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EXPLOIT TECHNOLOGIES PRESENTS DISTINGUISHED TECHNOPRENEUR SPEAKER (DTS) FORUM
Singapore, 26 January 2012 - Exploit Technologies will award its 2012 Distinguished Technopreneur Speaker (DTS) Award to Dr Shuji Nakamura, prominent LED light scholar and pioneer of the blue spectrum breakthrough technology. Launched in 2008, the award provides recognition of the speaker’s solid track record in exploiting technology to value-add and create wealth for their community. The award, which will be conferred at the DTS Forum held on 8 February 2012, from 3 to 5 pm, aims to inspire innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging technologies for economic benefit to Singapore.
The DTS Forum, organised by Exploit Technologies with support from the Singapore Workforce Agency (WDA), serves as an opportunity for entrepreneurs, industry leaders, researchers, scholars and students to converge, share ideas and network with various industry players to seed the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship amongst the local scientific community.
The inaugural DTS Award Winner in 2008 was awarded to Professor Stephen G Davies, Chairman of Chemistry and Waynflete Professor of Chemistry, a highly successful serial entrepreneur and an accomplished Oxford professor in research. Dr. Michael Hayden, a world-renowned geneticist, who made outstanding contributions in the areas of genetics and neurodegenerative diseases, was the second DTS Award Winner. The most recent winner was Sir Gregory Winter, a well-known authority in Molecular Biology and a serial inventor and entrepreneur.
At a time when many scientists considered creating a Gallium Nitride LED too difficult to produce, Dr Nakamura invented the first high brightness Gallium Nitride LED whose brilliant blue light is the key to white LED lighting. Despite facing a dwindling research budget and depleting support, he went on to develop the methodology which facilitated the mass production of the blue LED device. Today, Dr Nakamura’s blue laser diodes not only created more vibrant video billboards and traffic signal lights but also helped lead to the development of blue lasers, which revolutionised the DVD industry.
In 2006, Dr Nakamura won the Millennium Technology Prize of Finland, better known as the Nobel Prize in the technology field. He also received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in 2004, previously conferred upon Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein. In addition, he won The Economist’s Innovation Award, given to just six scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the innovation of technology.
Mr Philip Lim, Chief Executive Officer of Exploit Technologies said, "We are honoured to award and host an inspiring figure like Dr Shuji Nakamura. He embodies sheer ingenuity in scientific research and a tremendous perseverance towards commercializing his discovery for applications that have benefitted communities beyond his own. By sharing his insights, perspectives and experiences, we hope this inspires the local research community towards their own success stories. It is our aim that the DTS forum will continue to be a platform for young technopreneurs to meet, network, exchange ideas and hopefully, spark off new technological innovations in Singapore.”
For more information on the forum and registration (free!) details, please click here.
LOCAL FIRM SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH A*STAR TO MARKET NEW TECHNOLOGY
Singapore, 25 January 2012 - If you wanted to view a movie on multiple platforms such as the iPhone, computer and High Definition TV, you would normally have to create multiple files of the movie for the range of bandwidths and device resolations.
Now with a new technology, all you would need to do is download a single file. With just a one-time encoding process, the source file can be loaded and read anytime, anywhere and on any device.
This Scalable Multimedia Platform (SMP) technology, created by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's (A*STAR) Institute for Infocomm Research, is to be developed and marketed by local e-solutions provider Reachfield IT Solutions, said A*STAR's commercialisation arm Exploit Technologies today.
Exploit Technologies also noted that this is an example of how companies in Singapore are benefitting from technologies created by research institutes under A*STAR.
This SMP technology simplifies the current media transcoding process and benefits video hosting service providers. It creates a single 'layered' source file that can adapt automatically to the device and bandwidth of end users, providing substantial savings storage space and minimises the man-hours needed for file transcoding.
Mr Winson Wee, Reachfield's vice president of Client Engagement and Projects said: "With the licensing of SMP, we are now able to expand our core business with scalable video product and service offerings, and be empowered as a differentiated local SME company to stay ahead of our competitors by delivering innovative digital media solutions and cost savings for our customers."
"Reachfield is a good example of how an SME can effectively make use of promising homegrown technology to grow their business. Local companies need specialised measures to ramp them up, and we have just that- a suite of services tailored just for SMEs to enhance their growth strategies. We encourage more of Singapore's 154,000 SMEs to come forward and work with A*STAR," said Mr Philip Lim, chief executive of Exploit Technologies.
A*STAR said the Institute for Infocomm Research will progressively expand the capabilities of SMP from video-on-demand into other applications such as live event-casting, live broadcasting and video surveillance.
