SINGAPORE
25 - 26 FEBRUARY 2020
25 - 26 FEBRUARY 2020
Email emtech@koelnmesse.com.sg or call +(65) 6500 6700
What is EmTech?
EmTech Asia is co-organised by MIT Technology Review, the world’s oldest and most respected technology publication since 1899, and Koelnmesse, one of the world's largest trade fair companies since 1924.
Since its inception in 1999, EmTech has become the world’s most influential conference on emerging technologies that matter, growing into a global community which runs in the USA, Europe, South America, China and Singapore.
EmTech is where technology, business and culture converge. At EmTech Asia, you will meet the innovators, the scientists, the investors and the tech executives at the heart of the next technology revolution. Throughout two exhilarating days of networking and learning, you will get inspired from 30 speakers and amazed by the ingenuity of the 20 innovators under 35 and 800 participants who are leaders in their field.
At EmTech Asia we believe that innovation happens at the intersection of different disciplines. We bring together the brightest minds in artificial intelligence, materials science, biomedicine, immersive media, space (and much more) from around the world to share breakthrough research and discoveries. We connect the best from academia and industry to collaborate. And we create a platform for scientists with the capability to change the world to meet investors to commercialise ideas and tech executives to distribute it globally.
If you are passionate about turning ideas into innovative solutions and addressing major global issues, join us for two days of intelligent conversation at EmTech Asia, on 4 – 5 August 2020.
Speakers
The world’s most influential leaders and innovators are coming to EmTech Asia. Get inspired and hear from those who are driving the next generation of technological breakthroughs and changing the world, including:
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Peter Norvig is a Director of Research at Google Inc. Previously he was head of Google's core search algorithms group, and of NASA Ames's Computational Sciences Division, making him NASA's senior computer scientist. He received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Award in 2001. He has taught at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Berkeley, from which he received a Ph.D. in 1986 and the distinguished alumni award in 2006. He was co-teacher of an Artifical Intelligence class that signed up 160,000 students, helping to kick off the current round of massive open online classes. His publications include the books Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (the leading textbook in the field), Paradigms of AI Programming: Case Studies in Common Lisp, Verbmobil: A Translation System for Face-to-Face Dialog, and Intelligent Help Systems for UNIX. He is also the author of the Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation and the world's longest palindromic sentence. He is a fellow of the AAAI, ACM, California Academy of Science and American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Peter NorvigDirector of Research
Google
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Erin is a Director at Autodesk Research, specializing in intelligent and intuitive design technology for architects and engineers. She has a B.S. in Cognitive Science and a PhD in Information & Computer Science. Her dissertation work focused on technology affordances. Erin joined Autodesk in 2002 as a user researcher, conducting hundreds of user research sessions to identify the sweet spot where technology feasibility, viability, and desirability meet. She was on the founding team for generative design at Autodesk. In terms of customer pilots, Erin led Autodesk’s partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Labs, and was part of a team that helped NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab reduce the weight of a lander, proposed for a mission to Europa – a moon of Jupiter. Generative design was used to create optimised geometry of all the lander’s structural parts, reducing overall weight by over a third. Erin has also conducted numerous software ethnographies. She’s observed Architects design skyscrapers from 3D virtual studios, observed children program gravity engines with the XBOX in their living rooms, and observed aeronautical engineers design emergency landings for the space shuttle. As an ethnographer, she uses inductive reasoning to extract patterns of interaction and to develop predictive models of behaviour.
Erin BradnerDirector, Robotics Lab
Autodesk
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Dr. David Budden is an engineering team lead and distributed systems researcher at DeepMind, the world leader in AI research and its application for positive impact. His recent projects include AlphaStar, the first AI to defeat a top professional player at StarCraft II, in addition to many other reinforcement-learning agents and environments. Before joining DeepMind, David worked at MIT and Harvard on projects including the first real-time “connectomics” system for reconstructing biological neuron connectivity maps from electron microscopy data. He was named Australia’s 2016 Young IT Professional of the Year for his startup work in the sports and education industries.
