Nest Garage

volume1

2018.12

Cambrian Explosionof Knowledge
Featured Topic 1
Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference
Where knowledge creation explodes
Featured Topic 2
Human Resource Development
The Frontline of Human Resource
Development with Leave a Nest
Featured Topic 3
TECH PLANTER Southeast Asia
The Most Unique Platform Connecting
Real-Tech Ecosystem Globally1

Table of Contents
Featured topic 1 Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference 3-18
~Where knowledge creation explodes~

4-5
Value creation from Hyper-Interdisciplinarity causes knowledge explosion
6-7	Connect to the unmet people, passion and technology!
8th Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference 2019 in Japan8
How to enjoy HIC Japan 2019
Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference comes to Asia
10-11
About Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference in Malaysia
12
Malaysia at the Forefront of Global Halal Industry
13
Check it out the list of startups in halal industry!
14-15
About Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Singapore
16-17
A Novel (But Still Experimental) Session to Implement Your Idea to Our Society
18JAPAN REAL-TECH STARTUP ECOSYSTEM TOUR

Featured topic 2 Human Resource Development 19-28~The Frontline of Human Resource Development with Leave a Nest~
20-21 Principle of Bridge Communication to Create New Value in the World
22-23	Principles to an Innovative Work Culture
Science Castle
24
About Science Castle
25
Science Castle in Malaysia 2018
Career Discovery Forum
26-27
About Career Discovery Forum and event in Japan 201828
Career Discovery Forum in Singapore 2019

Featured topic 3 TECH PLANTER Southeast Asia 29-50~The Most Unique Platform Connecting Real-Tech Ecosystem Globally~
30-31
32-33

Trailblazing the path for promising ASEAN startups
Leave a Nest footprints in Southeast Asia countries
TECH PLANTER Southeast Asia 2019 Season
34
TECH PLANTER in Indonesia
35
2018 Grand Winner Article: CV Indobot
36
TECH PLANTER in the Philippines37	2018 Grand Winner Article: QPro Tech Phils., Inc. (To be Registered)
38
TECH PLANTER in Vietnam
392018 Grand Winner Article: Advanced Water Treatment
40
TECH PLANTER in Thailand
41
2018 Grand Winner Article: iVET
42
TECH PLANTER in Malaysia
43
2018 Grand Winner Article: Future Excel PLT. Ltd.
44
TECH PLANTER in Singapore
452018 Grand Winner Article: NDR Medical Technology
46-47 Spotlight to Road of Success For TECH PLANTER Members
48-49	Pursuing a Sustainability Path to Open the Doorways for Southeast Asia’s Future throughResearch
50
Tide to Japan. Potential for ASEAN startups’ success
51

LEAVE A NEST ASIA IS HIRING NEW MEMBERS AND INTERNSHIP STUDENTS!

Chief Editor’s Message

2018.12 *01

Staff
Issuer:Leave a Nest Singapore Pte.
Ltd.
(201026851H)
Chief Editor:
Shohei Michael Maekawa
Editor:Kihoko Tokue
Satomi Maeda
Ryuta Takeda
Nami Akinaga
Abdul Hakim Sahidi
Writer:Tsuyoshi Inoue
Izumi Dateyama
Fatin Ilyani
Idarahayu Ayob
Marshila Kaha
Elizabeth Wee
Kevin Ng
Jeremy Lim
Kouichi Maki
Designer:Yu Ikegaya
Printing company:
Shoei Printing Co., Ltd.

Importance towards interdisciplinary research has been recognized widely. But now, way of thinking towards “HyperInterdisciplinary” collaboration is starting to flourish around the world. Exploding creation of new knowledges may solve
different global issues and drive our lifestyle one more step forward. We believe that creation of new knowledge occur not only
from academia but from merging ideas from diverse players. This time, we renamed our magazine to “Nest Garage”, where we
define word “Nest” as nurturing of human resources and “Garage” as technology part. We believe merging of these two focus
points is important for new knowledge to be created. Now, explosion of knowledge is about to come. As if the night before
Cambrian explosion. (Shohei Michael Maekawa)2

Whereknowledge creation
explodes!
3

Value creation from
Hyper-Interdisciplinarity causes
knowledge explosion
Academic conference, originates from the Royal Society ofUnited Kingdom in the 17th century. It has become a place fordiscussion by those pursuing academics and research. Academic
conferences which were the starting point of development ofscience and technology now faces dilemma. Diversificationof the field has increased the number of specialists thoughcommunication across field were sometimes limited to justgiving and receiving information. World famous Albert
Einstein once mentioned “Information is not knowledge” , butthen how can we really create knowledge? What purpose should
we use those knowledge for? Dr. Hiroyuki Takahashi, directorof Institute of Innovation & Knowledge of Leave a Nest Co.,
Ltd., thinks that answer to this lies in Hyper-Interdisciplinary
Conference (HIC). We would like to ask Dr. Takahashi, more
about how this may be a solution.

Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference is a place forcreating seeds of innovation
Various participants from academia, large corporations, small
and medium enterprises (SMEs), startups, primary producers,
even middle and high school students gather to HIC.
Here, professionals who have state-of-the-art knowledge ortechnology, people who are eager to solve social problems andtechnical issues by any means, and those who are passionate
about research or business gathers to create seeds for new
research or business idea and seek for partners who may join in
to your project. Hence in HIC, background of field, nationality
and age of participants are not limited. In order for HIC to bea place to create new values and​​knowledge with regardlessof their background, presence of communicator is inevitable.
Leave a Nest members plays the role as science bridge
communicator, who correctly understands the technology but
also knowing demands or needs that participants have andconnecting with those who may team up to solve problems.
In other words, Leave a Nest communicator act as a catalyst
for fusion of different fields. For example, a researcher, who
is working on chemotherapy, wants to develop a device withnew method for delivery. In such case, the communicator willtake you to potential discussion partners, such as SME that isgood at microfabrication of metal, a startup capable of making
a needle of fine biodegradable resin and a large company thatis interested in commercializing the technology. From this, Dr.
Takahashi’s first message is that,“ ‘If you are stuck, Get a holdof the communicator’ is golden rule for HIC. I have always
kept hyper-interdisciplinary way of thinking and tried to be a4

Dr. Hiroyuki Takahashi, Director of Institute of Innovation &Knowledge

communicator to connect and create through many projects.”

Continuation is the key to shaping ideas
practically
The philosophy of Hyper-Interdisciplinary began withthe predecessor gathering named Hyper-Interdisciplinary
workshop that started in 2008. At that time, only members
from Leave a Nest were participants. But after renaming theactivity to HIC in 2012, the variety and number of participants
has increased year by year. In recent years, several interesting
projects have been born and making a leap forward from HIC.
The first example is project called TECH PUSH. This projectuses the hidden IP from large corporates as a theme, it explores
new possibility of business by adding new perspectives fromacademia, students and SMEs into it. Those who are enthusiastic
about adding own perspective to cause an innovation teamed
up and through months of discussion, they have presented theiridea at HIC in 2018. Not only Japan but this project has madeits expansion to Singapore as well, and some of the ideas fromTECH PUSH is now on its way for industrial collaboration
to implement them into the society. The second example isDevelopment of Seabed Exploring Technology (DeSET)
Project. In collaboration with “The Nippon Foundation” whoNew Projects
started from HIC
2002

Other Projects

LNest Grant
was founded

2015

2018

2017

2019
Malaysia
Singapore

2014
TECH PLANTER
was organizedHistory of Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference

established a magnificent international project "Seabed 2030"
which is to complete a map of seabed by 2030, DeSET project
started. In this project, researchers, SMEs and startups teamed
up to develop innovative technologies that may dramaticallyaccelerate the creation of topographic maps of ocean floor
with resolution within 100 m. From each team’s presentation
at HIC 2018, project accelerated by formation of new researchteams, conducting demonstration experiment in a sea near
Japan, and attendance to the international conference, GEBCO
symposium in 2018.
Dr. Takahashi points out, “The idea originating from
communication between different fields should not end as it
is. We have continued providing the opportunity and place to
incubate ideas to produce actual projects”.

Realizing the deepening of knowledge andpractical approach
Activities to create knowledge have continued and willcontinue too. The theme of 8th HIC held in March 2019 willbe "Rewiring beyond time, space, and five sense". Recently,
the temporal and spatial limitations which bound us isgradually decreasing due to the development of preservationand communication technology. Furthermore, our sense has
been studied scientifically by multimodal and crossmodal
research that integrate our sense. How will our lives andways of thinking change in the future when these science andtechnology will develop further? At the moment sessions areorganised to discuss both practical and visonaly ideas relating
to the conference theme. Dr. Takahashi expresses his thought
about who this conference might be most interesting this time.
"We are looking forward to see data scientists who accumulate,integrate and analyze research data in various fields and those
who specialize in human computer interaction. In particular,
I believe that something new should be created throughdiscussions with people who they usually not meet, such as
SMEs with great manufacturing technologies and the primary
producers".

Real-Tech Venture of the year
(TECH PLANTER winner) join
Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference

2008

2012

LNest Grant winners join
Hyper-Interdisciplinary Workshop

HyperHyperInterdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary Workshop
Conference

2011

MasudaOsaka
Okinawa
Hyper-Interdisciplinary Forum

Now, HIC is expanding. In 2018, local conferences wereconducted in following three cities with following topic:
Masuda (The cooperation among medicine, food andagriculture and the model of compact city by technologicalinnovation), Osaka (Expanding the world of healthcare),
Okinawa (Bridging agricultural science and technology from
Okinawa to Southeast Asia). It is important to set the theme thatfits well to background and current situation of each area. Also
it is important to accomplish the consistent purpose of HIC
to create new academic field and lead to practical movement
to solve issues specific to that area. Beyond the border, HIC
will now land to Singapore and Malaysia in 2019 to pursue
unknown challenges and enthusiasm.

“Researchers” are the ones to accelerate knowledge
manufacturing in future
Dr. Takahashi stated his point of view about our future throughdevelopment of HIC. “We may be now living in the era where
it is becoming necessary to form a group of researchers tointegrate each idea for advancement of research. What will weneed to do in this situation? I feel that we need to understandthe problem more, involve people and continuing approach tosolve the problem. There is no need at all to stick in university
to be a researcher. Imagine if there are more people who are
open minded to approach to local and/or global issues on theearth. Then, our world should become more interesting”.
Starting from HIC, more people may connect to those who
sympathise with their passion and discuss among them, to turninformation into knowledge. From this, expansion of HIC willcause explosive increase of knowledge, generating new research
and we may see the world with full of innovation in near future.
Everyone who has strong passion to resolve challenges you havein your mind, join in and BE HYPER-INTERDISCIPLINARY!
(Text by Tsuyoshi Inoue)

5

Connect to the unmet people, passion and technology!

The 8th Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference
will be held on 8-9th March, 2019 in Tokyo.
Followed by our success in Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference 2018 in Tokyo, we will be conducting our 8th

Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference in 2019. Just as our previous conference, we will be welcoming specialist
from wide range of fields, ranging from academia, startups, engineer, large corporates, middle school highschool students and more. All of these members will meet and discuss to create new knowledge from here that
may change the world or solve social issues.

In our 8th conference, we will focus on discussing what will start to happen by connecting different thingsby new technologies. For example, connection from the advancement of AI technology, spread of IoT anddistribution technology like drone will create numerous new business and solutions. Hence this times, keyword
is "connect". There will be several themes that we will focus during the conference such as primary industry,

secondary industry, lifestyle, mental health, health care, and so on. Please visit the 8th Hyper Interdisciplinary
Conference and “connect” yourself!

Conference theme:
Rewiring beyond time, space, and five sense.
Overview

Keywords

Date and time
Day 1 Friday, 8th March 2019 / 9:00 – 18:00
Day 2 Saturday, 9th March 2019 / 9:00 – 18:00
Venue

Bellesalle Shinjuku Grand Floor #5
Conference Center

Nishi-shinjuku 8-17-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Conference theme

Rewiring beyond time, space, and five sense.
URL

https://hic.lne.st/conference/8th-hic-en/
6

Register forparticipationfrom here

Schedule

Venue Map

9:00

10:00 - 11:50
TECH PLANTER World
11:00 Communication
10:00

12:00

12:00 - 12:50

10:00
Exhibition and poster
booth for researcher
and venture
Lunch / Networking

Each Session RoomSocialGathering

13:00 - 14:30
Panel Discussion
14:00 The Futer of Deep-tech

Poster Session

Main Hall

13:00

14:40 - 16:10
15:00
Food tech session
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00

16:20 - 17:50
Real Tech Ventureof the Year
18:30 - 20:00

Japanese International
VentureVenture
Booth
Booth

14:40 - 16:20
Core time: Venture /Researcher Booth
WC

EV

WC

EV

EV

WC

Praying
Room

Social gathering @Foyer

Featured Sessions

Gathering of world changing Tech ventures~TECH PLANTER World Communication~
Among all the finalists of TECH PLANTERs held inUnited States, Europe and Asia regions, Several teams
will be selected to join this session. They will present us
about their Question, Passion and unique technology
to solve those Questions. We cannot miss what kind of
future they will show us!

Where technology takes us next?
~Hyper Deep Technology, near future of deep-tech~
After the tide of IT, deep tech has been an interest allover the world. However, if commodification of deep
tech is thought to come gradually, how will deep techkeep its deepness? In this session, VIP players who has
devoted in current deep-tech ecosystem in the world
will discuss the future of deep-tech.

