolio of structures designed to create memorable experiences for retail, events and public spaces. Besides the experiential factor, we also design our structures to be quick, modular and reusable - a huge plus from a logistics and sustainability perspective. The value we add to the industry goes beyond the products themselves to the automated distribution system we are building. This means that it will be quick, easy and efficient to obtain high-quality structures by simply using our automated online platform.

A Strong Support System Coming from a corporate background where innovation initiatives are often greeted with scepticism, I found that the positive culture and people at NUS Enterprise were a great encouragement to help us believe that the sky’s the limit. The community of mentors, startup friends, events and staff, gave us a mental compass to see where we fit in the start-up landscape and improve our value proposition. NUS Enterprise was also there for us at key milestones of our company – StandCraft was started because of the opportunity and initial validation from the Practicum Grant. Running into a new phase of growth and development, we have also turned to NUS Enterprise for more support – particularly helpful for entrepreneurs, like ourselves, to get started and dedicate ourselves to the business full-time.

StandCraft is currently incubating at THE HANGAR by NUS Enterprise.

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REFLECTIONS ON INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS: Professor

ALBERTO SANGIOVANNI VINCENTELLI UC Berkeley Professor Researcher Entrepreneur Founder of two billion-dollar companies

Professor Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli wears many hats as a researcher, an entrepreneur, an UC Berkeley professor, founder of two billiondollar companies and even working with venture capital communities. He recently visited Singapore to assist innovation initiatives, becoming co-PI of CREATE SinBerBEST, a programme to innovate building technologies for maximum energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in tropical climates. Speaking on his experiences at a talk held at NUS Enterprise on 5 July 2018.

He discussed the importance of an innovation ecosystem and the opportunities for Singapore to learn from Silicon Valley.

First on his list, he went about demystifying the preconceived notions of the word ‘innovation’:

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Innovation is not invention.

You can invent wonderful things, which have no impact on the industry ecosystem or society at large. You can be good at innovation and not very good at inventions and vice versa. Some lucky people can do both; but always remember that they are connected, but are not synonyms.

Innovation is not an option, it is a way of life.

Every job created by centres of excellence in innovation generates at least five jobs in other domains (services, traditional industry, entertainment, etc.).

There is no one way for innovation to happen.

Many kill to get innovation into their companies and ecosystems, but their definition and view on what it really is, can be extremely warped.

Using Dell as an example, Professor Sangiovanni Vincentelli said that their claim to fame was not in inventing a new way of manufacturing computers, but in innovating how to bring a product to market. No invention, no new technology, it was just a way in which they composed things. Their customised computer production and supply chain inventory management was groundbreaking in minimising stock-piling and storage costs. It was a fantastic innovation, but not in the common way in which people think about innovation.

You can never teach innovation. Not only in Singapore, but everywhere, there’s all these classes on innovation. But what is innovation? The root word of innovation is new.

So how can you teach something that you don’t know yet? No. You have to experience it, breathe it, be in touch with it. But first, there’s one thing to do: look in the mirror. Start on this journey, only if you know that you want this to be your future.”

MY JOURNEY FROM THEORY RESEARCH TO USD25 BILLION

We asked Professor Sangiovalli for some wise tips for the startup ecosystem in Singapore.

Here’s what he had to say:

01 Industry-Research

collaboration is key to innovation

02 Research in new

domains fuels novel enterprises

03 VCs assess value of

enterprise based on risks and potentials.

To found a VC-backed enterprise you need:

• Defensible technology and market (value of know-how, IP and patents) • Favourable ecosystem • Favourable business and financial climate • Proven track record and reputation

LEARNING FROM SILICON VALLEY Despite Singapore’s excellent university system, ample resources, and strong attention to research, Professor Sangiovanni Vincentelli shared some of the challenges that start-ups here face and opportunities to grow like Silicon Valley: In Singapore, there needs to be more support for deep technology start-ups. Most start-ups are usually clustered around safer markets with lower barriers to entry and lower growth. Start-ups based on breakthrough technologies will accelerate value and job creation.

Deep technology start-ups face distinct challenges around technology validation, market validation, fundraising, hiring and scaling. UC Berkeley has developed programmes, resources and expertise in commercialising university research, training and mentoring researchers to become start-up founders, and accelerating and scaling start-ups at SkyDeck and CITRIS Foundry.

Singapore needs to facilitate access to global markets and investors. The growth of promising start-ups are often constrained due to Singapore’s limited market size.

Researchers and scientists need opportunities to build entrepreneurial skills through immersion - to inspire them to translate their technologies. Start-ups need access to markets, resources, networks and venture capital to appropriately scale their business beyond Singapore, facilitating growth. Places like Silicon Valley have key resources such as investors, experienced advisors, and talent to help develop globally competitive start-ups.