David BuddenResearch Engineering Team Lead
DeepMind
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Shelley Peterson has supported Lockheed Martin pursuits, diving into the rapidly evolving augmented reality and wearables market to integrate emerging technologies into key solutions for Lockheed Martin. Her combined skill and reputation as a thought leader across the augmented reality industry have resulted in repeated demonstration of the potential of this emerging technology across numerous Lockheed Martin programs.
Shelley also serves on the Barbara Bush Foundation Technology Advisory Board. In her spare time, Shelley teaches college mathematics as an adjunct, and enjoys volunteering for and speaking at STEM events.
Shelley PetersonPrincipal Investigator
Augmented & Mixed Reality
Lockheed Martin
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Linda Hung has been part of the Accelerated Materials Design and Discovery group at the Toyota Research Institute since 2017. Her current work integrates machine learning with materials science simulation and theory, with the goals of shortening the discovery timeline and improving the fundamental understanding of materials. She has a background in computational materials science, and has studied mechanical failure, photovoltaics, and superconductivity through simulation at the atomic and quantum scales. She obtained her PhD in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University, and has held research positions at the Ecole Polytechnique, the University of Illinois Chicago, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Linda HungSenior Research Scientist
Toyota Research Institute
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Anna Bethke is the Head of AI for Social Good of Intel's Artificial Intelligence Products Group where she is establishing partnerships with social impact organizations; enabling their missions with Intel's technologies and AI expertise. She is also actively involved in the AI Ethics discussion, collaborating on research surrounding the design of fair, transparent, ethical, and accessible AI systems. In her previous role as a deep learning data scientist she developed deep learning NLP algorithms as part of the NLP Architect team. Anna received an M.S and B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from MIT in 2009 and 2007 respectively.
Anna BethkeHead of AI for Social Good
Intel
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Graham received his PhD in Biology from MIT, where he studied microRNAs. After completing a post doctorate at the University of California, San Francisco, where he studied the genomics of infectious diseases, he joined Calico Life Sciences in 2014 as Principal Investigator. Within a company that focuses on aging and age-related diseases, his group’s research focuses on the genetics and genomics of lifespan and aging in humans and model organisms.
Graham RubyPrincipal Investigator
Calico
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Dr. Simon Lui is the Director and Expert AI scientist of the QQ Music BU, Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME), and Adjunct Professor of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). His primary research interests are AI and music information retrieval. Before joining TME, Simon was an Assistant Professor of SUTD, Visiting Assistant Professor in MIT, and he has developed several #1 best-selling apps in the iOS app store in 7 countries. As an award-winning violinist and professional pop music arranger, Simon was also an invited beatbox guest in Eason Chan and Andy Lau's concert. Simon is a member of Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH).
Simon LuiDirector and Expert AI Scientist, QQ Music
Tencent Music Entertainment (TME)
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Toby Walsh is a world-renowned professor on artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales and Data61. He was named by the media as a "rock star" of the digital revolution and included on the list of the 100 most important digital innovators in Australia. Toby is the author of the books ‘IT’S ALIVE’, ‘Android Dreams’, ‘Machines That Think’ and ‘2062: The Year that AI Made”.
Toby is a sought-after keynote speaker on how artificial intelligence influences business, education, warfare, personal development, and finance, among others. His talks were featured at TED, Adobe Pacific Summit, Future Shapers Forum, CEBIT and Quest Future of AI. He has advised a number of leading organizations on their AI strategy such as McKinsey & Co, Bertlesmann, TATA Consulting, SeviceNow, Clayton Utz, the NSW Department of Education, and Penguin Random House.
Prof. Walsh is a passionate advocate for limits to AI to ensure AI is used to improve, not hurt, our lives. Together with Pope Francis, Toby was voted runner up in the Person of the Year Award by the Arm Control Association, recognizing his work in ensuring safe use of AI in warfare.