Presenting teams from the world at TECH PLANTER World Communication
Region / Country

Team

Asia/Singapore

NDR Medical Technology (Grand Winner, TECH PLANTER in Singapore)

Asia/Singapore

Fytosol (Mitsui Chemical Award, TECH PLANTER in Singapore)

Asia/Thailand

iVET (Grand Winner and JT Award, TECH PLANTER in Thailand)

USA/Boston

embr labs Inc.(Grand Winner, TECH PLANTER in Boston)

USA/San Francisco

Raydiant Oximetry (Grand Winner, TECH PLANTER in San Francisco)

USA/San Francisco

OneSkin (Leave a Nest Award, TECH PLANTER in San Francisco)

Europe/UK

InfiGear (Grand Winner, TECH PLANTER in UK)

Europe/UK

Remora Marine (Kobashi Award, TECH PLANTER in UK)

Japan

Theranospharma (Grand Winner and Suntory Award, Biotech GP in Japan)

Japan

Happy Moss (Grand Winner and Yanmar Award, Agritech GP in Japan)
7How to Enjoy HIC JP 2019
~Road to accelarate your idea!!!~9:30 Arrive at HIC venue
Belle Salle Shinj uku Grand

Le t ’s begin HIC!

10:00 -17:50 (Whole day)Don ’t miss World Sess ions !!!
What is the tech trend of the world?

Enjoy Lunch

12:00 -14:30
Find seeds and needs and add yourideas at the poster session!!
World Session goes on...

18:30-20:00

Stay for the Networking Party!
Find your buddy! Deepen your thoughts!
Start next projects!

Tip to maximize your HIC experience

Check out HIC abstract. It has icons on the top. They show what the presenters are expecting to find at HIC andthey are missing. Learn their status and start the discussion more effectively!

8

What a presenter
Wanted> expects to getfrom audience

Ideas fromdifferent
perspectives

Places to test the
research findings
for practicalapplication

Partners forcollaborating
researchPartners who
may usethe technology

Missing> What is missing

Humanresource

Equipment/materials

Research
fund

Information

Theme:Intersection of Culture and Technology

in Halal Industry

Comes to Asia!

Theme:

Smart Nation

9

Intersection of Culture and Technology

in Halal Industry

Malaysia is globally recognized as a progressive and politically stable muslim country. It has the potential inestablishing a global hub in halal production, logistics and trade. According to Global Islamic Economy report
2017/2018, Malaysia continues to lead the Global Islamic Economy Indicator for the fifth years in a row.

Today, the demand for halal certified products continues to grow as the global Muslim population also rising
accordingly. It is estimated that 26.4 per cent of the global population is expected to be Muslims by 2030.

HALAL, is an Arabic word that exclusively used in Islam which means permitted, lawful, hygiene, purity andhealthy. As we know, Southeast asia countries including Malaysia are multi-cultural complexion and different

cultures have different belief or perspective, therefore it influencing the purchasing trends too. However, Halal
not only referring to Muslims but its now accepted as a quality system to non-Muslims as well.

The 1st Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference in Malaysia 2019 aims to bring together leading academic scientist,

researchers, corporations, government agencies, startups, educators as well as school students to exchange
and share their research and expertise on all aspects and creating a novel body of knowledge. It also provides

an interdisciplinary platform to discuss the most recent trends, innovations, concerns and practical challenges

encountered and solution endorse in the field of culture, food, pharmaceuticals, and technology specifically in
Halal industry.

Malaysia

Date

19th Jan 2019

Theme

Time

10am - 5pm‘Intersection of Culture andTechnology in Halal Industry’

Venue
Highlighted
Content

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur•P lenary Speaker• Panel Discussion• Exhibition• Startups Pitching

Scan here to register as audience
10

Register as exhibitor
http://bit.ly/posterexhibitor_HIC

Keynote speaker
My Conceptual Robotics Sdn. Bhd. (MyCRO) is one of the successful startups fromTECH PLANTER program. They are the runner-up winner of TECH PLAN GRAND
PRIX 2015 (which rebranded to TECH PLAN DEMO DAY). Since their participationin TECH PLANTER, they involved with a lot of Leave a Nest program including

participating as a presenter in Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference Japan 2018. At
HIC Malaysia 2019, Mr.Darween Reza Sabri as the CEO of MyCRO will share about
Mr.Darween Reza, Founder & CEO,My Conceptual Robotics Sdn Bhd(MyCRO)

their precious experience in HIC Japan and how they engaged with Japanese
partners through Leave a Nest’s supporting platform.

Topics Covered in HIC Malaysia 2019
When we talked about halal industry, the first things that came up in our minds is ‘food’. Halal industry not only
referring to food sector only but its now expanding to pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, health products, services
such as logistics, packaging as well as financing. Here is the 3 rising sectors in halal industry that will covered in
HIC in Malaysia. Take a look!.

Food

Halal products and food are essential component of the Muslim identity. Thus,
halal certification has become as a substantial force in the Muslim minority
countries and multicultural countries with Muslim communities. In Malaysia, thecertification of halal food has been conducted throughout the country since 1982
by the Department of Islamic Development of Malaysia (JAKIM) and Malaysia is thefirst country that assigned government agencies to regulate halal matters. With
expected increasing in muslim population and awareness of halal food from thenon-muslim, the future of halal food industry is strong. Multinational corporationsuch as Nestle, Coca-Cola, F&N make Malaysia as a halal centre of excellence.

Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics

The global increase in Muslim population and purchasing power has created a
new demand for halal cosmetic product development. Cosmetics and personal
could be referred to products that are applied to the human body for cleansing,
beautifying, promoting attractiveness and altering appearances (USA Food, Drugand Cosmetic Act, 2012). Differing from the conventional product line, the halalcosmetic brands do not contain porcine-by products and their derivatives aswell as alcohol (Hashim and Mat Hashim 2013). They should be manufactured,stored, packaged and distributed according to Islamic teaching. The halal beauty
products are also recognised as clean, safe and of high quality. It also embraces
the safety of the product making products natural and eco-ethical from all aspects
and increases product efficacy that’s why non-Muslims also prefer halal products.

Technology

As the world shifting to the internet of thing (IoT), demanding on high technology
also increasing for Halal industry. Halal industry also now shifting to IoT to
implement smart logistics for examples in halal product stored, automationof slaughtering and accessibility of far greater amounts of data as well as halal
integrity of the global food safety distribution of better known as food chain.

11

Malaysia at the Forefront of Global Halal Industry
W

orld’s Muslim population is increasing and is known
to become the major religion by the year 2070. With

increasing demand for halal philosophy towards the Islamic
society, now the range of halal industries are starting to bloom.
We talked to Dato’ Seri Jamil Bidin, Chief Executive Officer ofHalal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) of Malaysia
to learn more about the potential of the halal industry and its
current aspirations.

Halal industry as a promising pillar that pushes the country’s
economyMalaysia’s economy continues to develop, as being one of the
top runners in Southeast Asia. It’s economy is particularly strong
in product export by high-tech industries. In 2006, for country’s
further economic growth, the government outlined following 15
year’s strategies in the Third Industrial Master Plan. In the same
year, foreseeing the potential of halal business as a promising
economic pillar, the government established HDC. HDC
offers those involved in halal business, such as manufactures,
researchers, and retailers, all necessary assistance. So what
potential does it see in the world economy? “When people talkabout halal, it is always within the context of religion. Yet halalalso contribute significantly to our country’s economy”, said
Dato’ Seri Jamil. Every Muslim need to eat and use halal products
as required by the religion, thus creating considerable economic
demand. With the worldwide Muslim population reaching 1.8
billion this year, the demand is ever more increasing. “Malaysia
sees this as an economic opportunity to become one of thebiggest suppliers of the global halal industry”, he continues.

Halal concept for all
The country is ready for an action, it seems. However, there
are obstacles yet to overcome. One exists much closer than we
imagine. It’s inside of us. “One of the challenges is to change‘awareness’ among the consumers including Muslim”, Dato’ Seri
Jamil points out. It is a widespread consensus that halal only
applies to meat and non-alcoholic products for Muslim. Indeed
the concept of halal is far more encompassing. “Halal concept
applies not only food, yet to safety, cleanliness, hygiene, andhealth. For instance, the processing of a product from handling,
packaging, labelling, distribution and storage needs to meetthe halal standards. Halal certification process is like the ISO
certification. This is the value given to Muslims and also to nonmuslims consumers that choosing halal quality products.” hesays. As to change the perspective and create an awareness about
Halal, HDC conducted World Halal Conference every year as
12

Dato’ Seri Jamil Bidin
Chief Executive Officer, Halal Industry Development Corporation

the biggest international Halal conference bringing a key player
all around the world to discuss the future of the Halal industry.

Entrepreneurship is the key to successTo nurture Malaysia as a global halal business hub, Dato’ Seri
Jamil’s believes the key is to strengthen human capital in theindustry with a special emphasis on entrepreneurship. Dato’ Seri
Jamil also raised the lacking of Muslims who want to become
suppliers as they tend to become consumers. “As a Muslim, weare the one that knows better about the halal products so weshould step up to become the supplier in the halal market”, Dato’
Seri Jamil states. To support the existing halal companies andthose who consider starting one, HDC offers comprehensive
arrays of training programs and information seminars including
its concept and methods. This approach will not only be
supporting human capital development but also lead to create
more employment in Malaysia. The government will continue
to increase investments in the halal industry to be the leading
contributor to the halal industry. Dato’ Seri Jamil and HDC willcontinue to strive for supporting more halal business for the
Muslims and non-Muslims customers around the world!
(Text by Marshila Binti Kaha)Check it out the list of startups
in halal industry!
Biotrampil PLT

SecuraLips PLT

Biotrampil PLT is a foodtechnology company from
Malaysia that aims to makehealthyeatingsimple,accessible and palatable.
Their focus is to have adelicious plant based foodwith the exotic jackfruit
being the main 'star' in
their proprietary products.
They are starting with plant
based burger patties - a disheverybody loves - and makeit something people canenjoy everyday, guilt free.
They are staying away fromsoy and gluten, ingredientsthat are prevalent in the plant
based food products todaythat can disrupt consumers'
health. They are now looking

SecuraLips was established
in
2018.
Its
products,
SecuraKLEUR – a natural
biocolourants comprise ofred, purple and yellowish
orange pigment that can be
manipulate to produce morecolours. This locally produced
biocolourants can be used
to replace existing toxic
colourants, thus eliminating
its hazardous effects towards
consumer. The biocolourants
possess
antibacterial andantioxidants properties which
can act both as colourants aswell as natural preservative
for the product. Anothergreat advantage of thisbiocolourants is its compliancewith halal certification for safe

developing
more
plant
based products in familiar
forms - ready-to-cook suchas sausages and nuggets
and ready-to-eat meals suchas lasagna, sandwiches andpuffs.

and non-hazardous product.
Therefore, this biocolourants
is suitable for any colour
related industry such as
cosmetics, textile, paint, food,polymer, pharmaceutical aswell as health care industry.

Lipidware Sdn. Bhd.

Lignas Bio Synergy PLT

Lipidware Sdn Bhd specializes
in lipid technology and naturalfunctional ingredients with thecore interest to keep abreast withcurrent trends to accommodate
the commercial needs in food,cosmeceutical and skincare
industry. Having a solidbackground in Biotechnology,
Food Technology and Herbs,
the team is able to developinternational standard products
for various such industries. The
company is a heavy weight
when it comes to intellectual
properties
androprietary
techniquesofproduction
but manufactures using an
asset light approach throughreputable companies that in
the vicinity of Klang Valley. This

Incorporated in 2017, Nahlah
Salwana Sanusi and Nas Atira
Salwana Nabil founded thisstart-up company aiming tobe the leading producer andsupplier of the Tiger Milk
Mushroom based products.
Regardedas
Malaysia’snational treasure, Tiger Milk
Mushroom, is now able
to be cultivated in largescale. Currently, Lignas iscollaborating
with
local
universities
toconduct
further research on thebenefits of this medicinal
mushroom to human health.
Several key research areas
have been identified suchas; Effects on learning andmemory, Effects on aging,allows Lipidware to concentrateon the high-value added
products without the burden of
expensive infrastructure.

Fibrinolytic activities, andNerve regeneration. Lignas
has also awarded with JT
Award during the last roundof the TECH PLAN Demo Day
in Malaysia 2018.

13

Solving global urban challenges
Many major cities in first world countries face similar concerns: rapid urbanisation, changing population
demographics with low birth rates and a rising aging populace and the wastage of food and water amongst
others. These challenges are not unique to the country of Singapore and extends to other developed countries
like Japan, South Korea and China.
Singapore in the recent years has started to embrace a new government initiated movement by the name of“Smart Nation” - a purposeful push towards a cashless and technologically embracing country. This movement
seeks to utilize next generational technologies to transform Singapore into a city that integrates the use of big
data and information technology for everyday use.
HIC Singapore 2019 will be bringing in key industrial leaders and researchers from all over Singapore to share
their wealth of knowledge and expertise in solving some of the global urban challenges that many first world
countries face. Some of the key issues that will be talked about includes next generational functional foods tosolve health problems, cheaper and more efficient ways to produce drinkable water, ways to transform big datafor intelligent use and smart home care for the elderly. This conference will be a key step to develop insights andbusiness contacts to solve different global urban challenges that different countries face.