- Report from TODAY online, January 25, 2011
S'PORE INVENTION, iTWIN WINS "BEST OF WHAT'S NEW AWARD"
Singapore, 13 December 2011 - A Singapore-invented plug-and-play file sharing device, iTwin, has been winning awards for its innovative properties and unique design since its launch less than two years ago.
It recently won the "Best of What's New Award" by Popular Science Magazine in the computing category last month after being reviewed from among 100 new tech products selected from thousands of products and technologies globally.
iTwin was developed in the laboratories of the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
Officially launched in the market in October last year, the plug-and-play device consists of two parts and can transfer data safely between any two online computers.
Users can upload, download or edit any file on any computer effortlessly by simply plugging in the device into one computer, detaching its second part and plugging it into the second computer.
The iTwin does not store data and users do not have to worry about compromising their data if a device is misplaced as it can be remotely disabled.
The idea for iTwin originated when co-founder and CEO of iTwin, Lux Anantharaman, wanted to check personal investments and finances that were stored on his computer at home.
He realised that he required a simple and secure remote file access solution.
This led to the invention of iTwin by Lux while he was a scientist in I2R.
Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd, the commercialisation arm of A*STAR, funded the development of a marketable prototype.
Mr Lux Anantharaman said: "We see a huge potential in iTwin as this device may ultimately replace the portable storage market which currently comprises flash drives, portable hard disks and memory cards. Our customers are from all over the world, from the United States, Europe and of course, Singapore."
- Report from Channel NewsAsia.com, December 13, 2011
EXPLOIT TECHNOLOGIES LAUNCHES INAUGURAL INTERACTIVE MEDIA AND MARKETING FORUM MEDIA EXPLOITS 2011
Singapore, 25 November 2011 - Media Exploits 2011 (ME2011) is an Industry Showcase and Networking event organized by Exploit Technologies. The event brought together professionals and entrepreneurs in the interactive media and marketing industry to network, explore and try out innovative technologies and solutions. This half-day forum and exhibition, held on 1 November 2011 at Matrix Building of Biopolis, showcased over 16 patented and patent pending A*STAR technologies, and partner products and solutions. The event was well received, attracting more than 300 participants from some 130 companies and organisations. Follow-on project discussions between industry partners and Exploit Technologies are now in progress.
Exploit Technologies would like to thank all participants for their attendance, speakers for their sharing, and also the following partner organizations who have helped to make this event a success: Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), Advanced Digital Sciences Center (ADSC), Globewerks, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDM PO), Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) and Singapore Polytechnic.
GROWTH SPURS ASIAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Better Incentives and ‘Incubators’ Help Start-Ups Overcome Challenges Such as Securing Funds for New Products
Adjustable eyeglasses designed for people in emergency situations, a kit for diagnosing disease outbreaks, and a hearing-enhancing smartphone app took top prizes in The Wall Street Journal’s Asian Innovation Awards. These and other innovations reflect the increasing pace of technological change and groundbreaking work in the region, as well as the growth of “incubators” and incentives that cities such as Singapore have offered start-ups, particularly in the fields of science and technology.
“In a way, the West doesn’t have to prove itself,” said Magdeline Pokar, one of the judges and managing director for Research-SEA, a research-news service focused on Asia. On the other hand, Asia “always looked perhaps to the West for how things should be done. But increasingly I would say there is a lot of confidence. It’s a big industry that’s growing within the region.”
Within Asia, the work varies widely, she said. “If you sent someone from the U.K. to Japan, they’re always astounded by the level of technology,” while the work coming out of an emerging economy, such as Vietnam, tends to be “applied innovation” focused on efficiency or reusability, she said. “You can see the immediate usage of it.”
One of the biggest problems Asian entrepreneurs and researchers face is funding. “It’s quite hard, still, to just go out and set up your own company and sell things or do things,” Ms. Pokar said. “There’s not a lot of (venture capital) money out there.” For entrepreneurs in medical-related fields, navigating the bureaucracy of regulatory approvals is another challenge, and several finalists cited it as an issue. Other finalists noted the long processes as a last major hurdle to their product reaching consumers.
Adlens Ltd., which developed the Gold-prize-winning adjustable eyeglasses, called Emergensee, distributed them to victims of the March earthquake in Japan, said Yoshinobu Nakashima, the company’s Japan president. “The product itself is born for this kind of situation.” Soon it plans to release a new product called p.o.v. According to Adlens’s global chairman, Dean Butler, the p.o.v. glasses contain liquid-filled adjustable lenses and cover the wearer’s entire field of vision, while Emergensee is most effective when looking straight ahead or slightly to the side.
Such modifications are crucial to innovative work. “Even the best ideas need to be iterated as real world kinks emerge,” said Adam Smith, director of product management in Asia Pacific for Google Inc., and the head judge for the Asian Innovation Awards. “Experimentation and failure also play a role in developing products that are unexpected, useful and entirely new,” he said.