Toby WalshScientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence
Technical University Berlin
University of New South Wales
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MARY L. GRAY is a Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, an E.J. Safra Center for Ethics Fellow and Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society Faculty Affiliate at Harvard University, and a faculty member in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering with affiliations in Anthropology and Gender Studies at Indiana University. She is the co-author of Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass, a 2019 Financial Times Critic’s Pick, which explores the lives of people paid to train artificial intelligence and, increasingly, work as “humans in the loop” delivering on-demand information services. She is a leading expert in the emerging field of AI ethics.
Mary chairs the Microsoft Research Ethics Review Program—the only federally-registered review board of its kind in Tech. She is recognized as a leading expert in the emerging field of AI and ethics, particularly research at the intersections of computer and social sciences. She sits on the editorial boards of Cultural Anthropology, Television and New Media, the International Journal of Communication, and Social Media + Society. Mary’s research has been covered by popular press venues, including The Guardian, El Pais, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Nature, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Forbes Magazine. She served on the Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association and was the Program Chair for the Association’s 113th Annual Meeting. Mary currently sits on several boards, including Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), the Strada Education Network, and Stanford University’s One-Hundred-Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100) Standing Committee, commissioned to reflect on the future of AI and recommend directions for its policy implications.
Mary L. GraySenior Principal Researcher
Microsoft Research
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Arthur is a structural engineer, architect, and circular economy innovator. He has spent over a decade turning post-consumer waste into innovative products for businesses and consumers through his company, MINIWIZ. As CEO and founder of MINIWIZ, Arthur is focused on accelerating the shift to a closed-loop circular economy where all products are made from recycled materials and eventually, even those products will be recycled. Today, MINIWIZ is a global leader in transforming post-consumer products into retail store interiors, architectural structures, and consumer goods. Under Arthur’s leadership, MINIWIZ has received the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer Award, The Financial Times’ Earth Award, and The Wall Street Journal’s Asian Innovation Award. Arthur has been a National Geographic Explorer since 2016 and the World Economic Forum recognized him as the Runner up for The Circular Leadership Award 2019 Davos. In February 2019, the World Economic Forum named MINIWIZ as one of the top 11 companies leading the way to a circular economy.
Arthur HuangCEO and Founder
MINIWIZ
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Bunnie is best known for his work hacking the Microsoft Xbox, as well as for his efforts in designing and manufacturing open source hardware, including the chumby (app-playing alarm clock), chibitronics (peel-and-stick electronics for craft), and Novena (DIY laptop). He received his PhD in EE from MIT in 2002. He currently lives in Singapore where he runs a private product design studio, Kosagi, and he actively mentors several startups and students.
Bunnie HuangHardware Hacker, Author and Digital Rights Activist
Kosagi
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Claire Beatty is editorial director for Asia at MIT Technology Review Insights. She partners with clients across Asia and the Middle East to develop thought leadership that drives conversations around the way that technology is shaping our lives.
Claire has lived and worked in Singapore since 2007 and has more than 15 years of experience in consulting, editorial, and communications roles. She began her career in London as a researcher in the Technology Practice at CEB (now Gartner), developing best practice case studies from world-class IT organizations. On moving to Singapore she joined the Economist Intelligence Unit as senior editor for Southeast Asia, creating client-commissioned content on issues such as trade, innovation, and the outlook for different sectors in the region.
From 2012 to 2015 she took a consulting role with boutique leadership firm BTS, where she led worked with business leaders around the region on strategy alignment, innovation and workforce mobilization. A highly experienced chair, facilitator, and program designer, Claire has led dozens of workshops and events across the region for companies including Prudential, DBS, Unilever, Deloitte, and HP.
Before joining MIT, Claire was group communications director for logistics firm JF Hillebrand. She holds a bachelor’s degree in European Studies from the University of Leeds and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law.