SingaporeDate

16th Feb 2019

ThemesTime

9am - 5.30pm‘Information Technology,
Food & Water Tech and Smart
Technology’

Venue
Highlighted
Content

Suntec Singapore International Convention
and Exhibition Centre
Big data, artificial technology, next
generation food and water technology,
smart home technology

Scan here to register as audience
14

Register as exhibitor
https://goo.gl/forms/
NxZF8mbMVkMpMoe62

Keynote Speaker
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) associate professor Sun Delai Darren,
is the co-founder of the company Nanosun which manufactures a wide rangeof multifunctional nano composite membranes for removing micropollutantsfrom drinking water, water reuse and desalination pre-treatment. Nanosun is
the first company in the world to utilise 3D printing to manufacture membranes;

decreasing manufacturing cost, utilizing less land space and requiring lessmanpower to operate. Because of the incorporation of nano materials into it’s
Associate Professor Sun Delai
Darren, Nanyang Technological
University (NTU)

membrane, it possesses multifunctional features such as antifouling through selfcleaning, disinfection and degradation of organic pollutants. Associate professor
Darren Sun also holds visiting Professorship at Shandong University, PR China. He

is a Chair for International Water Associate (IWA) Specialist Group on Chemical
Industries and Associate Editor for Water Science and Technology.

Topics Covered in HIC Singapore 2019
The themes of HIC Singapore 2019 revolves around solving the challenges that urbanised cities face around theworld. The handpicked speakers are chosen because they offer an unique insight to tackle the different business
opportunities around the urbanised world.

Information Technology

With the bloom of smartphones, machine learning and cashless transactions,information technology has become more and more ingrained in human society.
Beyond day to day use, many companies have started to turn towards artificial
intelligence and big data to simplify work task and understand unseen trends.
The utilisation of both artificial intelligence and big data will allow your company
to become more efficient and capitalise on new ways to transform your business.
In HIC Singapore 2019, key industrial players in the big data and AI industries will
be giving sharing insights in this area.

Next Generation food and water technology

Food and water are essentials to any society on earth. Most developed cities havegood logistical planning to obtain safe food and water sources. However, with the
influx of people into urbanised areas, there is an increased need for better foodand water technology. This includes creating functional foods and cheaper andmore efficient ways to obtain drinkable water. This conference will be gathering
innovators in the food and water industry to share their latest technology increating the next generation of foods and water.

Smart Technology

Tangible innovations have made many advancements over the years - with many
innovations stemming from new functions and the usage of materials with desired
properties to enhance current technologies. These deep tech changes haveaccumulated to many societal paradigm changing eras such as the industrial
revolution in the 18th and 19th century. In this modern 21st century, HIC Singapore
2019 is showcasing deep tech innovators who are pushing the boundaries of what
it means to innovate and change the lives of the next generation.

15

A Novel (But Still Experimental) Se
Some new ideas but not too sure about their applications? Doesn’t know how to bring your technology invention tosociety? Lack of business scheme on how to commercialize your new findings? These are some of the difficulties andchallenges faced by the researchers, startups, young entrepreneurs or even large corporates. Good news for you, TECHSMOOTHIE is exactly what you need.

A snapshot from TECH SMOOTHIE 2018, the main hallBirth of TECH SMOOTHIETECH SMOOTHIE was launched at Singapore in February
2018 as a novel type of meetup that could bring researchers,
startups, and business personnel from large corporates
together. One rule differentiated it from other events. Thatis, participant must bring an idea to talk to others. Not juststartups/researchers express their ideas as you can often
see in a “innovation” showcase event, participants fromlarge corporates also need to show their technology assets.
Collaboration between researchers, startups, and large
corporates might be generated in such way. For example,
one participant can share his/her pure research idea orStrong corporate partners shared their visions

IP, then business personnel can think about how to build
business around it. In other way, business personnel share
his/her assets (such as IPs, network, distribution) for R&D
participants to know more about market.

16

participants were waiting for.
As a result, a hundred participants gathered to challenge
together with us. The event opened with presentations fromWhy “SMOOTHIE”? As a result of conversation among

6 REAL TECH startups. A variety that could not be seen

participants, a variety of ideas (= ingredients), blended andin other event; such as, biotech for skincare, flex sensor,

mixed together, resulting in a new plan to be implemented

drone, aerogel, cell sorting, and image processing. Also, 4

to society (= smoothie recipe). Especially, when participants

Japanese big corporates introduced their core technologies

equipped with different expertises complemented eachfor startups to use. Also, various ideation workshops wereother, we expected to generate delicious blend: Innovation,

conducted to mix all the participants idea. Every participants

Product, Business. This was a bit bold and experimental

freely exchanged his/her idea. It seemed the first TECH

concept, but we expected that would be a style that our

SMOOTHIE was in big success.

ssion to Implement Your Idea to Our Society

Pitches from REAL TECH startups

TECH PUSH to implement technologies toour society
After TECH SMOOTHIE, we developed a program toincubate the ideas to be implemented to society. Leave a
Nest teamed up with Mitsubishi Electric to take the processfurther. That is a program called “TECH PUSH”. Mitsubishi
Electric’s in-house technology IP information were sharedwith Singapore local startup and university & polytechnic
students to design business around it. We ran 4 months
intensive workshop programs to address local challenges
or problem faced by regional countries.
By going through months of brainstorming, conducting
interviews to the key players, surveying the key players,
proof of concept and listening to the needs of consumers.
Participants pitched their proposals and ideas on solving
real-life problems by the end of workshops. Team
SafeHaven from Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
won the grand prize S$3,000 for “Quartz”-a cost effective
sensor that can be used for early Tsunami detection.

A gathering photo after TECH PUSH program

Workshops to ideate how to implement cutting-edge technologies
to our society

Here is the concept of TECH PUSH.

Technology In, Future Out!
TECH PUSH noun /tek pʊʃ/
1.

2.

A program to stimulate business ideas that can solve
current world challenges by bringing cutting-edge
technologies and young talents together.
A novel business design process inspired bytechnologies.

More experimental SMOOTHIE in HIC 2019

In 2018, we developed TECH SMOOTHIE as unique placefor everyone to share, mix, develop his/her idea. Also, we
had successfully developed a program to incubate businessseeds from technologies. Then what’s next? We believe thefunction of TECH SMOOTHIE is to develop & experimenta new flavor that no one experienced. Not only ideation
workshop, and TECH PUSH, we may do matching of large
corporate technology to certain startups.
Now TECH SMOOTHIE was under the umbrella of Hyper
Interdisciplinary Conference in Singapore 2019. Morediverse sessions and participants we expect. With that,2019 ver. of TECH SMOOTHIE session will definitely be
experimental. We will challenge to create a novel process to
implement your idea and technology to society.
TECH SMOOTHIE session will be held in HIC 2019 in
Singapore! Please attend the session if you would liketo experience a novel way of implementing your idea/
technology to society.
(Text by Ryuta Takeda)
17

JAPAN REAL-TECH STARTUP ECOSYSTEM TOUR
6th – 8th MarchJapan attracts many tourists every year. However not only culture, food, and historical temples are the attractiveness of Japan.
Japan‘s technology ecosystem may provide full of business opportunities too. This tour will lower the hurdle of entering tomysterious ecosystem in Japan.

Tour is designed for∙ Government who is interested in learning about Japanese startup ecosystem∙ Startups who is interested to explore market opportunity in Japan∙ Corporate representatives who are interested in open innovation∙ University reserchers and incubators

First Day

Second Day

Third DayAll you need to know about
incubation ecosystem in Tokyo

High-Tech manufacturer. Supporterfor prototyping› Leave a Nest HQ› Super Factories from Itabashi› The University of Tokyo› Garage Sumida / Center of Garage› Tokyo Institute of Technology› AG & FOOD CENTER

Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference
An unique conference where
researchers in different fields gather
to create novel body of knowledge
together with big corporates andstartups.

6th March

7th March

Why should you join?

8th March

For registration∙ In 3 days, you will get good bird's eye view of deep tech ecosystem in Japan.
∙ Chance to get directly connected to Japanese companies, startups andresearchers with support from Leave a Nest.
∙ Leave a Nest will be there to support you to build the network you are looking

Or accesshttps://goo.gl/forms/Dr4Ol049I3SeLfok2

for.

Program Fee 300,000 JPY / 4,000 SGD / 10,000 MYR / 3,000 USD / 2,000 GBP*excluding airfare and accommodation
18

Inquiry:
Leave a Nest Co., Ltd.,
URL
https://en.lne.st/jptour2019/
EMAIL info@lnest.jp
TEL+81-3-5227-4198

The Frontline of

Human Resource
Developmentwith Leave a Nest
Leave a Nest Co., Ltd. has a mission to achieve global happiness by enhancing everyday life
through science and education for future generation. The target of our training programs
includes from young generations to experts to maximize their possibilities. Check out ourunique and exciting challenges and join us to see a whole new world!
19

Principle of Bridge Communication
to Create New Value in the World
Towards achievement of Leave a Nest's vision, Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness, we
propose an innovative communication approach to encourage more people to initiate new things. “Science Bridge
Communication”, is a concept and soft skills to enable people to communicate beyond knowledge borders, createa bridge between different parties to generate new knowledge. We have been applying this principle of Bridge
Communication to achieve sustainable development in the world. In this article, Dr. Kihoko Tokue, Head of Leave a
Nest Asia (Managing Director, Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.) and Mr. Abdul Hakim Bin Sahidi, newly appointed
Director of Leave a Nest Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. will share the essences of bridge communication and how applicable it
can be in the society for everyone.

First step is realizing the gap
Hakim In Malaysia, I’ve seen many students ending withfinding jobs which are not so relevant from what they havestudied in universities. I feel that it is very difficult to pursue
our vision or to find right place to continue our challenge. In
Leave a Nest, we are collaborating with various partners suchas schools, universities, corporates and government agencies
to identify their vision and solve issues in the world together.
Today I’d like to explore how we can share this knowledge
with interested parties?
Kihoko That’s a good topic to cover. I’m curious as
to how you found Science Bridge Communication as
new member joining Leave a Nest 2 years ago. WhenI first joined Leave a Nest Co., Ltd., I was bit “skeptical”
about usefulness of the program for non Japanese. I
was proven wrong very quickly. Let me share my own
experiences. I’ve been in field research about birds
behavior for over 10 years, and honestly I was not reallysure how knowledge as PhD holder can be utilized tocontribute back to the society. The very first project
after joining Leave a Nest, I realise the importance ofbridging knowledge gap through science workshop
project planning. Later I was assured that same principle
can be applied for developing the program overseas
too. In addition, internship students who joined ourworkshop commented they enjoyed Science Bridge
Communication. I will
not go into details but
for the first workshop I
used firefly as a study
species. .
Hakim That sounds
fun exercise for children.
I would love to find out
about firefly.
Kihoko Although
the workshop wasvery simple one, I
really wanted to telldifference of seeing20

and observing. And
through developing
this program forschool children, I
could learn a way tofill the gap between
my message andexpertise in Behavioral
Biology to piqueinterest of young
researchers.
Hakim I see. In mycase, I learned anotherthing from school children. The first workshop I conducted
was at KLESF (Kuala Lumpur Engineering Science Fair) in2016 with a Malaysian IT startup called Brain Bites. The
content was very new to feature Mathematics, to calculate
Pi (π). Although we recommended young school children tojoin the workshop, we had 20 kids each time, ages varying
from 9 to 16. But this was a key experience which forced me
to change the way I talk to different background children.
This made me realize that filling interests and knowledge gap
can be the first step for us to attract more people to achieve
vision.

A missing piece to achieve your mission
Kihoko Wow, Hakim you had such a wonderfulexperience early on. It is indeed essence of bridge
communication which we realise by interacting withchildren. This is exactly what the founders realized when
they started science workshops as the first business.
Then founders themselves as young researcher could
gain some skills to share frontier scientific knowledges
for children as future generation. Children are greatteacher to adults since they show whether they
understand, got interested in what you share via
bridging knowledge gap.
Hakim I heard that the program was certified by theJapanese government as well.

Kihoko Yes, at the time our founders focus more on
biotechnology, then Ministry of Economy Trade andIndustry selected our “Bio Communicator training
program” to apply for more young researchers. Aroundthat time, government was trying to promote advanced
biotechnology research such as gene modification but
general public had difficulties in understanding. So
there was huge needs in the society to produce morecommunicators who can bridge knowledge gap. After10 years of experience and improvement now, we havelecture modules such as: Leadership - Communication Presentation - Writing - Management.
Hakim Now in Japan many universities and corporates
are applying this training program? I think I can localise theprogram and implement in Malaysia as well.
Kihoko That’s a really good idea. In Japan as
examples, some of the major corporates in Engineering
industry utilize this for all the freshmen training toshare company vision and technologies, in hope thatmembers learn how to communicate beyond theirdivisions. In universities, incubator managers invite us
for entrepreneur course and business talk. I’m reallycounting on you and other Leave a Nest local membersin Singapore, Malaysia to help me understand cultural
background and suit the needs of Southeast Asia
region.