Data on research-and-development spending is often correlated in success in innovation, but there is much more that goes into cultivating ideas and seeing them through to a finished product. For small businesses in particular, data on R&D spending is hard to come by, partly because different countries track it differently. The judging panel selected the winners from 12 finalists, which came from more than 250 entries from China, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and elsewhere in the region.
In Singapore, the government’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research oversees 14 research institutes. One of them, the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, won the Silver award for its MicroKit. The portable system for quick diagnosis can be deployed during outbreaks to keep them from becoming pandemics.
IBN Executive Director Jackie Ying said the device has gone through different stages, and her team is working on a series of disease-detection products. “We hope that by having early (and affordable) diagnosis we can really benefit a big part of Asia including developing countries,” she said. “The goal is to be able to look at complex diseases like cancer.”
In collaboration with a spinoff company, SG Molecular Diagnostics, IBN plans to launch a device in the coming year that can test for at least 20 different bacteria simultaneously and handle multiple samples at the same time. Ms. Ying said her team is also working on kits for food testing.
This year’s Bronze-prize winner, developed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Ximplar Ltd., turns everyday consumer electronics into hearing-enhancement devices. ACEHearing, which stands for Automated Customized Enhanced Hearing, will be applied first to smartphones, either as a downloadable app or as pre-installed firmware, said Andrew Van Hasselt, one of the principal developers and chair of the ear, nose and throat department at CUHK.
“Most people just try to make do and compensate for hearing loss,” Paul Lee, a director at Ximplar, said. “What they’re not aware of is they will eventually lose economic opportunities and self-confidence.” Messrs. Van Hasselt and Lee said consumers can expect to use the technology in early 2012. They see ACEHearing being incorporated into tablets, desktop and laptop PCs and MP3 players, so that users’ hearing profiles could roam with them wherever they go.
The Technopreneur award, which goes to the entry that best applies technology with the greatest potential for commercial success, went to Toshiba Corp.’s glasses-free 3-D TVs. The Japanese tech giant said it plans to launch a larger model of the TV in Europe and Japan toward the end of this year. Seijiro Yasuki, general manager of design and development, said that the team working on the original 20-inch version developed the product in a short time period. In addition, he said, glassesfree devices aren’t restricted to TVs. “It is already applied to other products such as the PC,” and potentially medical devices.
Credit Suisse sponsors the AIA awards and organized Thursday night’s gala event that honors the winners. The jury was selected by Wall Street Journal staff and coverage of the event and its winners is the sole responsibility of the
Journal’s news department.
- Article from The Wall Street Journal November 4-6, 2011, by Emily Veach
LATEST DIGITAL MICROSCOPE TECHNOLOGY TO BENEFIT MEDICAL FRATERNITY
 
Singapore, 3 October 2011 - Hisaka (Singapore) Pte Ltd (HISAKA) has signed a licensing agreement with Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd (ETPL), for the innovative Digital Stereo Microscope (DSM) technology used in microsurgery. Under the agreement, HISAKA is committed to manufacture, distribute and market the DSM system worldwide.
The project was conceived by Professor Lim Beng Hai from the National University of Singapore Hospital (NUSH) and James Rappel from the National University of Singapore’s Robotics and Control Group under the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The clinician-researcher collaboration was funded by A*STAR and ETPL with the aim to develop a prototype for microsurgical applications.
Unlike existing display technologies which require surgeons to fix their eyes on microscope eyepieces for long periods of time, the DSM system consists of a digital touch-screen panel with a large field of view and intuitive touch-screen controls which reduces exertion and stress on the surgeon. The design of the DSM maintains the hands and display panel in line of sight of the surgeon which facilitates better hand-eye coordination. With these benefits, the Digital Stereo Microscope (DSM) aims to replace the current surgical microscope used in microsurgeries.
Furthermore, as the DSM is projected to be more cost-effective than conventional microscopes, it could also be used as a teaching or educational aid to benefit the medical fraternity.
FOUNDERS FORUM A SHOWCASE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 
Singapore, 29 September 2011 - Exploit Technologies held its Founders Forum event, organized by its Investment and Spin-off Management (ISM) Division. The annual event serves as a platform for A*STAR researchers, business founders and invited guests to learn about the art of technopreneurship and network with the best thought leaders from the start-up world in Singapore.
Amongst the invited guest speakers were three successful high-tech start-up founders, two of which were formerly from A*STAR. The two speakers from A*STAR were Dr Yuan Xiao Jun, CEO of LinkStar, who was previously from the Institute of Microelectrics (IME), and Dr Ong Siew Hwa, Director and Chief Scientist of Acumen Research Laboratories, who was previously from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB). The third speaker, Mr Ash Singh, CEO of Interactive SG, a local web design company and interactive agency. He is a serial technopreneur who has invested in diverse businesses ranging from software, digital interactive media, property and professional sport. He is also currently producing a TV reality show called “The Angel’s Gate”, a reality TV series that gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their dream business ideas to some of Asia’s most successful investors.