Now everyone always seems to have this question on their mind: what is the secret sauce of Silicon Valley? Well, there is none. Basically, you have large companies, extralarge companies, medium companies, small companies a.k.a start-ups, universities and services that help you form start-ups. Companies are born and companies die, every minute. All of these things are part of the equation that amounts to what Silicon Valley is.”

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Looking for the nearest restaurant with great deals on meals? How would it feel to have a robot provide you with food options when you’re stuck?

Scrambling to settle on a company name before their final NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) presentation, co-founders Joel Foo and Johnervan Lee finally decided on the word ‘Geboto’. Inspired by Pinocchio’s father, Geppetto, and envisioning chatbots that ‘come to life’, the name seemed to be an apt representation for their new venture.

Geboto is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and marketing solutions platform that aids F&B businesses in building and developing meaningful relationships with their customers through messaging apps. Their usage of FoodieMonkey, a marketing chatbot, positions them both as a marketing channel for restaurants to list promotions, as well as a middleman that

The Geboto co-founders: (L to R) Johnervan Lee, COO, Joel Foo, CEO and Chia Wei Kang, CTO

This two-way interaction is mutually beneficial to restaurants and our users.

After learning their user behaviour, our F&B suite aggregates the information and allows restaurants to target their promotions to the right segment of users.”

CEO Joel Foo gives great credit to the NOC Israel experience for sparking his entrepreneurial drive and motivation towards making Geboto a reality. Having hands-on experience, meet-ups and excellent mentors during the programme provided him and his team with the extra push they needed to start their venture - with them applying for and receiving the Venture Ideation Practicum grant of SGD10,000 to kick-start their business.

Currently, Geboto is working towards developing chatbots for the service industry as an important aspect of customer service and operations. They intend to expand FoodieMonkey by getting it supported as a chatbot on platforms such as WeChat and Viber, as well as broaden their reach into other regions.

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connects them to an existing community of food enthusiasts on the Telegram app.

GEBOTO: CREATING CHATBOTS THAT COME TO LIFE

Co-founders of SpaceAge Labs: (L to R) Meyyammai (COO), Deepak Pitta (CEO) and Ananth Subba (CTO)

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE CITIES CLINCHES TOP AWARD SpaceAge Labs, incubated at NUS Enterprise@Singapore Science Park, is a homegrown Internet of Things (IoT) start-up. Recently, they took part in the Amaravati Pitch Competition at the World Cities Summit, where they bagged first place. The Amaravati Pitch Competition allows start-ups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) the opportunity to pitch innovative solutions to create liveable and sustainable 21st century cities.

With their win, SpaceAge Labs signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh Capital Regional Development Authority (APCRDA) to pilot their solutions in the capital city of Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh.

We spoke to the members of SpaceAge Labs to findout more!

01 So tell us, how was SpaceAge Labs conceptualised?

SpaceAge Labs was founded by four engineers who wanted to bring to market cutting-edge or “space age” products that were at the intersection of hardware and software. Our first product is a hardware + software Internet of Things (IoT) platform called remoteEye that helps enterprise customers deploy IoT solutions quickly and cost effectively.

02 Who is your target market, and what makes you stand out from other competitors?

Our target market is Enterprise IoT customers in buildings & facilities management, utilities, telecoms, smart city infrastructure, heavy industry and agriculture. Some of the applications developed on our platform include energy monitoring, streetlight monitoring, swimming pool monitoring, environmental & weather monitoring, intrusion detection, leak monitoring, process monitoring, equipment failure/status alerts, structural health monitoring etc. We currently focus on the ASEAN and Indian markets. remoteEye is a full stack IoT Platform sensors, low power wireless connectivity, cloud and applications. Most of our competitors either do hardware or software or connectivity, but we do it all.

We have also designed the platform in such a way that it is System Integrator friendly – no programming knowledge is required. Additionally, we use cutting edge wireless technologies such as NB-IoT, Sigfox, LoRa, LTE Cat M1 on our platform.

03 What were some setbacks you encountered and how did your team work through it?

The most difficult part for us was to bring the right people into the team. We made a few wrong choices in the beginning but eventually put together a solid team that could deliver a hardware and software product in less than 12 months.

As a start-up targeting enterprise customers, credibility is another thing which is important and sometimes difficult

to prove. Having the support of NUS Enterprise has helped open quite a few doors and helped us grow a lot in a matter of months.

04 What are some skillsets that entrepreneurs should possess in order to succeed?

An in-depth understanding of the market you want to sell your product in is crucial.