Global issues can be solved by new
generation communicator
Kihoko Hakim, you are now focusing on finding andnurturing university based startups in Malaysia. Whatdo you identify as the key challenges for researchers
turned entrepreneurs?
Hakim Well, in many cases, university researchers tend
to bring hundreds of slides when they want to explain about
their technology.
Kihoko Guilty. As a researcher, we can never besatisfied with the amount of time given. We just want tokeep talking about it. It is universal challenge indeed,same thing happening in Japan TECH PLANTER.
* TECH PLANTER is a Real-tech Seed Acceleration Program

Hakim Through conversation in mentorings, we canDr. Kihoko Tokue

Managing Director,
Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.

understand their core technology and extract the message,
vision they really want to deliver. Then we create businessplan together to bring potential business partners fromindustry. This is the value that Leave a Nest can provide
through our program.
Kihoko Can’t agree more. This is what I think, the key
point for early startups especially in deep tech field isan ability to identify and share the vision of the teamto the society. Once you have identified the quality
question such as what kind of future you can imagine
applying your core technology to provide solutions tothe challenges will turn into great business as a result.
Hakim True, I feel university incubators also need tochange so that they can support startups to deliver it in easy
to understand manner so that industry side can also imagine
future vision with the startup.
Kihoko Sometimes corporate partners side also
don’t know how to communicate with startups because
it’s difficult to identify the gap. And there will be moreneeds in corporate for open innovation and startup
investment. As bridge communicators, what we do isidentifying the knowledge gap, passion and mission
through the dialogue with our partners.
Hakim With the core competence as bridge
communicator, I really would like to help more startups
in Asia to realize their mission. In turn I also accomplish
mission of bringing good to the society through power ofengineers. Well, ultimately, I think bridge communicationmeans filling the knowledge gap to create better future, andthis can be applied not only for startups, corporates but foruniversity researchers, teachers and businessmen. For all in
the world.
Recent years in the world, many organization are
expected to create something with partners beyond
disciplines or organizations, such as joint R&D, newbusiness collaboration, open innovation. Yet no one
knows of the solution. We believe that our training
program Science Bridge Communicator and its
principle in bridge communication can be a new
solution to encourage everyone to become key players
to bring change to the world.
(Text by Nami Akinaga)

Mr. Abdul Hakim Bin Sahidi
Director,
Leave a Nest Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.

21

Principles toan Innovative Work Culture
Have you ever wondered what makes a team innovative? Or perhaps why certain creative organisations that wereonce coming up with paradigm shifting novelties are no longer leading the industries? A lot of this has to dowith what model and principles that they embrace. Let us look at some of these principles required to build an
innovative company.

Principle 1: Implementing an innovativemodel
The traditional PDCA model
Most people in the commercial world would have heardof the PDCA cycle: Plan, Do, Check and Act. This model
was developed to enhance the production system andimprove the quality control of an operating system.
While this method is still important in many industries,
it’s true relevancy lies in improving operations and not
creating new innovations.
Innovating with the QPMI model
The QPMI cycle on the other hand liberates aninnovative mind by giving people greater freedom andflexibility. While the concept of the PDCA model is tocompartmentalize people to improve in their existingtask, the QPMI model seeks to drive people towards
creating new value in the areas of their interest. The
QPMI cycle stands for: Question, Passion, Mission andInnovation and we’ll be going through each section in
the next part of this article.

QPMI Cycle
Quality Questions
The first part of the QPMI cycle is developing quality
questions by identifying problems in different
circumstances. It begins by firstly recognising that there
is a problem then coming up with the question of why it
happens and how can we solve this problem.
Passion with purpose
Drawing upon the curiosity to solve the problem, theindividual develops a personal passion to solve theproblem. This will fuel the person towards achieving
the goal and inspiring others to take up the cause tosolve the problem.
22

Mission (with like-minded members)
Embark on the mission to solve the identified problem
through a series of trial and errors. It is also during thisperiod that the individual also seeks members whoeither face the same problem and questions or areincited with passion to solve the problem to join in the
mission.
Innovation
The team innovates and creates something valuable tosolve the identified problem. With the problem solved,
the team restarts the cycle by identifying anotherproblem that they may be facing and come up with
new quality questions.

Principle 2: Converging different fields forinnovation
Being surrounded by individuals with similar training
may result in a team that isn’t exposed to exploring
non-conventional methods to solve the problem. This isbecause the team will most likely be using conventional
methods common to the industry to solve the problem
instead of considering other pathways that will result ininnovation.
By drawing upon a diversity of different specialist indifferent areas, the team will be able to brainstorm
from different angles and leverage and cover on eachother’s unique industrial strength and weaknesses. This
will result in a team that is able to “think outside thebox” in its attempt to solve a problem; bringing about
innovation.

Principle 3: Embracing technology
Advancement of technology has revolutionised
industries. The use of steam power technology forexample had resulted in the widely known 18th century
industrial revolution that had changed manufacturing
forever. The advancement of technology generally
helps to ease monotonous and routine work, allowing
people to focus on the key task at hands.
Beyond easing simple task, embracing technology also
helps to reduce the need for the typical middle manager
to manage people. In the past, companies required theuse of middle managers to supervise subordinates,
accumulate and disseminate knowledge and raise
efficiency. However, with the modern day advancementof IT, the use of certain programs like Google calendar
and Slack allows all the members in the company tosee what everyone is doing - thus partially covering
the middle management role. Through embracing
technology, the middle management changes from
one that supervises into one that trains and mentors- further increasing the organisation’s innovation andefficiency.

To know more

Putting into practise
The following 3 principles: QPMI cycle, converging
different specialist in a project and embracing
technology were introduced in this short article. These
3 points can be used to boost a company’s innovative
culture and efficiency - allowing the organisation to
grow in value.
A way to implement this is to consider how the people
on the ground are working. Are they excited andmotivated? Are they passionate and coming up with
new quality questions to solve a problem? If they aren’t,
it is good to give them some space and nudge themin the direction of developing a quality question (asexplained in the QPMI cycle). Encourage the questions
that they are bringing up and mentor them in the way
to bring about innovation for the company.
(Text by Jeremy Lim)

Dr. Yukihiro Maru
The following principles comes from the book Science
Bridge Communicator which was written by Dr. YukihiroMaru, CEO and representative director of Leave a Nest
Co., Ltd. He earned his doctorate in agricultural scienceat the graduate school of agriculture and life sciencesin the University of Tokyo. Other key concepts thatare covered in the book includes: the mechanism thattransforms ideas into businesses, building sustainableinternal systems that give rise to innovation andprinciples to create an innovative organisation. To findout more, you can contact Leave a Nest Singapore at:
Info-asia@lnest.jp
23History

SCIENCE CASTLE is a global conference for youth researchers andentrepreneurs.
Leave a Nest has been attracting thousands of youths through
SCIENCE CASTLE platform since 2012, started in Osaka, Japan,
then it’s expanding to Singapore and Malaysia. This platform aims togenerate opportunities for teachers and youth researchers to learn
how innovative knowledge and sustainable solution can change
the society in local areas and the world. This year, in the SCIENCECASTLE in Singapore, we have participation from Indonesia and thePhilippines for the first time to create an ecosystem to incubate youth
leaders and entrepreneurs based on science and technology.

Vision of SCIENCE CASTLE

Nurturing the next generation of researchers and scientist through
SCIENCE CASTLE platform

Leave a Nest SCIENCE CASTLE PLATFORM
extends over Southeast Asia.

SingaporeJapan
Malaysia
The Philippines
Indonesia

Inspiring feedback from a teacher

Inspiring feedback from a teacher

Mrs. Dahliza Kamat“

Ms. Foo Koi Hoon“

SCIENCE CASTLE has opened up the opportunity forour students to propel and progress, particularly in thefield of science. They learn to explore, to experimentand most importantly, to endeavor - again, instead of

their projects. Furthermore, SCIENCE CASTLE also gives

compared to other competitions which focus more on

exposure to students and teachers in bridging theirproduct and prototype. Furthermore, Science Castle

knowledge with other students from other countries.

values research, instead of result, as students get to24

Visit our website link
https://en.s-castle.com

from different countries and background. Basically, theyIt encourages students to explore and go further withallows for creativity, as they have to start from scratch,burning passion and curiosity.

Conference is the team has been judged by judges

emphasis on students’ interest and passion in Science.

giving up, each time they are faced with challenges. It

enjoy conducting their project, stemmed from their

One of the uniquenesses of SCIENCE CASTLE

This allow students to practice their public speaking”

skills and increase students’ confidence level thus boost

their self esteem too. Lastly, the students can showcase
their projects to others and give opportunity to meetother students from the same and different countries.

”

In Kuala Lumpur

Venue
Application deadline

13th APRIL 2019(To be determined)

22 February 2019
Announcement of selection
1st March 2019
Mentoring session
10th March – 5th April 2019
nd

Theme

“Creative and Innovative Solution in The Changing World”
Judging Criteria

Novelty

New findings
Discovery from the project is clearly described

Issues

New issues that have never been challenged

PassionThe representatives show interest towards research project
The topic of the research is interesting

Scientific

The project is based on relevant hypothesis
The results summarized and discussed in scientific manner (simple and concise)

Featured activities

Oral presentation

Poster presentation

Science workshop

Sharing experience from participants on SCIENCE CASTLE in MALAYSIASESERI (Participants of SCSG 2017)

SBPI Gombak (Winner of SCSG 2017)

Rikolto System“

Lemuni Hitam“

We joined SCIENCE CASTLE in SINGAPORE
2017, we realised Oral presentation session

As a Grand Winner of SCIENCE CASTLE in
SINGAPORE 2017, we had chanced to present our

give more impact to us. From there, we learned

research in Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference inabout cooperation as a team. We also can identify

Japan. From there, we realised SCIENCE CASTLE

strength and weakness of our project. At the samehas became a platform for us to advance more, as

time, we learned on how to interact and bridge

it encourages deeper understanding from reading,our knowledge with others. This competition is

discussing, discovering and sharing with others. Thisnot same as any other competition because it is all

serves as a good kick start before we leave school

about our passion and dedication in our project.

Link for registration”and enter varsity, embedded with the passion andenthusiasm of an inquirer and thirst for knowledge.

”

https://s-castle.com/malaysia2018/

marshila@lne.st OR fatin@lne.st018-2233230

fb.com/ScienceCastleAsia/
25

Career Dis

Share your vision. Discover future career.

Career Discovery Forum (CDF) is where researchers and developers come together, discuss without border,
and design innovative future by sharing visions with other experts from a variety of fields. CDF participants
gathers from all sorts background including students, researchers/engineers from big corporates, startups,
and SMEs. Let’s cultivate unseen field and accelerate innovation of science and technologies with us!

Designing future career
I want to know thepossibility of my research.

We want feedback to
expand our technology.

Serendipity?!
Students

A research &development staff
from company

Leave a Nest supports creative discussion as a catalyst.

Program Contents

Get inspired by pioneers

LEARN

Speakers are invited from companies, factories and universities, and share
their current challenge. This is the chance to hear how they expanded theirstrength in uncultivated field such as the development and utilization of
psychological technology in the society, transdisciplinary collaboration of
big corporates to change future agriculture, and more.

Train hyper-interdisciplinary communication skill

TRAIN

It is challenging to share others your ideas and vision in your research
comprehensively. Practical training workshops are organized to acceleratecommunication by examining and brushing up one-minute-selfintroduction.

Dream up your future career

DISCUSS
26

Booths are hosted by individual partner companies, at which students
or researchers/engineers visit and discuss. The visitors give one-minuteresearch-introduction, and hosting company share their visions. Throughthe discussion, both company and visitors dream up future career together.

covery Forum 2018
Voices of participants
Mr. Ghiffari Aby Malik Nasution
Transdisciplinary science and engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Undergraduate student (Junior)

My favorite part of CDF was a free talk session with the engineers and researchers fromcompanies. They were friendly and casual, and it was a good opportunity for me to know about
Japanese companies’ visions that I did not know of. I talked with companies which are morebiology related, which I usually do not have chance to step in. This experience gave me theopportunity to broaden my vision. It was also eye-opening fact to know there are some Japanesecompanies welcoming researchers and engineers regardless our study field or Japanese level.
Mr. Kosei Tsukamoto
Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd
Team Leader, Global human resource development team, Development & Planning Office

The impression of CDF was casual, and the motivation of participants was focused on
research and technologies. This place gave me the opportunity to hear participants’ honest
thoughts. It was a place where students’ can talk about their dreams which is difficult toread out from resume or job interviews. I learned to know more than their research itself,such as why they are researching and what dreams they want to realize. Having groupcompanies all over the world, we want to know how researchers want to contribute to thesociety and change the world regardless where they are from. We are looking forward to
discover and maybe work with those who open our eyes to see new vision.
Dr. Akito Endo
Kishu Giken Co., Ltd.
Manager of Research and development

We are ink jet company and have the vision to expand our technologies in diverse market.
At CDF, we expected to obtain new insights and needs of ink printing technology fromresearchers and engineers who are from variety of fields. It turned out that not only we have
met them and made connections, some had proposed their ideas on inkjet development!
Several of the participants interested in our technology visited our company after CDF. We
are looking forward to learn new insights into our business and meet more challengers. We
offer Japanese training for international employees and welcome those who are willing to
try and develop new products regardless classic research field borders.

Join Career Discovery Forum 2019 in Japan!!
Date

Time

Venue

Saturday, 22 June 201910:00am – 8:00pm
Belle Salle Shinjuku Grand

8-17-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Sign in to get more information

http://bit.ly/2Q3OwgY
Contact: gpd@Lnest.jp(Izumi Dateyama)
27

Career Discovery Forumin Singapore 2019

Date

14 May 2019 Time 10am - 5pm Venue Singapore (exact venue to be announced)

Leave a Nest Group will be hosting the Career Discovery Forum (CDF) in Singapore for the first time in 2019. This is thesecond time that CDF is being held outside of Japan. The first CDF organised outside Japan was held in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia on 20th October 2018. Here in Singapore, we envision to create a platform for graduates and companies tobuild purposeful careers together through direct communication. Although the event will be focusing on the Scienceand Technology sector, students of any background are welcome to explore potential career opportunities here as well.
Highlights of the first CDF in MALAYSIA 2018
Keynote speech by Dr. Wan

Wardatul Amani, Former NASA’s
Project Manager sharing about

What to expect at CDF in SINGAPORE?
•

her experience launching the•Participants had opportunity to•such as Top Glove, one of•nanosatellite.

interact with top corporations
the world’s largest glove

manufacturing company.
Panel discussion featuring 4

CEOs of engineering companies
discussing about the future
career in engineering field.