Covering topics such as An Eye for Market Opportunity, Embarking on Entrepreneurship: Can You Take The Plunge?, and, the 50 Keys to Start-up Success, the speakers shared their experiences, and provided advice and valuable insights into their start-up journey. The feedback from the forum’s attendees was that the presentations were thought provoking and the networking invaluable, as they thought about starting up their own businesses.
 
A*STAR-UIUC RESEARCH COLLABORATION PROGRAMME YIELDS COMMERCIALISATION OUTCOME
Singapore, 27 September 2011 - Pixtelz Pte Ltd is a start-up company co-founded by entrepreneur Lee Boon Leng and scientist Lu Jiangbo from the Advanced Digital Sciences Center (ADSC) to commercialise video manipulation technologies developed by Jiangbo's team at ADSC. ADSC is a joint research collaboration programme established in 2009 by A*STAR and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
A signing ceremony was held on 27 September 2011 between Pixtelz and Exploit Technologies, to license ADSC's video manipulation technologies for applications in video-chat and video-conferencing. Pixtelz has concurrently inked a separate agreement to collaborate with Shenzhen companies, Richen and Tencent QQ, on video chat applications.
This first instance of commercialisation resulting from technologies developed at ADSC marks a milestone in the A*STAR-UIUC collaboration, demonstrating research outcomes that have commercially-viable, real-world applications.
TECH FIRM PLAYS KEY PART IN AVIATION
Singapore, 21 September 2011 - TECHNOLOGY firm D-Simlab Technologies aims to fly high by selling its products to companies across the globe.
It has created a high-tech system that helps aerospace firms calculate how many aircraft spare parts are needed, and at which airports.
For airlines, the task of managing spare parts is highly complex.
These repairable parts, such as electronic components, fuel management computer systems and electronic door controller systems, are critical to their operations - and expensive.
Airlines have long tended to stock their own parts - and simply calculated the amount needed using spreadsheets.
'Now, what's happening is they are going through a service provider,' says D-Simlab's chief executive, Dr Peter Lendermann.
D-Simlab's one-of-a-kind simulation-based product involves software that factors in the flight network, the historical reliability of the spare parts and environmental factors.
It is the only product to take the simulation approach, as other products in the market resolve the problem through other mathematical approaches.
With its product, the whole spare parts stocking process has become a lot more efficient and accurate, says Dr Lendermann.
'There was a paradigm shift. First, the low-cost carriers started the change because they didn't want to keep a lot of assets on their balance sheets, so they asked for component services support,' says Dr Nirupam Julka, chief financial officer and co-founder of D-Simlab.
Companies providing maintenance, repair and overhaul services are also keen to provide component support, rather than just selling parts, as it allows them to have better market control, he says.
They also have longer and more stable revenue streams from the repair business.
Furthermore, airlines, which are buying new planes like Airbus' A-380, prefer to have component services support which appears as an operating expense rather than to keep assets on their balance sheets, he adds.
D-Simlab was spun off from the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), a research institute under the purview of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), Singapore's national research agency.
Dr Julka, who became a Singapore citizen after taking up an A*Star scholarship to further his studies, met the other two founders at SimTech, when he and D-Simlab chief technology officer Gan Boon Ping found themselves in the same sub-group headed by Dr Lendermann.
The three have kept busy since the firm started in 2007. Dr Lendermann, a permanent resident here, spends a substantial amount of time travelling around the world to meet potential clients.
And his efforts are paying off. D-Simlab has secured two- to 10-year subscriptions from several aerospace customers, including big names such as Airbus, OEMServices and ST Aerospace.
In mid-2009, the firm was attempting to get a preliminary version of its aerospace product commercialised when it received the go-ahead for a grant of up to $500,000 under Spring Singapore's Technology Enterprise Commercialisation Scheme. A large part of the grant was then used to secure star researchers from SIMTech to help the company further develop the product to a sophisticated level.
'Many times, when you are in a research institute, you get support to do science but not engineering,' said Dr Julka.
'The grant helped us a lot in getting the products in a shape that we could actually push to market. If we hadn't got the grant, we would have had to use our internal R&D funds. We wouldn't have been able to grow so fast and get all the clients.
'The faster you grow, the more clients you get and the more barriers to entry you create.'
n the year to this March, D-Simlab suffered a slight loss, but locked in revenue of slightly over $1 million, up from over $900,000 a year earlier.