Claire BeattyEditorial Director
MIT Technology Review Insights
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Prof Eugene Fitzgerald is CEO of SMART, MIT’s Research Enterprise in Singapore. His research work resulted in the discovery of high mobility strained silicon, the basis of the founding of his first company. He is a practicing researcher, serial innovator and entrepreneur and has founded or co-founded seven enterprises. His latest venture is New Silicon Corporation, a Singapore venture co-founded with colleagues in the SMART Low Energy Electronic Systems program. He is co-author of the book “Inside Real Innovation”. He received his undergraduate degree from MIT in 1985 and his PhD from Cornell University in 1989.
Eugene FitzgeraldCEO and Director
Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology
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Associate Professor Jeremy Lim is the founder of AMiLi (Asian Microbiome Library), the first gut microbiome bank in Singapore and Southeast Asia. AMiLi’s mission is to advance human health through microbiome science and we work with clinicians, researchers and patient groups to make accessible the microbiome for patient care and research.
Prior to AMiLi, Jeremy founded global consultancy Oliver Wyman’s healthcare consulting practice in Asia in 2012. He has held senior executive roles in both the public and private sectors in Asian healthcare including as director of research in Singapore’s largest healthcare system and as Singapore CEO of a pan-Asian private healthcare group. He continues to serve in the National University of Singapore as co-director of the global health program in the School of Public Health.
Jeremy LimCEO
Asian Microbiome Library (AMiLi)
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Karen Hao is the artificial intelligence reporter for MIT Technology Review. In particular she covers the ethics and social impact of the technology as well as its applications for social good. She also writes the AI newsletter, the Algorithm, which thoughtfully examines the field’s latest news and research. Prior to joining the publication, she was a reporter and data scientist at Quartz and an application engineer at the first startup to spin out of Google X.
Karen HaoSenior AI Reporter
MIT Technology Review
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Prof. Kedar Hippalgaonkar holds a joint appointment as an Assistant Professor at the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Senior Scientist at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering at the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR). His interests are in the application of ML/AI tools to unearth novel physics in existing or novel materials, especially with an eye for multifunctional devices towards sustainable energy. His research emphasizes on using high-throughput automated experiments via machine learning optimization and rapid characterization to accelerate materials discovery and device innovation.
He has published over 40 research papers, and was nominated as a Journal of Materials Chemistry Emerging Investigator in 2019. He was recognized as a Science and Technology for Society Young Leader in Kyoto in 2015. For graduate research, he was awarded the Materials Research Society Silver Medal in 2014. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Distinction) from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University in 2003 and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley in 2014. While pursuing his doctoral studies, he conducted research on fundamentals of heat, charge and light in solid state materials.
Kedar HippalgaonkarSenior Scientist I
Electronic Materials Department
IMRE, A*STAR
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Michel Dyakonov received his PhD in Theoretical Physics (1966) from Ioffe Institute in Saint Petersburg, USSR. He worked at Ioffe Institute until 1998, when he became professor at University of Montpellier, France. He was elected as an Honorary Member of Ioffe Institute (2014). His interests are in the fields of solid-state physics, spin physics, physics of 2D electrons. He is also a recipient of numerous awards including the State Prize of USSR, Beller Lectureship Award from the American Physical Society, and the grand prize from the French Physical Society. His name is connected to several phenomena: Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation mechanism, Dyakonov surface waves, Dyakonov-Shur instability. Together with Perel, he predicted the Spin Hall Effect which has become a subject of intense studies.
Michel DyakonovProfessor of Physics
Laboratoire Charles Coulomb
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Dr Paola A. Magni is a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at Murdoch University (Perth, WA) and the Deputy Dean at Murdoch University Singapore.
Paola is a forensic biologist with a key focus on the application of natural sciences (entomology, taphonomy and aquatic biology) to crime scene investigation. She has several years of experience as a lecturer, researcher and expert witness in the Court of Law on cases of homicide, suspicious death, animal cruelty/wildlife, food forensic and stored products security. She is the co-author of several books, book chapters and peer reviewed articles focused on her research and case-work.