••

For students, the chance to find out first hand
information about the companies and discover yourpotential career path.
For companies, the chance to interact with students
and learn what current graduates are looking for ina job.
Keynote speech by industry professionals to share
their career experiences.
Panel discussion session where several industry
professionals discuss and answer questions about
various career-related topics.
Open booth discussions to allow students andcompanies to interact individually or in small groups.
Exhibitions to showcase company products or
research.

Register Here!

Who should Join CDF in Singapore?
•

•
•

•

28

Postgraduate students who want to find out more
about their potential career path or looking forinternship opportunities.
Jobseeker who want to explore new career pathResearchers who would like to get industry feedbackon their projects or looking for collaborations withcompanies.
Companies who are looking for new talents to join
their team.

Or visit http://bit.ly/cdfsg2019

The Most Unique Platform
Connecting
Real-Tech Ecosystem Globally
29

TRAILBLAZING THE PA

TECH PLANTER SOU
TECH PLANTER is a seed acceleration program that focuses on innovative real technology such as biotech, agritech,robotics, IoT, energy, electronics, artificial intelligence, medical, new materials, and others which can solve wicked
problems faced by local communities. Started with Singapore in 2014, TECH PLANTER technopreneurial wave had
swept most of the ASEAN region when it reached Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam shores.
TECH PLANTER inducts its participants into a well-formulated and exclusive ecosystem. The TECH PLANTER
ecosystem supports startups prototyping needs by providing seed funding and access to the famous Japanesemanufacturer. This ecosystem also made it possible for ASEAN startups to identify Japanese partners and gain accessto Japan market through Leave a Nest legacy of 16 years of strong network with over 300 Japan major companies.
Finalists of TECH PLANTER program will receive guidance on how to pitch their ideas and products to the top
management of Japanese corporations. Monetary reward is available for winner from each of the ASEAN countries.
The final showdown for TECH PLANTER ASEAN round will be held in Singapore where one ultimate winner fromASEAN will win the rights to pitch their project in Japan. TECH PLANTER program also provides special post-TECH
PLAN DEMO DAY initiatives called TECH SEED GRANT and TECH VENTURE MEETUP.
Leave a Nest and its partners are ever ready to support the scientific and technological needs of startups in theregion. TECH PLANTER serves as the best springboard for startups to grow as a successful venture. Join the exciting
TECH PLANTER ecosystem and discover your startup’s true worth!

TECH PLAN DEMO DAY

R-1 in Indonesia
Final Pitch Date		

4 May 2019

Venue			Block71 Jakarta

Application Deadline

29 March 2019

R-2

R-4

For detailed information Page 34

R-3
R-5

TECH PLAN DEMO DAY

R-2 in the Philippines
Final Pitch Date

18 May 2019

Venue		QBO Innovation Hub

Application Deadline

R-6

12 April 2019

R-1

For detailed information Page 36

TECH PLAN DEMO DAY

R-3 in Vietnam
Final Pitch Date		

1 June 2019

Final Pitch Date

20 July 2019

Venue			Saigon Innovation HubVenue		SME Corp.,Platinum Sentral

Application Deadline

26 April 2019

For detailed information Page 38

TECH PLAN DEMO DAY

R-4 in Thailand

Application Deadline

7 June 2019

For detailed information Page 42

TECH PLAN DEMO DAY

R-6 in Singapore

Final Pitch Date

6 July 2019

Final Pitch Date

3 August 2019

Venue		

RISE Accelerator

Venue		

Platform E

Application Deadline

31 May 2019

For detailed information Page 40
30

TECH PLAN DEMO DAY

R-5 in Malaysia

Application Deadline

28 June 2019

For detailed information Page 44

ATH FOR PROMISING ASEAN STARTUPSUTHEAST ASIA 2019
FLOW OF TECH PLANTER PROGRAM
Training program for participants

Support from major companies

Training Period: 12 months
Pre-entry
Team Build

Biz Model
Development

TECH PLANTER incubation

Entry
Selection

Talent Discovery

DEMO DAYTECH SEED
GRAND

Exposure

Registration

Prototyping

Mentoring

Prototyping / Business Program

TECH
VENTUREMEETUP

Investment

MONETARY PRIZE
Location

Value of PrizeSouth East Asia round

300,000 JPY

Singapore round

300,000 JPY

ABOUT TECH SEED GRANT

An encouragement grant in the amount of SGD500
for TECH PLANTER applicants who did not receive
any awards during TECH PLAN DEMO DAY. The grantmoney is meant to be used for anything ranging fromincorporation of company, research & development, or
product development and prototyping. Six recipients fromeach countries in TECH PLANTER Southeast Asia roundare eligible to receive the grant. Recipients are obliged
to present about their progress in post-TECH PLANTER
program such as TECH VENTURE MEETUP and to run for
TECH PLANTER program again in the coming year.

Additional Prize
Flight ticket and accommodation to join TECH PLANTER in
Singapore for 2 members
Flight ticket and accommodation to join HyperInterdisciplinary Conference in Japan for 2 members

ABOUT TECH VENTURE MEETUP

An occasion where real-tech startups gather and explore
potential collaboration with corporate partners, venture
capital firms, angel investors, manufacturing partners
and other supporting partners.

Enter
TECH PLANTER
from here!

https://lne.st/TPworld2019

Quick News from Europe and America!!!
TECH PLANTER in UK 27 October 2018
Grand Winner: InfiGear
Theme: New design of the gear that allows more power and less mechanical wear
TECH PLANTER in Boston 6 October 2018
Grand Winner: Embr labs
Theme:Wearable, portable, body temperature controller
TECH PLANTER in San Francisco 10 November 2018
Grand Winner: Raydiant Oximetry
Theme:A better fetal monitor to improve outcomes for mothers and babies
during childbirth31

Leave a Nest footprints in Southeast Asia countries.
180

31

Indonesia

20

Vietnam

35

120

The Philippines

29
21
27

60
13

18

2014

2015

9

Thailand

39

37

32

2016

20

15

Malaysia
Singapore

23

19

2017

2018

Number of TECH PLNATER members each year
In year 2018, we have received a total of 168 teams registered for TECH PLANTER program across 6 countries
in South East Asia, i.e. Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. Compare with
the initial number of 18 teams in year 2014 and this number ascending steadily and number of members in theecosystem keep expanding year by year. With the extended network with the local and regional accelerators,
incubators, universities and research institutes, we have deepen our understanding in each country and foster astronger relationship bond with the various key players in this ecosystem.

SG

MY

TH

PH

VN

80

23

60
96(57.1%)

72(42.9%)940

Not started
Incorporate
Incorporation of percentage of TECH PLANTER members

8
22

20

2014

ID

2

6

2015

2016

5
61
7

2017

7
8
12
13

2018

Number of incorporated members each year

There is no restriction on the startups as to be part of our platform and we accept teams from any stage including
pre-startup, whether incorporated or non-incorporated because we are capable of supporting teams from any
stages. We have seen number of incorporated startups applying through TECH PLANTER program increasing year
by year, one of the possibility is that due to maturisation of ecosystem in Southeast Asia and better environment& opportunity for incubation. TECH PLANTER program offers a chance to researchers and startups to showcase
their underlying technology and research work.
32

5 2

SG

14 2 23
14

MY
5

TH

10 2

3 20

7

PH

12
8

ID

0

4

Agri Tech

30

Deep Tech

40

Precision Medical
DeviceBioelectrochemical
Sensor

Water Treatment

Natural Substances

Artificial
Intelligence

Focus Industry

14 31

20
Bio Tech

HealthMonitoring
DeviceRFID Technology

3 20

5

10

Farming Solution

Rehabilitation
Aid

7 35

20

5

VT

14 39

11

Farming
Management

Improved
Coating

Education
Material

RecycleTechnology

Healthy Food
Supplement

IoT

Category of TECH PLANTER members

Diagram of Focus Industry

We are mainly focus on Real-Tech area. Real-Techcomprises of deep tech in the area of hardware,chemistry, IoT, and etc., bio tech, agri tech and AI
engineering. We are totally aware that nurturing RealTech startups require both time and money as well as
support from the community. However, we have neverstop providing utmost support to these passionate
teams, because we believe as to one day they willbring the change to the world with their very own
technology.

2014
2015
2016
2017
2018

6
7
5
7
10

SG

MY

2
6
4
7

TH

3
6
6

PH

9
8

VN

9

ID

4

Number of international and local partners each year in
TECH PLANTERTECH PLANTER Southeast Asia 2018 international and local partners

Malaysia

Japan Tobacco Inc.

Mitsui Chemicals
Singapore R&D
Centre Pte. Ltd.

MalaysianTechnology
Development
Corporation Sdn.
Bhd. (MTDC)SME Corporation
Malaysia (SME
CORP)

Innovation andTechnology
Managers
Association (ITMA)

Micro Precision
Machining Sdn.
Bhd. (MPM)

Mitsui Chemicals
Singapore R&D
Centre Pte. Ltd.

Nippon Steel& Sumikin
Engineering Co.,Ltd.

QBO Innovation
Hub

Brainsparks

IdeaSpace
Foundation, Inc.

Philippines
Japan Tobacco Inc.

Nexus Innovation
Labs, De La Salle
Lipa

University of
the Philippines
Enterprise

GiiG Asia

National Centre
for Technology
Entrepreneurship andCommercialization
Development

Platform E

Innosparks Pte. Ltd.

VietnamJapan Tobacco Inc.

Mitsui Chemicals
Rohto
FocusTech Ventures
Singapore R&D Pharmaceutical Co.,
Pte. Ltd.
Centre Pte. Ltd.
Ltd.

Framgia Inc.

Saigon Innovation
Hub

ThailandJapan Tobacco Inc.

Mitsui Chemicals
Singapore R&D
Centre Pte. Ltd.

euglena Co., Ltd.

Mitsui Chemicals
Singapore R&D
Centre Pte. Ltd.

Block71 Jakarta

Thailand Center of
National Innovation
FocusTech Ventures
Excellence for Life
Agency (NIA)
Pte. Ltd.
Sciences (TCELS)

Indonesia
Japan Tobacco Inc.

AIBI Network

Singapore
GLOCALINK Co.,Ltd.

Mitsui Chemicals
Rohto
Mitsubishi ElectricSingapore R&D Pharmaceutical Co.,
Corporation
Centre Pte. Ltd.
Ltd.

IHI ASIA PACIFIC
PTE. LTD.

FocusTech Ventures
Pte. Ltd.

33

TECH PLANTER in

Indonesia

Information about the event

4 May 2019
Venue Block 71 Jakarta

City

Contents of Winning Prize

Timeline

300,000 JPY

Application Deadline
1st Screening

Round trip ticket + accomodation for 2 to attend

2nd Screening

TECH PLANTER in Singapore, 3rd August.

Demo Day

Local Partners Last YearAwardees from 2018

Grand Winner
CV Indobot

Indobot as the solution togame addiction
34

Jakarta

Date

JT Award &Mitsui Chemicals Award
BLST Endophit

Using endophit Soursop Leaf as
an antibreast Cancer Medicine

Leave a Nest Award
JALA

JALA : The online Shrimp
Farming Assistant

29 March 2019

Early April 2019

Mid April 2019
4 May 2019

GRAND WINNER of 2018

Spurring Innovative Minds
Among Indonesian Youththrough Robotics Education
Platform.
“Follow your passion, success will follow you”. We might haveheard about the inspiring stories of people who dared to step
up and follow their passion. In this article, we interviewed the

CV Indobot Passionate Team
From Left : Eva, Putri, Adi, Oby,
Imam, Rahma and Novika

winner of the first TECH PLANTER in INDONESIA 2018, Mr.
Oby, CEO & Founder of CV Indobot to share about their journey.

From Game Addict to Robotic lover
When Mr. Oby was a kid, he used to be a game addict. Playing
console and online game days and night. Until one day, he wasintroduced to robotics education in his vocational high school.
He started to create a simple robot and eventually, he fell in lovewith robotics. He thought that robotics is interesting because helearned how to create new things with his imagination and notjust playing games. Since then, creating a robot became his newhobby and interest.
When he entered a university, he finds friends who havethe common passion towards robotics as he is. He joined theuniversity’s robotics team and participated in various competition
organised in the country. Through all those competitions heparticipated, he won a lot of recognition. But more important is,
those experience improved his robotics skills and made him morepassionate about robotics.