Make sure you have enough experience in the verticals you choose to target.

Time management is the most important skill for any entrepreneur. On any day, you will have a thousand things on your to-do list. You need to know how to prioritise and tackle the tasks that give you the highest return on investment for your time.

05 What’s next for SpaceAge Labs?

We will have the opportunity to pilot our solutions at the new and futuristic capital city of Amaravati in India. It’s not every day that you get a chance to work on building a city from scratch. We look forward to working closely with the Indian and Singapore governments and with other Singaporean companies such as Sembcorp, Ascendas and Surbana Jurong in the course of this project.

In the next two years, SpaceAge Labs is going extra-terrestrial! We are planning to launch 20-30 nano-satellites into space to build a constellation that will provide a cost-effective wireless network for sensors located at remote locations on earth. We are currently working towards launching our first satellite in 2020.

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FORGING

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS

Collaboration over competition; this is the mantra NUS Enterprise has adopted over the past few years. In our ever-changing economy and burgeoning start-up scene, it has become necessary for corporations to join forces and amalgamate existing resources, in order to improve business outcomes. Collaborations with organisations that have matching interests can yield substantial benefit, as partners bring different, often complementary assets to a relationship.

In the case of NUS Enterprise, crosssector collaboration has been a regular practice. Being the entrepreneurial arm of NUS primely positions us to seek external partnerships. With access and connections to top-notch research and a pool of excellent talents, we are able to rope in and tap on exceptional local manpower, to foster strong industry relations, as well as to build a healthy ecosystem of relevant industry experts.

NUS Enterprise has partnered with industry leaders and government agencies to boost the start-up scene within various industries, including Cybersecurity, Maritime and Aviation.

Initiatives have been launched, that not only enhance the local start-up ecosystem, but also help develop new competencies in deep technology sectors, boost productivity and bring traditional sectors into the digital age.

By uniting different players from startups to corporates, institutes of higher learning and research organisations, NUS Enterprise and partners support the development of better solutions for a better future.

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ICE71: SUPPORTING CYBERSECURITY INITIATIVES The recent cybersecurity breach at SingHealth, where the personal information of around 1.5 million patients was compromised, gave Singaporeans a rude awakening. With sensitive information being accessed by ominous, anonymous sources, this incident has proved how critical it is to have a strong defense against cyber-crime, and the support of key industry players and the government in order to create a safe online environment for citizens.

Innovation Cybersecurity Ecosystem at BLOCK71 (ICE71) is the region’s first cybersecurity start-up hub. Jointly founded by Singtel Innov8 (the corporate venture capital unit of Singtel) and NUS Enterprise, this initiative aims to put our little red dot on the map for being Asia’s first growing cybersecurity entrepreneur hub. Supported by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) and the Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), the team is working towards building a healthy ecosystem of cybersecurity start-ups, experts and mentors, who come together to help mitigate the rapidly increasing cybersecurity risks in the region.

To know more about ICE71, visit: ice71.sg

SIA APPCHALLENGE: WHERE INNOVATION TAKES FLIGHT

PIER71: RIDING THE WAVES OF MARITIME INNOVATION Singapore is the world’s second busiest container port by traffic. With the maritime industry contributing up to 7% of Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing over 170,000 people, the sector is brimming with potential. However, many operational practices are still conducted archaically, with pen and paper instead of digitalised and organised methods of record-keeping. With the help of deep-tech experts, and start-ups coming together to offer sustainable and profit-maximising solutions to existing problems, the maritime sector is ripe for innovation.

On this note, Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined at BLOCK71 (PIER71) was established. The accelerator programme, a joint venture

by NUS Enterprise and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), aims to build a dynamic and buzzing maritime innovation ecosystem.

Through various programmes, such as the Smart Port Challenge and PIER71 Accelerate, they look towards developing start-ups in the maritime sector, through building talents, creating opportunities for the exchange of ideas, attracting potential investments and accelerating new ventures.

A joint partnership between NUS Enterprise and Singapore Airlines (SIA) since 2015, the SIA AppChallenge provides a platform for aspiring app developers to bring fresh and innovative ideas to the table to solve realworld problems within the aviation sector. Participants form teams in either the Open or Student category, and spend several weeks developing their solutions. Selected teams pitch their ideas and demonstrate their prototype at the grand finale to a panel of judges, where the winning teams receive cash prizes, SIA tickets or KrisFlyer miles.

