Show Notes
Filmed at the A5X Conference, Singapore - This interview forms part of a wider series we filmed in collaboration with NUSX, who invited us to Singapore to speak with founders, investors and academics from across the globe about shared challenges, the developing bridge between Europe and Asia, and the lessons we can learn from each other.
In this conversation, we sit down with Professor Benjamin Tee, Vice President (Ecosystem Building) at NUSX, for a look inside the university's lab-to-market engine and NUS's push to build globally competitive DeepTech spin-outs.
Prof. Tee has lived both sides of this world: as a researcher pushing new technologies forward - including years developing electronic skin and sensors that give machines a sense of touch - and as a founder trying to turn those ideas into companies. He shares what entrepreneurship taught him that academia couldn't, and how he decides whether breakthrough research should stay in the lab or has the potential to become a real company.
With physical AI drawing increasing attention as AI moves into robotics and the physical world, Prof. Tee explains where the biggest opportunities lie over the next few years - and what working so close to the research frontier has taught him about how long DeepTech really takes to reach the market.
Finally, we discuss what typically stops university spin-outs from reaching global scale, and what is still left to be done in the Singaporean innovation ecosystem.
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This is a special two-part addition, building on the back of the A5X conference series we published last week. Since the EU-Startups team could only stay for part of the event, we missed the Singapore Defence Tech Hackathon in person - so we're bringing it to you in a slightly different format. Instead of our usual deep-dive conversations, we sat down with the winners to hear how they built their projects and where they're heading next.