Robotic competition and Problem in Indonesian
Education led me to start a company, CV Indobot

Experiencing in many competition made him realise that robotics
competition should be the platform to promote new robotic
innovation. In each competition, participants should present
new improvement and new features of their robot. But it didn’t
happen. He started to think about why it became like that. He
found that the main problem was there is no affordable and goodrobotics platform for the Indonesian to use as the base to create
new innovation. Besides that, Indonesia also still lacking in termof having suitable learning kits for students to learn Science andtechnology.
In 2015, with the great passion and technical skills to solve
the problem, he started making a training kit together with his
robotics team partner Mr. Imam. They created several kindsof robotic kits such as the one that excels; “Anami Robot”, anaffordable robot platform that consists of 5 different applications
such as line follower, Bluetooth Android controller, object avoider,object transporter and firefighter. The students also can explore
further to innovate the robot applications according to their own
imagination. As the demand for the training kit increase, Mr. Oby
and Mr. Imam officially established CV Indobot in November
2017. Not only selling products, but CV Indobot also provided
the students with a comprehensive online robotic education forthe students to learn more on the robotic. By doing this, they hopeto nurture the next engineers and innovators such as B.J. Habibie

Main product by CV
Indobot : Anami Robot

CV Indobot

Country registered 	Indonesia
Established
November 2017
No. of Members
7
Core Technology 	Multifunction robotic kits
Problems to solve 	Game addiction among Indonesian
Websitehttps://www.indobot.co.id

for Indonesia through robotics. Now since establishment in 2017,
they already sold more than 500 sets of the robot to over 23 statesin Indonesia and reached about 2,000 students.

The win opened the door to step up to the world
To accelerate the company, CV Indobot participated in many
local entrepreneurship programs. When the university’s lecturer
informed them about a seed acceleration program TECHPLANTER in INDONESIA, they never heard of it and quickly
checked on the website. They soon made up their mind to apply
as they see it as an international competition and supporting RealTech startups like them to scale up especially to meet potential
foreign collaborators and investors.
During the inaugural TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in INDONESIA
2018, they said: “ We are really surprised to be announced as the
grand winner as there were a lot of competitors”. But they felt
really grateful and regarded their winning as the manifestation of
the potential that CV Indobot has. As the winner, they received
300,000 Yen which they can utilise to accelerate their business.
They also being sponsored to participate in TECH PLAN DEMO
DAY in Singapore on last July 2018 which open the door for themto meet with more potential partners outside of Indonesia.
After this win, CV Indobot received great coverage from local
media and also raised the attention of the university towards them.
More support will surely come to approach them to accelerate
their business. Now, it is time for them to grow bigger and serve
more young generations to learn robotics and becoming the next
great engineers and innovators. CV Indobot will fly high not only
in Indonesia but to other ASEAN countries as well!
(Text by Abdul Hakim Sahidi)
35

TECH PLANTER in the Philippines

Information about the event

18 May 2019
City
ManilaVenue QBO Innovation Hub
Date

Contents of Winning Prize

300,000 JPY

Timeline
Application Deadline
1st Screening

Round trip ticket + accomodation for 2 to attend

2nd Screening

TECH PLANTER in Singapore, 3rd August.

Demo Day

Local Partners Last YearAwardees from 2018

Grand WinnerFruit Coating Research Team
Development of fruit coating
for shelf life extension of fresh
fruits36

JT Award
Senti

A localized text analytics
platform powered by Artificial
Intelligence

Mitsui Chemicals Award
MykoPlus
MykoPlus plant growthpromoter

12 April 2019

Mid April 2019

Late April 201918 May 2019

GRAND WINNER of 2018Fresh Fruits From The Orchard
At Your Doorstep. Technology
To Revolutionise The Industry Is
HereAccording to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United
Nations, a third of the food produced for human consumption
is lost or wasted along the supply chain every year. Current
technologies and innovation have been seeking to target thisissue. Many technologies and innovations have been developed toaddress the various causes of food losses. However, most are notmade affordable and are not produced in a sustainable manner.
Herein, we look into Fruitect® technology of customised fruit
coatings that reduces post harvest losses in fruits.

Searching For A Sustainable Way To Reduce Post-Harvest
Food Losses In The Philippines
The Fruit Coating Research Group’s invention started with asimple notion of finding a suitable project for graduating students
to work on for their thesis, related to incorporating their main
research on coatings, to reduction of environmental pollution,and reducing losses in fruits and vegetables. This product wasdeveloped specifically to counter the rapid ripening after harvestand physical deterioration resulting in wasted fresh producct
and income loss, especially during transportation. The Fruitect®
coating extends the shelf life of fruits, prevents water loss, andimproves aesthetic appearance of the fruits while allowing aslower normal ripening process to happen. Indeed, there is foodgrade wax available in the industry, but Fruitect® offers a better
alternative.
As a liquid biocomposite, ingredients of Fruitect® coatings arederived from different kinds of raw materials - for instance low
value agricultural or food processing waste. The materials arenatural (non-synthetic) and biodegradable and forms a colorless,odorless film on the fruit’s surface. The coating also delays thestart of post harvest disease. Each Fruitect® product is developed
for a specific fruit or fruit variety because of its unique ripening
behavior.

Feeding More People By Creating Fruitect® Coating
The promising results led Dr. Hernandez and Dr. Sabularse todevelop an array of Fruitect® coatings for fruits in the Philippines,
such as papaya, mango, banana, calamansi. “We are focusing on
our local bananas and we probably will be looking at other fruits
as well as vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers to try to
expand our application”. The team aims to make fruits available toa larger market at a lower cost using the sustainable technology.
“We can bring down the cost of fruits and vegetables by adding
our technology to simplify transportation process. For example,

Fruitect® productFrom Left to Right, Mr. Glenn N.
Baticados, Mr. Rodel Anunciado,
Dr. Veronica C. Sabularse, and Dr.
Hidelisa P. Hernandez.

QPro Tech Phils., Inc. (To be Registered)

Country registered	The Philippines
Established
2 October 2017
No. of Members
5Core Technology 	Fruit coatings for shelf life extension of fruits	
Problems to solve 	· Post harvest losses of fruits	· Waste disposal and environmental pollution fromfood processing and agricultural by-products or
waste.
WebsiteN/A

refrigeration may not be needed. If we can reduce the amountof fruits that are thrown away because of spoilage, that would
reduce the cost of commodity as well.” Their passion in research,
as well as the support from the government to commercialise
the product, had brought them to the stage of incorporating into
QPro Tech Phils., Inc and commercializing their product.

It Is Never Too Late To Be Successful
Dr. Sabularse and Dr. Hernandez revealed that they were very
reluctant to join the TECH PLANTER contest which was
described as being for young innovators. After much persuasion,
they signed up for the programme even as they are of retirement
age already. Little did they expect to win a local competition andjoin the regional final round in Singapore. “We gained exposure
with people who were present during the pitch day.” The team wasalso featured in local news reports and was also interviewed bya local radio station. To help them further, one of the officers in
the Department of Trade and Industry had also connected them
to a professor’s student, who runs a food business. The age factor
was brought up again in the Regional Final round in Singapore.
“The participants at TECH PLANTER SINGAPORE were soyoung! And one of them came to us at the end of the event andsaid ‘Congratulations! You know what, when I saw you on stage,
I thought to myself, if she can face the challenge, so can I. I can't
complain about the hardship.’ ” Dr. Hernandez smiles and looks
back on the experience. This success story would be similar to
vintage wine making, it gets better with age.
(Text by Elizabeth Wee)
37

TECH PLANTER in

VietnamInformation about the event

1 June 2019
City
Ho Chi Minh City
Venue Saigon Innovation Hub
Date

Contents of Winning Prize

Timeline
Application Deadline

300,000 JPY

1st Screening

Round trip ticket + accomodation for 2 to attend

2nd Screening

TECH PLANTER in Singapore, 3rd August.

Demo Day

Local Partners Last YearAwardees from 2018

Grand Winner &Mitsui Chemicals Award
Advanced Water Treatment
Direct Contact Membrane
Distillation Process.
38

Framgia Award
GaraSTEM

Science and Robotics Kit.

JT Award &Rohto Award
NASCI

Studying traditional
Vietnamese medicine anddeveloping for personal care.

26 April 2019

Early May 2019
Mid May 20191 June 2019

GRAND WINNER of 2018

A Purposeful Passion: Saving
Local Livelihoods From Climate
ChangeAdvanced Water
Treatment

How do modern societies obtain clean drinkable water? Traditionally,
mankind used to get access to drinkable water via rivers, lakes andwells. Ancient people even used to go to great lengths to transportclean water; the ancient Romans built aqueducts and ancient
Nabataeans of Petra built a system of water pipes that transported
sand filtered water into their dwellings. In modern society however,
we have pushed that boundary and discovered methods to not only
increase the sources of water but the quality of it as well.

The age old dilemma - drinkable water
In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, river water is one of the main water
sources for many local Vietnamese. Its value has transcended beyond
a drinkable water source and plays a huge role in local farming andshaping the economics of the nation. This way of life has recently
been threatened by climate change - rising sea level and the loss of
incoming fresh water due to several built upstream dams. This causes
serious saline intrusion - up to 90 km inland; resulting in an increasein salt concentration in both surface and groundwater sources. The
seawater intrusion has been partially solved through the efforts of
the Vietnamese government who have built up dykes. However, thisin itself is not a complete solution as there are regions where dykes
have not been constructed and occasions when the seawater breaks
the dykes. In some cases, certain local people have even planted
mangroves along the coastlines to act as a natural protective barrier
but it has been reported that the rising sea level has claimed themalready.
This problem is a serious dilemma for people in Vietnam’s Mekong
Delta as it affects their livelihood. Being able to obtain clean water is
one of the basic necessities of life and thus finding a way to solve thisproblem is of great importance. And all of these has resulted in thejourney of a man with a desire to solve this dilemma.

A man’s passion to save lives
Dr. Bùi Xuân Thành from Ho Chi Minh City University ofTechnology (HCMUT) has been conducting research in submerged
direct contact membrane distillation as a means to solve this problem.
He has recounted that it is his passion to “solve the water issue inVietnam and find a way for local people to buy cheap clean water for
everyday use”. To that end, he has focused his research on developinga low cost direct contact membrane distillation system as it can be
the solution towards a sustainable and cheap method for clean water.
This technology is the combination of two different concepts:
membrane separation and distillation. The membrane separation
mechanism is found in the movement of water vapour acrossa hydrophobic membrane of specified pore sizes through theapplication of heat in the hot side of the membrane. The distillation
process is then used to condense the water vapour to become clean

Water purification device inthe laboratory

Dr. Bùi Xuân Thành at
TECHPLANTER in Vietnam

Advanced Water Treatment

Country registered 	Vietnam
Established
N/A
No. of Members
5Core Technology 	Submerged Direct Contact Membrane Distillation	Problems to solve 	Making affordable drinkable water for everyone.
WebsiteN/Awater on the cold side of the membrane.
Effectively, it is a thermally driven process via transmembrane
vapour pressure difference by combining mass and heat transfer.
How this process works is by having two concurrent streams (theseawater feed and clean water permeate) flow on either side ofa hydrophobic porous membrane. The seawater is heated up to
50-60°C and evaporates through the membrane and condensateson the cooler permeate side. This process has the advantages of
having no applied pressure, lower required temperature needed forconventional distillation and it can use energy from low grade heat
waste or renewable energy.

Making it a reality - dreams can come true!
Through the TECH PLANTER platform, Dr. Thành and his team iscurrently in the talks with a Japanese conglomerate who is interested
to conduct a research collaboration with him. He has also been invited
to Japan to visit the Ota city’s Superfactory - in the efforts to help
him commercialize his research and turn his passion into a reality.
Beyond all of these, Dr Thành has also said that this program has
allowed his team and him to “gain exposure in the larger community
and through potential collaborations, improve their research”.
Dr Thành admits that his research is still not complete yet. Thereare certain challenges he is still trying to solve like such as obtaining abetter flux for the membrane and finding the right membrane material
that is heat resistant. But in spite of all these difficulties, Dr Thành is
confident about the future and is in the steps to introduce renewableenergy (e.g. solar power) to greatly reduce operational cost. His drive
to help to solve the water problems in Vietnam remains the same andhe will definitely his dream into a reality.
(Text by Jeremy Lim)
39

TECH PLANTER in

ThailandInformation about the event

6 July 2019
Venue RISE Accelerator

Bangkok

Date

City

Contents of Winning Prize

Timeline
Application Deadline

300,000 JPY

1st Screening

Round trip ticket + accomodation for 2 to attend

2nd Screening

TECH PLANTER in Singapore, 3rd August.

Demo Day

Early June 2019Awardees from 2018

Pet Health Solution

40

Mitsui Chemicals Award
NJ LabInnovation of Recombinant
Human Peptide for Sustainable
Replacement of Antibiotics andpreservatives

euglena Award
TriOCIN

Anti-acne patch which contains
an antibacterial protein
component that seeks to treat
acne effectively

Late June 2019
6 July 2019Local Partners Last Year

Grand Winner &JT Award
iVET

31 May 2019

FocusTech Ventures Award
Brain Dynamics

Brain Monitoring System forenhancing rehabilitation stroke
patients.

GRAND WINNER of 2018

Improving The Welfare Of Dogs
Through Biomedical Engineering
According to the Bureau of Disease Control and Veterinary
Services in Thailand, it is estimated that more than 750,000
dogs live on the streets of Thailand. These vulnerable creatures
are prone to abuse, and some are abandoned due to old age ordisabilities where owners are unable to care for their welfare.
iVET has taken up the challenge to provide a holistic healthcare
solution to this issue with determination to change the lives ofthese pets and strays with a rippling effect.

iVET team

Challenging An Understated Societal Issue
CEO Dr. Warangkhana Phanwanich of iVET always had apassion for animals and she has an expanse of experience inveterinary studies and biomedical engineering. iVET as acompany began with a determination of wanting to help pet
owners improve the quality of life of their pets, building a whole
healthcare system to provide for pets at all stages of life, be it
young or old. “We want to take care of the pets even after theyfinish treatment.” Previously only verbal advice and medication
was administered to owners and their dogs which are weak andunable to walk. But for the owners, they are inexperienced intaking care of their dogs in their weak state. “They can advise theowners to make a wheelchair but the owners don’t know where to
go to make wheelchairs for their pets, they do not know anything
about making wheelchairs. They want to help their pets, but do
not know how.” An inevitable impact of strays is the fact that they
will carry different diseases on them which imposes health risks
on not only to humans, but also the other animals and wildlife.
Realizing this as a perpetual and urgent problem that effects inpets being neglected and becoming strays or potentially be put
down, this inspired her and her team to start developing someproducts to help the pets and owners increase the pet wellness
and challenge this problem, by providing an improved solution:a holistic healthcare system.
The biggest issue is disease: obviously, strays aren’t vaccinated,so they present a health risk to other cats and dogs, as well as tohumans and wildlife.