She is the of “SmartInsects – Forensic Entomology”, the smartphone App designed to facilitate the work of law enforcement agencies and pathologists at crime scenes, and “VirtualCSI”, the Virtual Reality training suite for forensic science students and law enforcement.
In the last few years, Paola has also undertaken research into the pedagogy behind innovative methods in forensic education, with a special focus in the internationalization of the Forensic Science curricula. Example of this are the successful projects for the New Colombo Mobility Plans and the Endeavour Leadership Program founded by the Australian Government.
Deeply interested in science communication and advocate for women in STEM, Paola is the Australian winner of the global science communication competition FameLab, a TEDx speaker, a WiTWA Role Model and she has been nominated one of the 100 people who will influence Western Australia in the biggest way in 2020.
Paola MagniDeputy Dean
Murdoch University Singapore
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As CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), Bob leads the strategic vision for the company. He received his PhD in plasma physics at MIT, focusing his work on Alcator C-Mod and developing techniques to measure the magnetic field inside tokamak plasmas. During this time, Bob contributed to the design of several small tokamaks using high temperature superconductors (HTS). As an MIT fellow, Bob focused on how entrepreneurship, risk-retirement strategies, and partnerships could increase the speed of fusion from laboratory to market. His work has focused on strategies to leverage the collaboration of private finance and traditional academic resources to speed the path to commercial fusion energy.
Robert MumgaardCEO
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
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Hong Kong Baptist University President Roland Chin worked on machine vision and pattern recognition since the 70’s from automated visual inspection for manufacturing to NASA remote sensing. Now as President of a leading liberal arts university in Asia, he advocates a new renaissance in liberal arts education in which core values and ethics become the DNA of future generations of scientists.
Roland ChinPresident and
Vice Chancellor
Hong Kong Baptist University
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Dr. Saif A. Khan obtained a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering at the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), Mumbai where he was the university gold medallist. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006, where he was a Presidential Fellow. In 2006, he joined the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he is currently a tenured Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research group at NUS develops new microfluidics-based ‘factories’ for the continuous manufacture of pharmaceuticals and advanced materials in collaboration with several industrial partners worldwide. He has also co-founded two start-up companies focused on advanced materials manufacture and opthalmic drug delivery.
Saif A. KhanAssociate Professor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
NUS -
Born in 1975. After graduating from the Nagoya University School of Architecture, Shunsuke Nakamura created media art and completed his PhD (Art and Technology) at the Kyushu Institute of Design Graduate School. He is also a visiting associate professor at the Kyushu Institute of Technology.
He founded SHIKUMI DESIGN in 2005. And His work “KAGURA” - AR musical instrument - won the Prizes of the world contest “Intel® Perceptual Computing Challenge 2013” in the USA, “Sonar+D Startup Competition 2016” in Spain, “Future-Maker Award 2016” in China, “WIRED Audi INNOVATION AWARD 2016” in Japan, and more.
Shunsuke NakamuraCEO
Shikumi Design
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Mr Steve Leonard is a technology-industry leader with a wide range of experiences, having played key roles in building several global technology companies in Software, Hardware and Services. Although a US citizen by birth, Mr Leonard considers himself a member of the global community, having lived and worked outside the US for more than 25 years.
In his current role as Founding Chief Executive of SGInnovate, a company held within the National Research Foundation of Singapore, Mr Leonard has been chartered to help translate some of the 'deep-tech' R&D, for which Singapore has gained a global reputation, into commercial success by working with local and international partners.
Prior to his current role, Mr Leonard served as the Executive Deputy Chairman of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), the statutory board within the Singapore Government Ministry of Communications and Information, with various responsibilities for the technology and telecommunications environment in Singapore. Mr Leonard continues to serve as the Deputy Chairman of IDA at the request of the Minister.