In addition, the teams gain invaluable experience in coding web or mobile apps, and may also be given the opportunity to work with SIA. To know more about the SIA AppChallenge, visit: appchallenge.singaporeair.com

In addition to the mentioned initiatives, NUS Enterprise has partnered with many other companies and organisations to further innovation in their respective industries, such as: 01 Ericsson ONE Asia Challenge Aimed at helping early stage start-ups in connecting supply chain; autonomous vehicles and smart manufacturing.

02 Symphony Creative Solutions’ Oceans of Opportunities (O3) Challenge Positioned to help collaborators and innovators to optimise shipping processes and develop new solutions.

03 L’Oréal Innovation Runway Seeking unique solutions in Performance Materials & Products, Personalised Beauty Experiences, and Sustainable Innovations.

04 START-UP AUTOBAHN Singapore, Mercedes-Benz Aims to help local start-ups develop their idea towards a real life market fit within Mercedes-Benz.

05 Shell #IdeaRefinery Aims to increase the mix of energy start-ups that have a positive energy impact for society or enabling established start-ups to explore opportunities in the energy sector.

Smart Port Challenge is an annual innovation competition for global technology start-ups, focusing on port, shipping and maritime logistics. Aimed at advancing digital transformation in the maritime industry, the challenge requires start-ups to tackle pressing challenges identified by maritime corporates with their technologies.

Teams stand a chance to win up to SGD10,000 when they meet and pitch to challenge owners.

To learn more about PIER71, visit: pier71.sg

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This summer, 15 students embarked on the inaugural NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) Southeast Asia programme where they spent three months immersed in Indonesia’s vibrant and rapidly expanding start-up scene.

AN EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE IN INDONESIA

The drive to start a social enterprise motivated Vanessa Goh, a Year 3 student from the NUS School of Design and Environment, to embark on a journey with NOC Southeast Asia. She shares the highlights of her unforgettable internship.

Meeting of the Minds: Birth of JALA I had the opportunity to work in JALA, a shrimp farming solutions start-up that offers the latest farm management system, during my overseas stint in Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta is known as a student city and people from around Indonesia travel here to enrol in the country’s top universities. Thus, it is unsurprising that the co-founders of JALA met in University Gadjah Mada (UGM)’s engineering faculty.

They were electrical engineers who took part in competitions together, and were subsequently selected by the CEO of a research company, Indmira, to build the start-up together.

JALA was birthed to help shrimp farmers boost their yields and gain control over their farms. The start-up created a portable device with IoT technology for water monitoring as well as an online management system which collates data from the shrimp ponds. The web-app allows farmers to receive research-backed recommendations to treat water quality when the parameters are not ideal.

Furthermore, predictive charts show farmers the right time for the best harvest yields. Simulations are also available to help farmers do financial planning, such as how much feed is required for a specified amount of harvest mass.

New Exposure I knew nothing about the aquaculture industry, but the internship truly opened my eyes and gave me a different perspective. I had the honour of travelling to Jakarta to assist at the Indofisheries Conference, giving me the opportunity to speak with many companies and

14

(2nd from left) Vanessa Goh visiting Hydroponics, Salak tree plantation in Banjarsari Village, Indonesia

corporate farmers, pitching JALA to them and forming potential partnerships. I really enjoyed talking to people and hearing about their business ventures as well. It was amazing to meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who was there on the last day to grace the event.

I was also involved in B2B meetings where JALA and Cargill discussed expanding JALA’s impact to India. It was a very insightful experience.

Being in a start-up opened up chances for even interns like me to meet with clients, and to contribute at meetings and discussions. A visit to shrimp farms in Purworejo, a two hour drive out of Yogyakarta, enabled me to see an occupation and lifestyle that is uncommon in a city like Singapore. These are experiences that I would not have had if I hadn’t joined NOC Southeast Asia.

A Cohesive Team where Everyone’s a Mentor Hailing from a concrete jungle with high sky scrapers and being tossed into the environment of a hydroponics and aquaponics farm was definitely unique.

A humble office space amid water tankers which hold grouper fish and other research experiments was one that I would not have imagined as a work environment.

The office was a cosy space where almost everyone worked from the same table, allowing close bonds and interactions.

I was able to truly witness teamwork amongst the members of JALA, and understand the full operations of the startup. The warm hospitality and willingness of my employers and colleagues to share their experiences and knowledge touched my heart, and my time there was frequently peppered with the reminder that everybody was my mentor.