This year, it expects to be back in the black, with revenue growth of 50 to 100 per cent. Most of it will come from its product for the aerospace industry, while about $500,000 is expected to come from another product targeted at the semi-conductor manufacturing industry.
The firm's simulation-based semi-conductor product helps companies improve the flow of materials in wafer fabs, by making the process of managing changes and disruptions a lot shorter and more accurate.
Decisions can be made faster and better, said Dr Lendermann. 'Previously, it was days and weeks. Now, we're talking about hours.'
Before its product became available, there were a lot of human decisions involved, he said. So far, the firm has signed up two big clients for this product.
D-Simlab now has one other office in Dresden, where co-founder Mr Gan spends half his time, and an upcoming one in San Francisco to service clients, most of whom are in Europe and the US.
The founders say it's 'a little tough' to raise capital in Singapore, as people are not as open to new technology. They are thus looking overseas to raise capital.
But things are happening for D-Simlab, as it is in the process of signing more clients. It is also looking to develop and commercialise a military version of its aerospace product to be used for military fleets, helicopters and so on.
Dr Julka says what they do is for a niche market: 'It's not a billion-dollar market, but it is a profitable one.
'We see an exit in four years. We think it will be attractive to companies in the high-tech sector.'
MEMBRANE COULD SPEED DRUG DISCOVERY
Singapore, 14 September 2011 - Researchers at Singapore's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering are working on a microscopic level to bring about large-scale medical advancement.
Madhavan Nallani and his team are developing artificial cell membranes to use in drug screening that mimic processes occurring naturally in live cells. This invention, a finalist in the Asian Innovation Awards, is geared toward reducing the costs and time necessary to take drugs from the lab to patients.
Cell walls are known as membranes, and it's through the proteins found in them that cells communicate with each other, fending off diseases or succumbing to them. In drug discovery, researchers conduct tests to identify the drugs that interact with certain protein receptors in the cell walls.
"Our focus now is to use artificial cell membranes for testing drugs against, for example, Parkinson's disease. It can be applied for other diseases like diabetes and cancer," Dr. Nallani says.
He describes his synthetic membranes as bubble-like, made of polymer and customizable, and grouped into a liquid-based matrix. He says it takes four hours to produce proteins used in his membranes, while it takes four days to produce the same proteins in live cells. Further, a live-cell laboratory requires a large, sterile environment, while with artificial membranes tests can be conducted in a small room atop a standard table or desk. And live cells are more complicated to work with because there is natural variability between individual cells.
Artificial cell membranes are easier and cheaper to manufacture, so much of the preliminary experimentation can be performed more quickly and cheaply than before. Plus, they are more uniform than real cells.
The tube of DNA, artificial membrane material and reagents is centrifuged to remove unwanted materials.
.Inside his team's small lab in Singapore, Dr. Nallani shows how experiments are carried out. First, DNA is mixed in a tube with a small amount of the artificial membrane material and other reagents. They are incubated in a machine for 1.5 hours. This produces a protein in the artificial membrane. Then he puts the tube in a centrifuge to remove unwanted materials, resulting in a liquid containing the purified artificial membranes.
"You break up the cells, take the soup of the cell. Then you add the DNA, then the soup cooks to produce a protein," he says.
A drug molecule is then added and left to bind to the protein in the artificial membranes. After unbound drug molecules are removed, the liquid is analyzed to see whether any of the drug molecules are still attached. If they are, it's a success.
In theory, the same test will then be conducted and the results verified using live cells, potentially saving money and time.
"By using our artificial cell membranes, you can enhance the drug-discovery process by cutting down the cost and the time required to test a drug," Dr. Nallani says.
To test whether a drug molecule or antibody is bound to the cell membrane, scientists use high-powered microscopes. The scale can be difficult to imagine: The membranes Dr. Nallani is working with have controllable thickness comparable to live-cell membranes' four nanometers. He explains that one nanometer is roughly 1/1,000th of the thickness of a strand of hair.
Targeting the drug-screening process and not direct human treatment helps Dr. Nallani avoid, for now, cumbersome regulatory hurdles that can take years.
But he thinks direct human treatment is in the cards. The near-term goal, he says, is to pitch the technology to pharmaceutical companies.
A U.K.-based technology-commercialization company called 2Bio Ltd. has taken on IMRE as a client in 2010. Founder and Director Rhys Roberts says he first determined that Dr. Nallani's invention "was more than idea or idle curiosity." Satisfied, Mr. Roberts and 2Bio have provided advice on how to spin off the technology as a start-up company
"We are targeting major drug companies with gaps in their pipelines for future drug sales," Mr. Roberts said. "Artificial membranes…will benefit medicine through more effective and safer drugs, and the drug companies by repopulating their depleted drug lines."