Mr Leonard serves on the advisory boards of a range of universities and organisations in Singapore.
Steve LeonardFounding CEO
SGInnovate
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Dr. Steven Tucker is a Preventive Medical Oncologist and Co-Founder of Re:Mission Health, a digital platform that aims to reduce the burden of preventable non-communicable diseases. By integrating personal nutrition, continuous monitoring, and community building, Re:Mission Health brings education, empowerment, and accountability to individuals and families at the highest risk of disease by starting with cancer survivors and their families.
Dr. Tucker trained in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology at the UCLA Center for Health Sciences and joined the UCLA Clinical faculty in 1999. In 2006, he moved to Singapore to develop a global oncology clinical trials program and in 2011 founded Tucker Medical, a multi-specialty medical practice caring for regional patients. As a leader in population health in Asia, he has had strategic roles at CXA Group, MetLife Asia, Lumen Lab Innovation Center, and was founding Global Health Advisor at Singtel. Dr. Tucker is a member of the faculty at the MIT - Singapore Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) teaching medical innovation, design thinking, and entrepreneurship.
Steven TuckerCofounder
Re:Mission Health
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Tonio BUONASSISI’s research interests are at the intersection of machine learning, high-throughput experimentation and high-performance computing. He founded the MIT PVLab and co-founded the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems in Boston, USA, and is known for his work in the field of photovoltaics, predictive process simulation, defects, multiscale characterization (synchrotron), photoelectrochemistry, system design and modeling, and technoeconomic analysis. His work was recognized with a Google Faculty Award, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), MIT Everett Moore Baker Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, among others.
Tonio BuonassisiAssociate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
MIT
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Professor Virginia CHA is a professor of innovation and entrepreneurship in Singapore with multiple appointments at Singapore’s leading tertiary education institutions: Adjunct Professor at INSEAD, Adjunct Professor at NUS Business School, and other adjunct appointments at SMART (Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology) and Lean LaunchPad @Singapore.
In her multi-faceted 40 year-long industry and academic career that spanned multiple countries, Virginia co-founded or was the sole-founder and CEO of multiple venture-funded, hi-tech companies in Singapore and China, with listings on NASDAQ and HKSE. She has co-authored a book “Asia’s Entrepreneurs: Dilemmas, Risks and Opportunities” which captured Singapore’s recent entrepreneurial history. Additionally, Virginia is a member of the Future Council of World Economic Forum. In addition to teaching entrepreneurship, Virginia is also an active researcher, mentor, and angel investor in Asia’s entrepreneur ecosystem. Virginia has 16 companies in her angel investment portfolio, supporting start-up entrepreneurs with operations in Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, USA, Finland, and the UK.
Virginia’s latest research into innovation is on the subject of restorative innovation (www.restorativeinnovation.com). This emergent framework uses an economic model on how sustainable goods can reach mass consumption through innovation along three dimensions: increased supply, supply chain efficiency, and increased adoption. This framework is now a subject taught in all the leading Singapore tertiary institutions in innovation.
Virginia earned her Bachelor of Science in Information Computer Science, University of Hawaii, in 1980, and her PhD from National University of Singapore, with concentration in entrepreneurial logic as the key research thesis.
Virginia ChaAdjunct Professor, INSEAD/NUS
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Yuki Hanyu got his Ph.D in chemistry from Oxford University on 2010. After working as a research scientist in Tohoku University and Toshiba Research and Development Center, he founded in 2014 the "Shojinmeat Project", the world’s first citizen science community for DIY open-source cell-based meat. Based on the low-cost cell culture technology developed in the Shojinmeat Project, he founded IntegriCulture Inc. in 2015 to commercialise cell-based meat. The company is developing food grade culture media and a wide range of cell-based products such as cosmetics, foie gras and meat.