What Makes iVET's Solution Different
Unlike other pet healthcare systems, iVET’s healthcare system
not only provide a range a services from pre- and post- surgery
care maintenance, it also includes customised medical hardware
such as wheelchairs which are also engineered for dogs whoneed them. They provide an array of hardware, for handicapped
pets, namely the PetWellSuit, FlexzWheels, and the AquaTrek,
all of which to help disabled pets recover and improve theirmobility overtime, which will result in improvement of their
quality of life. “We try to make a system to help animals havebetter quality of life. Acupuncturists work with neurosurgeon
and physiotherapist, and engineer team works on the hardware.”Each of these hardware have been painstakingly designed to aid
the owners and pets. To name a couple of examples, FlexzWheels,

iVET’s pet healthcare device

iVET (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

Country registered 	Thailand
Established
October 2012
No. of Members
80
Core Technology 	Biomedical Technology	Problems to solve 	Pet Wellness Solution
Websitehttps://www.ivethospital.com/en

comes in 3 sizes and is adjustable to the size of the pet for comfort.
It is also foldable and compact for storage when not in use. These
well-thought inventions have bagged medals from events such
as International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva, and Seoul
International Inventions Fair 2017.

Small Steps To Achieving A Big Impact
Since winning the TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in THAILAND in
June 2018, the team has also been selected out of 53 applications
across Southeast Asian countries for the Ota City joint prototyping
development project with Japanese super factories (Corporations
which are famous for their niche technology in specific areas ofmanufacturing) “I thought TECH PLANTER was just a pitchcompetition, but it isn’t. This platform doesn’t only think about
short term, but also long term. Even after pitching, it keeps
support and connection with scientists together,”. Indeed in the
Ota City project, they have received opportunities to collaborate
with super factories in Japan that matches their business andcould solve their technical issue. Especially for global expansion,
not knowing the market trend may results in detrimental
losses. Dr. Warangkhana feels that their idea and vision can bevalidated and aligned through communicating with the Japanese
locals as they are intending to enter the Japan Market. “We cancollaborate and solve more important problems, more than justonly on our own. For the first time I visit the Japan superfactory,
it opened my mind and I think it’s better than being alone inthis.” Prototyping will finish next year. She hopes to grow thebusiness expand into new markets to make a game changing
impact to the animal world.
(Text by Elizabeth Wee)
41

TECH PLANTER in

Malaysia

Information about the event

20 July 2019
City
Kuala Lumpur
Venue SME Corp., Platinum Sentral
Date

Contents of Winning Prize

300,000 JPY

Timeline
Application Deadline
1st Screening

Round trip ticket + accomodation for 2 to attend

2nd Screening

TECH PLANTER in Singapore, 3rd August.

Demo Day

Local Partners Last YearAwardees from 2018

Grand Winner
Future Excel Plt. Ltd.

Nano-Magnetic adsorbent
composite
42

MTDC Award &Mitsui Chemical Award
SecuraLips Plt. Ltd

Harmless and Halal lipstickfrom bacterial pigment

JT Award
Lignas Bio Synergy Plt. Ltd
Mushroom for local
transdermal therapy of breast
cancer14 June 2019

Mid June 2019

Late June 201920 July 2019

GRAND WINNER of 2018

Saving The Environment
Using Super Adsorbent
Nano Magnetic Biocarbon
Composite
In the East Coast of Malaysia, agriculture and batik textile industry
thrive at the expense of the environment. Agro waste and dye from thebatik textile industry polluted the freshwater source. It has been theplight of local water treatment facility operators to find solutions related
to clarification process and filtration that is effective and affordable.
Together with Future Excel PLT, N-MACom InnoTech team offersa solution for water and wastewater issue by using Nano-Magnetic
Adsorbent Composite, a mix of agro waste derived biocarbon andiron oxide particles with magnetic characteristics. This is a clever twopronged strategy by Future Excel PLT as it converts and utilizes thesource of pollution and solve the pollution problem at the same time.

Magnetic Behaviour of Magnetized Particles
Our Earth's surface consists of 71% water, but only 3% is fresh waterand 1% is available for human consumption. One of the reasons why
fresh water source is shrinking rapidly year after year is due to pollutionof freshwater resources. Adsorption, coagulation, ion exchange, andProducts from nano magnetic adsorbent
composite

Dr. Palsan Sannasi
Abdullah

Future Excel Plt. Ltd.

Country registered 	Malaysia
Established
5 January 2016
No. of Members
4Core Technology 	Biocarbon surface modification with iron oxide
nanoparticle coating.	Problems to solve 	Water treatment issues at water treatment facilities,
waste water treatment for small and medium
enterprises (SMEs), separation of spent treatment
agents, and the underutilized agro waste biomass.
Websitesedimentation are some important multi-step processes in water
treatment. The challenge was to incorporate all those processes into

which becomes the core technology of Dr. Palsan’s invention. The

one composite material. The realization that biocarbon material with

incurring carbano-magnetization technique has been successfully

magnetic characteristics could achieve that has led the way forward forpatented. Magnetic nanoparticles are proven as a platform for pollutants

research in this area. Dr. Palsan Sannasi Abdullah from N-MACom

separation in water and waste water treatment application. This is an

Innotech has a strong background in Biochemistry. He managed to comeimportant discovery in research to reduce water pollution emanating

up with biocarbon surface modification by carbano-magnetizationfrom toxic pollutants such as heavy metals and dyes especially by batik

technique which is offered as a cheaper alternative to similar purposed

textile industry in East Coast, Malaysia. In addition, it is also applicablenon-magnetic products in the market. The introduction of customized

for reducing turbidity levels in drinking water treatment. The current

nanoparticles with magnetic properties and high adsorption properties

filtration at water treatment facilities in the region is using high quantity

made it a great tool to deal with water wastewater filteration andof polymer media such as Poly-Aluminium Chloride (PAC) which

purification. Biocarbon adsorption strength when coupled withis ineffective and expensive. Solution by Future Excel PLT is highly

nano-magnetic properties will enhance clarification, filtration,affordable as it does not require the user to have additional filteringand removal of multi waste pollutants from water and wastewater.

mechanism or the need to use multiple treatment agents. Therefore, in

Magnetic properties facilitate separation of spent material with ease

the effort to protect the environment for the future, it is high time forthus eliminating secondary waste or sludge accumulation. One main

Future Excel PLT to introduce the solution to the market.

advantage of magnetic composite in saving the environment is thatwastewater can be chaneled really fast without any contaminants. This

Environmental Protection with Industry Partners

surface modification concept is important to enhance the adsorption

Dr. Palsan is an energetic person and always in high spirit. When asked

and separation of pollutants from water and wastewater for treatment

what’s next for Future Excel PLT now the product is at Technology

and remediation purpose.

Readiness Level 5, Dr. Palsan said the team has decided to movetowards commercialization of the technology. They are introducing 2

Value in Converting Agro Waste into Biocarbon

types of products from this research which is the local premium nano-

Annually in Malaysia, only 27% of the generated agro waste are utilized

adsorbent powder and filtering device for use by water and waste water

while the rest are left to rot or disposed as trash or in open burning.

treatment service providers, water filtration system providers, andIn Dr. Palsan’s research, agro waste materials and plants consisting

looking forward to have serious collaboration with industries. Thisof fruit husks, coconut shell, dry leaves, and so on were put throughwould be his main mission in saving the environment and protecting

carbonization process which involved controlled heating under afreshwater source in the country. “Believe in your product or idea,

certain temperature and within selected parameters. The carbonizationand do your best!” was his advice to researchers who would like toprocess turned these organic wastes into carbon material which wascommercialize their research.

later used for surface modification with iron oxide nanoparticle coating(Text by Idarahayu Ayob)
43

TECH PLANTER in

Singapore

Information about the event

3 August 2019
Venue Platform E

Singapore

Date

City

Contents of Winning Prize

Timeline

300,000 JPY

Application Deadline
1st Screening

Round trip ticket + accomodation for 2 to attend

2nd Screening

HIC in Japan, March 2020

Demo Day

28 June 2019

Early July 2019
Mid July 2019

3 August 2019Local Partners Last YearAwardees from 2018

Grand Winner
NDR Medical Technology

AI Surgical Robotics for
Automated Needle Targeting
44

Rohto Award
SinFooTech

Biotransformation of tofu whey
into fermented beverages

Mitsui Chemicals Award
Fytosol Pte. Ltd.

Wetting and water-retaining
agent to improve plantsurvivability

Leave a Nest Award
BioTrampil PLT

Plant based burger patties as
fast food healthier alternative

GLOCALINK Award
Fifthsense

Innovative Functional Natural
Nutraceuticals (IFNN)

GRAND WINNER of 2018

Revolutionizing the way tissue
biopsies are conducted byusing AI surgical robotics to
improve patient wellbeing.
Currently, percutaneous image-guided biopsy is the worldwide standard
for the accurate sampling of live tissue for diagnostic. However, ahighly skilled radiologist is needed to perform it and there is still arisk of injuring patients during the procedure. How can we allow lessexperienced radiologist to perform the procedure while still maintaining
high accuracy and minimal risk? NDR Medical Technology has
developed the Automated Needle Targeting system to challenge the issue.

Current practice and challenges for biopsy procedures
Tissue biopsy is a common practice in the medical field used to diagnose
various diseases. Samples are typically obtained through surgery or
needle biopsy. As one of the major methods, Percutaneous Imageguided Biopsy is currently regarded as the worldwide standard due to its
higher accuracy. Nevertheless, it is not without its attendant challenges
and complications. For instance, it is time consuming (takes ~20 - 30
minutes), highly surgeon-dependant and can overexpose patients toAutomated Needle Targeting (ANT)
deviceMr. Alan Goh
Co-founder & CEO

NDR Medical Technology

Country registered 	Singapore
Established
20 October 2014
No. of Members
10 + Interns
Core Technology	AI-driven robotic means of visualizing needle insertion
trajectory, guiding and stabilizing needle alignment indifferent planes using automated real-time correction.
Funding status
Seeking series A Funding – SGD$6 million
Problems to solve	Enhance clinical outcome, reduce radiation exposureand surgery time for patients requiring percutaneous
biopsy.
Websitehttps://ndrmedical.com/beta

radiation due to unpredictable duration of the procedure. Inaccurate
placement of the needle by a less experienced surgeon can also meanCT‒scan, enhancing its accuracy and reliability. Other applications

multiple needle pass attempts which could increase the risk of tumor

include interventions like tumor biopsy procedures, tumor ablation,

cell seeding. As such, percutaneous image-guided biopsy is still usually

percutaneous nephrolithotomy procedures and minimally invasive

recommended only after thorough screening has identified suspicious

surgery which requires needle positioning and alignment.

nodules requiring further investigation. The surgery is usuallyan affordable and smart device which can automate significant parts ofDelivering innovative and affordable medical robotics system tothe world

the surgical procedure and that can also be easily mass adopted”, said

The ANT system developed by a dedicated team of engineers has shown

Mr Alan Goh, co-founder and CEO of NDR Medical Technology.

promising progress thus far, having passed EN 60601‒1* Safety test andperformed free-hand with X-Ray or CT guidance. “The key is to create

EN 60601‒1‒2** Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) testing andAffordable and reliable assistant robots for the well-being ofpatients

proving to be extremely accurate achieving precision of up to +/- 2mm

In 2015, the project development process for NDR Medical Technology

more human trials in the future, and is now working to further optimize

officially began after securing funding from the Singapore government.

the device. Mr Alan also plans to venture into global markets such as

Not long after, the Automated Needle Targeting (ANT) system was born.

China and Japan. Together with Co-founder Mr Jason Ng, he was able

It is the world’s first artificial intelligence surgical robotics system to use

to gain some valuable information about Japan during their recent

inverted delta robot design and real‒time imaging modality images as

participation in TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in Singapore this year, insensors with closed‒loop control to automatically position needles usedwhich they were also the grand winner! “After participating in TECH

for the creation of a keyhole access. Developed by a dedicated team of

PLANTER, it has given us the opportunity to interact with Japaneseengineers at NDR Medical Technology, this medical device eases the

VCs and learn from their perspective on surgical robotics, and it wassurgeon’s thought process by providing a robotic means of visualizing

good to learn about the various aspects of bringing our product into

the needle insertion trajectory, guiding and stabilizing the alignment

the Japanese market”, said Mr Alan. They will also be attending theof the needle in different planes with automated real‒time correction

upcoming Hyper-Interdisciplinary Conference in Japan in March next

to reach the target. Within seconds, it automatically generates ayear to seek their opportunities there.

during animal and human clinical trials. The team plans to conduct

precise trajectory from a chosen entry point on the surface of the skinto a target deep within the body. It then maintains this position andprovides a mechanical guide, awaiting the insertion of a needle by
the surgeon. The path of the needle is stabilized in multiple planes toensure the needle stays aligned to the target. Due to its compact size, it
can be mounted on the patient’s body and scanned together along with

* A globally accepted standard test method, test limit and test level for theassessment of medical electrical equipment.
** The primary EMC standard for medical electrical devices and systems
testing the general requirements for basic safety and essential performance.