Being accepted as an enhancement to using live cells in drug screening by established companies could be a step in the path to a broader acceptance in future applications such as drug delivery and personalized treatment. But even persuading pharmaceutical companies to shift to this new method could take a long time.
Dr. Premkumar Arumugam, associate director of biology at GVK Biosciences Pvt. Ltd., based in Hyderabad, India, said his lab is testing the artificial membranes in drug-binding studies.
"The first results are very, very promising," Mr. Arumugam said in August, adding that the membranes' efficiency still needs to be improved. "If they mimic the biological system it will revolutionize the whole discovery area."
IMRE is part of a government agency called A*Star, or Agency for Science, Technology & Research, which oversees 14 institutes devoted to the biomedical and physical sciences and engineering.
In the coming years, Dr. Nallani says, A*Star's Exploit Technologies, its marketing and commercialization arm will help the team create a business model, incubate the business and pitch the idea to large pharmaceutical companies.
CHANGI AIRPORT IMPLEMENTS NEW SECURITY MEASURE DEVELOPED FROM A*STAR'S RESEARCH
Press conference panelists (from L to R): Representing A*STAR, Philip Lim, CEO of Exploit Technologies; Alan Tan, Vice President, Aviation Security, Changi Airport Group; Foo Sek Min, Executive Vice President, Airport Management, Changi Airport Group; Lee Fook Sun, President of ST Electronics, and Tang Kum Chuen, President of ST Electronics (Satcom & Sensor Systems).
Singapore, 3 August 2011 – Changi Airport Group and ST Electronics (Satcom & Sensor Systems) Pte Ltd, announced a collaboration to implement a Perimeter Intrusion Detection System (PIDS) based on Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor in Changi Airport’s 22-km perimeter fence to further strengthen security of the airfield. Changi will be the first airport in the world to use such technology for perimeter security enhancement.
The proprietary AgilFence PIDS with intelligent signal processing was developed by ST Electronics based on fibre sensor technology licensed from its research partner, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research Singapore (A*STAR). A research institute under A*STAR, the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), provided the key technology component, the FBG optical sensor, that was instrumental in the development of the STEE AgilFence PIDS. The locally developed ground-breaking technology offers superior performance in accuracy and detection capability and is easily scalable, ruggedised, and customisable. AgilFence PIDS is specially customised for Changi Airport to meet its unique operational requirements.
“We are delighted to be able to engage ST Electronics early in the technology development stage and play a catalytic role to support them in their endeavour to break into new markets. ST Electronics was an invaluable partner in validating our technology as a demonstrator and their invaluable feedback greatly enhanced the commercial readiness of the product. This collaboration between Changi Airport Group and ST Electronics marks a significant milestone in the use of indigenous technologies for a key application such as perimeter security”, said Mr Philip Lim, Chief Executive Officer of Exploit Technologies, the marketing and commercialization arm of A*STAR.
LINKSTAR MICROTRONICS LICENSES FROM EXPLOIT TECHNOLOGIES
Singapore, 29 July 2011 - LinkStar Microtronics was established in 2010 and is a provider of innovative, leading-edge products and solutions for the RF/MMIC IC and Fiber-to-the-Home(FTTH) marketplace. LinkStar specializes in RFIC and MMIC design and product development using RFCMOS technology. LinkStar has built strong relationships with their customers in China and Taiwan, partnering with the leading OEM system providers in China and Taiwan to provide low-cost, high-performance integrated solutions.
Linkstar has licensed IME's technology on intergrated photonic devices for the emerging Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) market.
GREEN BUILDING GROUP LICENSES FROM EXPLOIT TECHNOLOGIES
Singapore, 22 July 2011 - Green Building Group (GBG) was established in 2007 and started off as a solar and green technologies incubator. It brings in green technologies which relates to building, like solar and façade glass application. It is the sole agent for Water Cooled Air Condition and is aggressively looking for low carbon emission products besides air condition and façade lighting.
GBG has signed a license for SIMTech's technology on Large Area Processing (LAP) of Functional Films.
SINGAPORE ON TRACK TO MEET WATER NEEDS
6 July, 2011 - Singapore yesterday took a big step towards becoming self-sufficient in water as work began on its second and largest desalination plant.
The $890 million plant in Tuas, which begins operations in July 2013, will triple the Republic’s water desalination capacity.
That will bring Singapore closer to its goal of supplying 30 per cent of its water needs from desalination by 2061.
The Tuaspring plant is built by home-grown firm Hyflux, which also runs SingSpring in Tuas, Singapore’s first desalination plant which was completed in 2005.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan hailed the occasion as ‘yet another important and strategic milestone in Singapore’s water journey’.
The new plant will pump another 318,500 cubic m of water per day into the Republic’s national tap. That will add to the current 136,500 cubic m produced daily by the existing plant, which currently supplies 10 per cent of Singapore’s water needs.