Yuki HanyuCEO
Integriculture
Innovators Under 35 Asia Pacific
The 20 outstanding innovators from the region have been chosen. These young innovators are trailblazers in their fields and are leading the next generation of technological breakthroughs. The 20 regional honourees will each present a three-minute elevator pitch at EmTech Asia on 4 – 5 August 2020. MIT Technology Review also showcases the honourees online.
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How It’s Made: Autonomous Farms
Daily satellite imagery and sensors are now automatic and provide data 24/7, enabling the possibility of autonomous farming. As of present, the agricultural industry does not leverage on data, leading to inefficient agricultural production. With autonomous farming, agriculture production can be sustainable through predictive farm-specific models that will help us attend to crop-needs at the right time. But what stands in the way? Join the founder and CEO of FluroSat, Amelia Earhart Fellow, Dr Anastasia Volkova as she explores the future of conventional agriculture.
About Anastasiia Volkova
Anastasia founded FluroSat with the aim to close the gap between the application of remote sensing technology in precision agriculture and the insights available in the field. An experienced aeronautical engineer armed with a PhD in autonomous drone navigation, Anastasia’s extensive experience ranges from participating in projects with the NASA robots onboard International Space Station to managing a 370-person team for UEFA. She has received numerous awards, including Women Creating Change by NSW/ACT (Australian Capital Territory and NSW) Young Achiever Award and the 2017 Amelia Earhart Fellow award.
Anastasia VolkovaAUSTRALIA
FluroSat
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Making AI models more understandable and trustworthy to humans
AI models such as deep neural networks are employed to make highly consequential decisions in our daily lives. However, these complex models, purely trained from massive amounts of data, are often treated as a black-box - lacking interpretations for their internal mechanisms as well as explanation for their output predictions. Bolei will talk about his work on opening the black-box; revealing what’s inside the networks trained-for-image-recognition-and-image-synthesis, and the continuing effort to make AI models more transparent.
About Bolei Zhou
Bolei is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Information Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD degree in computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research is in machine perception and decision, with a focus on enabling machines to sense and reason about the environment through learning more interpretable and structural representations. He received the Facebook Fellowship, Microsoft Research Asia Fellowship, MIT Greater China Fellowship, and his research was featured in media outlets such as TechCrunch, Quartz, and MIT News.
Bolei ZhouHONG KONG SAR
Chinese University of Hong Kong
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Unmasking Alzheimer’s disease with a simple, accurate and cost-effective blood test
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is typically diagnosed at a late stage with subjective, expensive or invasive methods. Despite intense interest to develop alternative blood-based detection technologies, these technologies are limited by low sensitivity and poor accuracy to brain pathology. With the APEX technology, sensitive, accurate and direct detection of the earliest and most reflective marker of AD brain pathology from a small volume of blood can be done. The blood test can facilitate early detection and intervention, as well as treatment evaluation, which can improve the success of disease-modifying therapies.
About Carine Lim
Carine is an enthusiastic Biomedical Engineering graduate student at the National University of Singapore. She works at the crossroad of multiple disciplines to tackle challenges in medical diagnostics, with the hope of making a positive impact in patient care. Her research focuses on circulating markers for precision medicine and molecular stratification. Her recent work in developing an accurate blood-based detection for Alzheimer’s disease was highlighted in Nature Communications and major media. She believes accurate disease detection with circulating biomarkers will benefit patients in facilitating early detection and treatment evaluation, which can improve the success rate of disease-modifying therapies.
Carine LimSINGAPORE
National University of Singapore
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Developing membrane technologies to convert the osmotic pressure to renewable osmotic energy
About Chunfeng Wan
Chunfeng is a technical director at Meinhardt. He obtained his Ph.D. from Prof Chung’s membrane research group in the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on membrane synthesis, membrane module fabrication, process design, techno-economic analysis and pilot system for osmotic energy generation by pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). He has published 20+ articles in the Journal of Membrane Science, Applied Energy, and other leading research journals. He was awarded the AICHE-SLS young researcher and principal investigator award in 2018 and Forbes 30 under 30 Asia award in 2019.