(Text by Kouichi Maki)
45

Spotlight to Road of Success For TECH PLANTER Members
Since 2014, Leave a Nest run TECH PLANTER program in Southeast Asia countries starting from Singapore, Malaysia,
Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam to support technopreneurs to accelerate their business. In celebrationof 5 years of TECH PLANTER Asia Pacific, here are the highlight of the achievements of the alumni team since theyjoined TECH PLANTER in each countries. Members of TECH PLANTER will be able to use the TECH PLANTER platform
in flexible way to gain support in wide rage of ways for their acceleration.

My Conceptual Robotics Sdn.Bhd. (MyCRO)

2nd Runner-Up Winner of TECH PLAN GRAND PRIX Malaysia 2015

MyCRO joined TECH PLAN
GRAND PRIX Malaysia
2015 when they are in theundergraduate study. Theybring their final year project andmanaged to won 2nd Runner-Up
winner.

After TPMY, they were sponsoredto visit Superfactories in Japanand learn about Japanesemanufacturing. They establishedthe company in 2016 andstarted the business in 3D Printermanufacturing. They are among
the pioneer in 3D Printer industry
in Malaysia.

In 2016, MyCRO received a
grant worth RM500,000 from thegovernment agency to build thefirst ASEAN’s Bomb Defusing
Robot. In 2018, Mycro received
soft loan of RM850,000 from
Malaysia Debt Venture to further
developing the robot.

DeNova Sciences

2nd Runner-Up winner of TECH PLAN GRAND PRIX Singapore 2015

Incorporated in 2012, DeNova
joined TECH PLAN GRAND PRIX
Singapore in 2015 and managed
to win 2nd Runner-Up winnerduring the event.

DeNova was invited to give
keynote speech at TECH PLAN
DEMO DAY in Singapore 2017and managed to attract big
Japanese chemical company todiscuss potential collaboration.

In March 2018, DeNova
participated in HyperInterdisciplinary Conferencein Japan and managed to getcollaboration with big Japanese
Algae company to use theirin-vitro skin model for producttesting.

iVETGrand winner of TECH PLAN DEMO DAY in Thailand 2018

iVET was incorporated in 2012
and joined the TECH PLAN
DEMO DAY in Thailand 2018.
They became the Grand winnerand also received JT award
during the event.

46

As the winner of TECH PLAN
DEMO DAY in Thailand, iVET wassponsored to join regional roundin Singapore and met with more
Japanese partners there.

After TECH PLANTER, Leavea Nest introduced iVET tocollaborate with Japanese pet
startups in creating products andpenetrate the market together.

The highlight will cover in term of :New collaboration establishedNew fund received

Business exposure

Media coverage

New Product developed

MyCRO became a Silver partnerof the first SCIENCE CASTLE in
Malaysia in 2018 as marketing
platform for MyCRO to engage
with more school students andpromote their 3D printer.

MyCRO became the first Malaysian
3D printer manufacturer to export
their 3D printer to Japan. Leave a
Nest bought a unit of the printerand placed it at the Centre of
Garage for startups to utilise it.
Mycro was covered by some local
media such as TV3,Astro, Utusan &Bernama

MyCRO joined HyperInterdisciplinary Conference inJapan and pitched about theirtechnology to more than 200
participants from corporates,
superfactories and startups.

At HIC Japan, DeNova also
met with big Japanesepharmaceutical company
that is interested to explore
collaboration with them.

DeNova attended TECH PLAN
DEMO DAY in SINGAPORE
2018 and met with another
TECH PLANTER team fromThailand. They are in discussion
to collaborate in creating new
product that are related toanimal.

Since TECH PLANTER event,
DeNova had received a lotof coverage from local andinternational media such as The
Sunday Time, Hey! and the SME
Magazine.

Not only working with Japanesestartups, iVET was introduced to
explore collaboration with big
Japanese company.

iVET was selected as one of therecipient out of 53 applications
to receive prototyping grant
worth USD50,000 from Ota City
to collaborate with JapaneseSuper Factories in improving
their prototype.

iVET was featured in several
major media such as TV Tokyo,
NHK Japan for their prototyping
project with Ota City.

47

Pursuing a Sustainability Path to Open the Doorways
for Southeast Asia’s Future through ResearchSoutheast Asian countries has made an incredible level of economic development in past 20 years. In the same time, research
environment in universities has changed drastically too, starting to bring new inventions and findings to the world. World ispaying a close attention to how we can collaborate further. One Japan led program played an important role to nurture the research
environment in ASEAN region.

Signing ceremony for Phase 4

48

Close supporter of ASEAN university researchto support talented youths from around the world, and what

AUN/SEED-Net project itself supports the nurturing of

they realised here was the fact that there were many students

researchers from ASEAN region especially in the field of

from ASEAN region especially from countries like Indonesia,

engineering. As engineering would be one very important

Thailand and the Philippines. Many of them returned tofield for development of the country. It was 2001 that Japan

home countries to join the engineering universities. After theInternational Cooperation Agency (as known as JICA),Asian financial crisis in 90s, ASEAN realized the importancegovernment agency from Japan which supports the economicof human resource development in engineering to vitalize

and social growth of developing countries, established AUN/

industry. The gathering of these passionate Asian researchers

SEED-Net project (ASEAN University Network/Southeast

became the driving force to start AUN/SEED-Net project.

Asia Engineering Education Development Network). Now it

After two years of preparation period, the project started its

has a network of 40 engineering universities from both ASEAN

first phase from 2003 expanding its support to even deeper

countries (10 countries) and Japan. For past 17 years, it has

ASEAN region including countries like Vietnam, Cambodia

been working to develop the research environment in ASEAN

and more. This was very important, as at that time, there wereregion and worked in four main areas which were, nurturing

very few researchers or faculty members who holds Masterof researchers, support for research that addresses to common

or Doctorate degree in the local universities. With successful

issues in the region, academic networking between Japaneseoutcome from phase 1, now the program has tuned itself toand ASEAN universities, and linkage between universities

work on next challenge. At the time, many researchers still

and industries. Though this programme wasn’t the first ever

had to work on second business in order to proceed with theirprogram to support research environment in the region. There

research. So, supplement of research grant was the next action

were English program from Japanese universities since 80s

to take in second phase.

Seeds for innovation starting to bloom in Asia

Creating sustainable ecosystem together with ASEAN partners

Under AUN/SEED-Net project, the program has nurtured

AUN/SEED-Net is on the path to face next challenge. Next

more than 1300 PhD and master students supporting

stage is for research seeds to be implemented to society innumerous projects in the past 15 years. Despite the successful

sustainable way. Prof. Tamon Ueda, Chief Advisor and Acting

support, AUN/SEED-Net project didn’t stop there. Having to

Executive Director of AUN/SEED-Net suggested that “One ofproceed the third era, the next phase was collaboration withthe ways to do this is to nurture startup but not all researchersindustries. In order to continue this program, new and further

know how to startup, and I think TECH PLANTER would

development was expected. Collaboration with industries was

be one great way for researchers to learn how to create newneeded. To enhance this, basic lecture on University-Industry

business or industry from research”. In the season of 2019,

collaborations were conducted and researchers were starting

AUN/SEED-Net will work closely with TECH PLANTER

to work on applied research. In addition to this, opportunities

to accelerate its phase 4 by supporting researchers from thisfor research presentation towards industry side were provided

program, in nurturing the process for commercializing theiras well. Due to these efforts, some implementation of researchresearch seeds and by creating a sustainable ecosystem thatto the society started occurring through collaboration withallows newly born startup to grow. Prof. Ueda thinks thatindustries and even spin off company being born from university“researchers in ASEAN region is our valuable partner” who wetoo. For example, in Vietnam there were collaborative research

may work together to tackle challenges in Asia.

between major Japanese steel manufacturing company in civilengineering research and from Indonesia, spin off company was(Text by Shohei Michael Maekawa)

formed in the field of healthcare, using biomaterial for creating
body parts. Having to create the groundwork for industrial
collaboration, though this was still occasional. In order forflow of industrial collaboration to flourish, new challenges forsupporting researchers and building of ecosystem is needed
for implementation of research to the society.

Prof. Dr. Ueda at AUN/SEED-Net Secretariat

49

TIDE TO JAPAN.
POTENTIAL FOR ASEAN STARTUPS’ SUCCESS.
Southeast Asia is full of regional
issues and unexplored resources.
Now many new entrepreneurs
are trying to start a business bytackling issues around them andresources around them. However
there lies many hurdles towards
implementation of their technology
to society. One of the hurdle isprototyping. There are not enough
manufacturing
partners
who
may discuss with startups about
research from lab to PoC then tomass production. As potential
supporter, there are many small
medium size manufacturer (whoare called as “Super Factories”)
in Japan with high manufacturing

skills and knowhow. Now there
are examples of collaboration
betweenstartups
fromSoutheast Asia and JapaneseSuper Factories starting
to born, bringing fruit ofresearch into the society.
Including
ASEAN
region,now there are many request for
prototyping support gathering toJapan. Japanese Super Factories
are on verge of turning themselves
into global manufacturer from local
manufacture. Adding to this, Japanis still renowned as spot in theworld with numerous corporates
that holds not only funds but
technology, infrastructure, and3. M arket in to ASEAN
region2. P roduct development
and businessdevelopment in Japan

1. P rototyping needs fromASEAN startups

knowhow that are beneficial forstartups from abroad. Japan may
become a new base for technology
startups around the world for
prototyping and new businesscreation.

COLLABORATION IS ALREADY ON THE WAY!!!
In Ota City, the heart manufacturing spot in Tokyo, project to enhance collaboration between Southeast Asianstartups and Super Factories from Ota city has started with leadership from its local government. The project
consists of connection to startups with prototyping issue that has synergy to its local Super Factories and supporting
the prototyping fee. To this project, total of 52 application has gathered mainly from TECH PLANTER applicants
and alumni. Then from 52 applications, 3 projects were selected to fund prototyping fee. Each project stated fromits kickoff event in Japan on August 22nd 2018 and completing by beginning of February 2019.
Leave a Nest ASEAN startup
Platform

388

Teams

Mainly from teams that has
participated from TECH PLANTERin ASEAN region

52
6 Countries

Teams(Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam,
Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore)

7

3

Teams

Teams

Invitation to Japan
Introduction to Super
Factories in Ota city

Support for prototyping fee

ACeT InnovatesiVET

Red Dot Drone

Development of device
to produce an enzyme
for high quality kenaf
fibresDevelopment of highquality medical device
for injured and disabled
pets

Development of drone
system for real time
filming in sports

Malaysia

50

Applied Startups

ThailandSingaporeLEAVE A NEST ASIA IS HIRING
NEW MEMBERS AND INTERNSHIP STUDENTS!

Leave a Nest Asia specializes in customizing educational and entrepreneurship programs originated from Japan to suit with thelocal needs in the region. In line with our vision, we are offering Science Bridge Communicator training program to nurture newtalents as a science and technology communicator. At the end of the training program, trainees will have the confidence to leadany project in ‘Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness’.

Bring Your Ideas and Execute It With Us!

Here are some of the activities that we do at Leave a Nest Asia.

Inspire young students throughscience encouragement programs

Visit the most advanced lab at
research universities

Plan and run original science
workshop for school students

Create networking opportunities forresearchers

Meet and learn from experts at
research institutions

Conduct career discovery program

Introduce TECH PLANTER as aplatform for researchers to realize
their entrepreneurship dreams

Mentor and motivate young
researchers through SCIENCECASTLE program

Opportunities to interview and write
about successful entrepreneurs &researchers for our magazine

Trainees will be equipped in the know-how of delivering complicated science and technological knowledge in a comprehensible
manner to majority of the public. Join our team of talented researchers, and discover your true ability to change the world
through leadership, passion, and also experimental programs with our partners.

Kihoko Tokue

Jeremy Lim

Kevin Ng

Elizabeth Wee

Kouichi MakiManaging Director
Leave a Nest Singapore

Asst. Manager
Strategy Development Division

Asst. Manager
Frontier Development Division

Asst. Manager
Education Development Division

Asst. Manager
Human Resource
Development Division

Nami Akinaga

Fatin Ilyani binti
Abdul Ghani

Abdul Hakim Sahidi

Marshila Binti Kaha

Idarahayu Ayob

Managing Director
Leave a Nest Malaysia

Manager
Education Development Division

CONTACT US TODAY!

Director Manager
Strategy Development Divisionhttps://lne.st/https://en.lne.st/Assistant Manager
Research Development Divisionfb.com/LNEST.Global/
fb.com/ScienceCastleAsia/
fb.com/techplanterW/

Assistant Manager
Frontier Development Division

tokue@lne.st
nami@lne.st51

Have A Technology To Share With The World?
Seeking Investors and Raising Funds for Your Startup?
2018.12 *01

TECH PLANTER S.E.A Application Is Now Open!
Apply
Now

https://lne.st/TPworld2019

ISBN978-981-11-6506-1

Leave a Nest Singapore Private Ltd
19 TAI SENG AVENUE #05-10C
SINGAPORE 534054

Indonesia ‖ The Philippines ‖ Vietnam ‖ Thailand ‖ Malaysia ‖ Singapore