NUS Enterprise Events & Activities

JUL - SEP 2018 Stay updated on our upcoming events at: enterprise.nus.edu.sg/events

JUL 04

Explore the World’s Port of Call with PIER71

05

Reflections on Innovations Ecosystems: My Journey from Theory Research to USD25 Billion

05

09

11

11

7 Maritime Corporates Reveal Opportunities in Singapore & Beyond

AUG

SEP

01

Kopi Chat With Teo Ser Luck

03

Journey of the Innovator: Money Talks

02

Kopi Chat With Jiang ChangJian

04

Deep Tech Insights + Innovation Challenge

PIER71 Smart Port Challenge: Final Boarding Call

04

Cyber Start-up Fiesta - Showcasing Israel

07

15

NOC Spotlight on Asia

15

SIA App Challenge Roadshow

05-06

L’Oréal Innovation Runway - Singapore Roadshow

17

Kopi Chat: How Gen Z is Redefining the Future of Content

Ericsson Innovation Challenge Roadshow (BLOCK71 Singapore)

20

Journey of the Innovator: Start-up Pitching 1-2-3!

L’Oréal Innovation Runway - Jakarta Roadshow

21

NOCfest

23

Wicked Series at N-House!

Community Building in a Digital Age!

06

Kopi Chat with SGAG

12

Entrepreneurial Link: Singapore x Philippines

12

Wicked Series at N-House!

Ethical Futurism: How our work today can shape the future of civilisation?

17-20 12

14

17

17

19

Is there a Blue Ocean for your Start-up in Maritime?

PIER71 Top 35 selection

SWITCH

18

L’Oréal Innovation Runway Finale @ SWITCH

Lean LaunchPad Singapore Bootcamp

20

LaunchPad Open House 2018

L’Oréal Innovation Runway - Bangkok Roadshow

24-25

L’Oréal Innovation Runway - Bangalore Roadshow

27

Journey of the Innovator: From the Horses’ Mouths

20

Maybank Kim Eng Hackfest Launch

27

Kopi Chat with Clark Gilbert

20

PIER71 Accelerate Mentors Mixer

28

KTH Royal Institute of Technology Information Session

27

PIER71 Accelerate Bootcamp

Are you already Creating a Unicorn for the Maritime Industry?

ICE71 Financial Sector Security Series: Panel Discussion on MAS Technology Risk Management (TRM) - Changes, Challenges & Solutions

24

ICE71 Meetup #2: Cybersecblogging: Putting Your Passion Into Writing

31

Lean LaunchPad Singapore Educators’ workshop

28

Ask NOC Session

29

Wicked Series at N-House!

Gear Up: Building a Winning Team with Tom Kosnik!

15

Deal with Rejections It is easy to overlook the lessons learnt from failures and brood over defeat instead. Rather than being trapped in disappointment, young entrepreneurs should recognise failures as the opportune time to figure out what went wrong and fine-tune their strategies. Be hasty in resolving any feelings of defeat and quickly start again.

Kopi Chat session moderated by BLOCK71 Singapore’s incubatee Janson Seah, Co-founder of StaffAny (right), alongside Mr Teo Ser Luck (left), Co-founder of Nufin Data, who shared about the insights gained from his personal start-up journey.

On 1 August, former Minister of State Mr Teo Ser Luck joined us for a Kopi Chat session at BLOCK71 Singapore, sharing his personal views on taking the entrepreneurial route since relinquishing his former role. Now a co-founder of local fintech start-up Nufin Data, he gave young entrepreneurs and investors a few tips to get a head-start.

Develop Leaders Invest in nurturing capable individuals to steer the entrepreneurial team forward. At turning points of a venture, a start-up needs a clear leader - not necessarily the founder of the company - who is strategic and willing to take calculated risks to bring the enterprise to greater heights.

Company leaders should create “handson” scenarios that can challenge these individuals to maximise their capabilities at work. Those with the dexterity to handle on-the-ground challenges would be kept driven to create solutions to advance the company’s business.

Focus on Product Quality Let your product speak for itself. Before venturing into a business idea, carefully evaluate how your innovation can contribute to the market and your users meaningfully.

The commercial viability of your product will determine the sustainability of your enterprise, and the winning formula to success includes a truly good product and a comprehensive working team consisting of complementary skill sets.

Take Heart and Be Brave When just starting out, new ventures can learn a lot from successful companies, while staying flexible to adapt models to their own businesses. Start-ups need to have the courage to challenge the status quo to develop their very own success formula. Be decisive in giving up ventures that are losing revenue and in letting go of employees that can no longer value-add to the company’s growth. These decisions could very much be the critical points to a start-up’s success.

Commit Time to Network If you are determined to establish your business, it is inevitable to sacrifice personal time to expand your network in relevant industries. Failure to establish firm relationships means potentially missing partnerships that would otherwise aid your company’s growth. Local start-ups should take more initiative in reaching out to global markets and industries in the nearby region.

STARTING

‘UP’ RIGHT 16