Desalination is an obvious choice for Singapore, given that the city is surrounded by seawater, noted Dr Balakrishnan.
But the Government held back because the option was too costly in the early days of its invention, he pointed out. Over the years, however, it has become cheaper due to technology improvements.
He said: ‘Technology has made a major difference and in the past decade or two, it has certainly altered the strategic and economic landscape for us as far as our choices in water is concerned.’
The new facility uses a reverse osmosis process to remove the salt and other impurities in seawater.
Singapore’s water demand is expected to double by 2060. Then, 50 per cent of its needs will be met by Newater, 30 per cent from desalination and 20 per cent from local catchment areas, said Dr Balakrishnan.
Currently, up to 60 per cent of Singapore’s water is provided for by local catchment areas and imports from Malaysia, 10 per cent from seawater and 30 per cent from Newater.
Singapore, he said, was likely to build a third desalination plant to meet water needs. But he was quick to add that ‘we don’t want to overbuild either’.
‘There’s a cost… associated with building up the capacity, so we will do this judiciously and carefully… this is a long-term plan,’ he told reporters.
One innovative feature of the new plant is that it is co-located with a combined cycle gas turbine power plant, which will supply the power for the desalination process.
Hyflux chief executive Olivia Lum said this has enabled higher efficiency and savings on the costs of water production.
The ground-breaking ceremony was a key event at the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW), an annual gathering of water experts and leaders from across the world.
But the highlight yesterday was a dialogue with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – a new segment at this year’s SIWW.
During the hour-long session attended by some 1,500 delegates, he took more than 10 questions, ranging from Singapore’s water management strategy to how the Republic can help other countries.
Outlining Singapore’s thinking on water issues, he said the Government started off with the approach that water is ‘not just an economic problem’, but a ‘strategic necessity’.
He went on to talk about how achieving self-sufficiency is important, with the first water agreement with Malaysia expiring soon, and the second one ending in 2061.
For instance, the Government was also quick to invest in technologies such as desalination, when it became affordable to do so. It has also explored other sources, such as Newater.
New approaches are also being tried out, Mr Lee said. This includes a variable salinity plant, a technology pioneered by national water agency PUB, which allows flexible treatment of both brackish and seawater according to salt content.
While there are ‘no magic solutions’ to solving water problems, Mr Lee said such efforts will be a big boost. He said: ‘By 2061, I’m confident that we’ll be able to be self-sufficient.’
Capping yesterday’s events, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew handed out the Water Prize to Dr James Barnard, 75, for his work in recycling used water.
This article originally appeared in The Straits Times.
MP4SLS AND EXPLOIT TECHNOLOGIES SIGNING CEREMONY
Singapore, 31 May 2011 - A signing ceremony between MP4SLS Pte Ltd (MP4SLS) and Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd (ETPL) took place in the ETPL Board Room. MP4SLS secured an exclusive license for network adaptive audio streaming technologies from A*STAR ETPL. This event took pole position as the first spin-off of the current financial year, marking the start of a furore of ground-breaking events to occur in FY2011. MP4SLS is the latest and 39th spin-off of A*STAR portfolio company since 2002.
The ceremony began with the signing of Licensing Agreement between Ms. Woo Kwai Merng, Executive Vice President of ETPL and Mr. Frankie Tan, CEO of MP4SLS Pte Ltd.
(Left to right: Ms Zheng Hui Fen, Legal Counsel, A*STAR Legal division; Ms Woo Kwai Merng, Executive Vice President, ETPL; Mr. Teo Poh Heng, Assistant Vice President, ETPL (standing); Mr. Frankie Tan, CEO, MP4SLS Pte Ltd; Mr. Tan Tong Guan, Executive Director, Tan Gee Beng Pte Ltd; Dato' Tan Cheng Chow, Chairman, Tan Gee Beng Group of Companies)
Signing ceremony marking the start for commercialisation of MPEG-4 SLS.
(Left to right: Mr. Anand Govindaluri, Senior Vice President, ETPL; Mr Philip Lim, Chief Executive, ETPL; Mr. Frankie Tan, CEO, MP4SLS Pte Ltd; Mr. Tan Tong Guan, Executive Director, Tan Gee Bang Pte Ltd; Date' Tan Cheng Chow, Chairman, Tan Gee Bang Group of Companies)
Mobile cloud music services can be generally split into four categories: on-demand streaming, internet radio, locker services and music recommendation and discovery services. As a business concept, they have their highest value proposition in convenience and improved portability of music services. Other key market drivers include growing smart-phone penetration, cross-platform usage, social networking, third party partnerships, such as, value-added services for carriers and involvement by Apple, Google, HP and Sony (bringing increased consumer education).
According to ABI Research, global mobile music subscription revenues in 2011 will total $403.6 million. In 2016, the revenue base will amount to $7.3 billion, representing a CAGR of 78.5% for the period.
In term of customers, the worldwide subscriber base count will reach 5.8 million by the end of 2011. In 2016, the number of subscribers will total 161 million, implying a CAGR of 94%.
The emergence of MPEG-4 Scalable to Lossless audio coding standard provided an opportunity to more effectively stream music over internet IP networks. The scalable to lossless audio format allows digital music to scale from low bit-rate to lossless quality audio over a wide range of intermediate bit rate representations. A*STAR, in contributing research and development to MPEG-4 scalable to lossless audio coding, has enabled quality of music service and quality of entertainment experience levels far surpassing current streaming performance benchmarks based on legacy MP3, AAC or WMA coding technologies. These improvements are necessary; in fact, essential for mobile cloud-based music services because paid-for music offerings compete with other forms of entertainment, so the value proposition must be high enough to justify the subscription fee.
Frankie Tan, Chief Executive Officer of MP4SLS Pte Ltd, expressed heartfelt appreciation to A*STAR, in particular, the research scientists and engineers in the Signal Process Department of Institute for Infocomm Research, I2R, ETPL officers and A*STAR Legal division for their involvement. He also expressed sincere gratitude to SPRING TECS and his investors, advisors, business partners and team for making this venture possible. In closing, on behalf of the team, Frankie pledged to his best to make the spin-off a success.
The major contributors to the making of MP4SLS Pte Ltd
AMORE PACIFIC RCA SIGNING CEREMONY
Singapore, 20 April 2011 - An international team led by Dr Bruno Reversade from A*STAR's Institute of Medical Biology published, in Nature Genetics 2009, the discovery that mutations in the PYCR1 gene is causative to a rare genetic condition which results in premature skin ageing, also known as the "wrinkly skin syndrome". These findings provide insight into how specific genes are instrumental in maintaining skin youthfulness.
This discovery has roused the interest of the largest cosmetics company in Korea, AMOREPACIFIC Corporation. Founded in 1932, Seoul-based AMOREPACIFIC is ranked among the top 20 international cosmetic organizations and achieved revenues of US$ 20 billion in 2010. Actively involved in skin-care research, AMOREPACIFIC has identified PYCR1 as an important target for skin-care.
An agreement signing ceremony was held on the 20th of April 2011 between AMOREPACIFIC Corporation and A*STAR institutes, Institute of Medical Biology and Experimental Therapeutics Centre, to facilitate a collaboration to develop PYCR1 targeted skin-care, a project that is co-funded by Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd, the commercial arm of A*STAR.
SINGAPORE RANKS 2ND IN TECHNOLOGY USAGE
Singapore, 14 April 2011 - Singapore is almost as technologically capable as the United States, according to a report released by the World Economic Forum and INSEAD on Tuesday in New York.
Singapore jumped to the 2nd position in the Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011. The report measures economies' "preparedness" to use technology effectively.
Sweden and Singapore continued to dominate the list, followed by Finland, which jumped three places from its ranking last year to become No. 3. Switzerland and United States hold stable at positions four and five respectively.
China, which was at 59th position five years ago and is currently at position 36, has continued to move up. The countries are ranked by how conducive their economy is to information technology industries. Items such as business-friendly laws, education levels, and penetration of technology are evaluated, among others. Each country is assigned a Networked Readiness Index (NRI).
According to an expert, this year's findings were a testament to the efforts that the Nordic and Asian countries were putting into information and communication technology development.
FXMEDIA INTERNET LICENSES A*STAR TECHNOLOGY - 3D FACE MODELING
 
Singapore, 13 April 2011 - Founded in 1994, FXMedia Internet specializes in Online Marketing and Web-Based Applications (WEBAPP) for corporate enterprises and government agencies. With its initial roots in multimedia design and interactive media development, the company has since grown steadily and now boasts a client list that contains numerous international and local brands.
A signing ceremony was held on 13 April 2011 between FXMedia Internet and Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd , the marketing and commercialisation arm of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), to license the 3D Face Modeling software developed by the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R).
3D Face Modeling is a novel method for generating varied, realistic geometric face models by synthesizing facial features according to anthropometric parameters. Our method processes a front photograph of a human face and rapidly returns a high density 3D object complete with textures derived from the photo. This 3D object can also be further edited using off-the-shelf 3D editing software. This technology is now being tested on various platforms to facilitate easy adoption by the industry.
"We are delighted to work with Exploit Technologies and the Institute for Infocomm Research to leverage the 3D Face Modeling technology to develop innovative e-greeting card solutions." said Mr. Mark Wong, Director of FXMedia Internet Pte Ltd.
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