Chunfeng WanSINGAPORE
Meinhardt
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Developing data centric solutions to eliminate prosthetic pain and discomfort
About Connor Talbot
Connor is a graduate Electrical Engineer from the University of Auckland. From working with injured animals and thinking of 3D printed prosthetic solutions, he realized there is a major opportunity to create better prosthetics for humans instead. Connor and his team are working to address the problem of poor fitting prosthetic sockets in human amputees by utilising Selective Laser Sintering, an industrial version of 3D printing. They have transitioned towards developing data centric solutions, capturing vital limb information in new ways which can then be used by prosthetic companies to improve patient outcomes.
Connor TalbotNEW ZEALAND
ProstheteX
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Finding new battery technologies for next-generation safe, low-cost and scalable energy storage
Safety concerns of organic media-based batteries are the key public arguments against their widespread usage. Aqueous batteries provide a promising alternative for safe, cost-effective, and scalable energy storage with high power density and tolerance against mishandling. Dongliang’s new battery technologies have opened new opportunities for the development of high-performance batteries and should be of immediate benefit for low-cost practical energy storage and grid-scale applications.
About Dongliang (Donny) Chao
Donny obtained his PhD from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He joined University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, USA) in 2016 as a joint researcher, followed by postdoc at NTU. He is currently an ARC Research Fellow at The University of Adelaide, focusing on materials for next-generation safe, low-cost and scalable energy storage. Dr Chao is serving as Managing Editor for the journal Materials Today Energy. He has published >80 journal articles and 1 authored book. His H-index is 38 with citations of more than 6,300.
Dongliang (Donny) ChaoAUSTRALIA
The University of Adelaide
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Created an IoT smart feeding solution and leverages on data and its network to increase fisheries’ efficiency and profitability
As a fish farmer-turned-agriculture tech entrepreneur, eFishery founder and CEO Gibran Huzaifah is revolutionizing the relatively untapped $9.4 billion-valued Indonesian aquaculture market. eFishery uses cloud-based smart-feeding technology in fish and shrimp farms across the vast archipelago, to ensure that fishes are healthy, and waste is minimized. The IoT startup doesn't just sell products, it also collects data from feeding, production, water quality and fish behavior to create predictive algorithm and value-chain services. The company uses the data platform to provide and connect farmers with services like financing, market access, and supply.
About Gibran Huzaifah Asmi El Farizy
Gibran completed his degree in Biological Science at Institut Teknologi Bandung. He started his own catfish farm while in college, which grew from a single pond to 76 ponds upon his graduation. In 2013, he found eFishery, a smart feeding technology that radically changed the way fish and shrimp farmers feed, helping them become more cost effective and environmentally sustainable. Since its commercialization, eFishery has been adopted by thousands of farmers across Indonesia. Gibran and his team expanded eFishery’s functionalities to credit scoring, predictive on-demand feed supply, and even a fish marketplace that uses the data from its IoT. His company now employs 164 people, with products deployed in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, India, and Bangladesh. Gibran was in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2017 and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Innovation Category).
Gibran Huzaifah Asmi El FarizyINDONESIA
eFishery
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Created an electricity- and chemical- free filter for rapid water purification
About Hao Guo
Hao is now a Postdoc Fellow from Department of Civil Engineering at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He received his B.Eng from Wuhan University of Technology at 2010, M.Eng from Huazhong University of Science & Technology at 2013, and Ph.D. from HKU at 2017. His research works mainly go to the fundamental mechanism investigation and novel materials development in advanced membrane-based water treatment and seawater desalination for sustainable water production.
Hao GuoHONG KONG SAR
The University of Hong Kong
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Bringing delicious and healthy crustacean meat to consumers by harvesting cells instead of animals
The way the world eats at present is unsustainable and unhealthy for the environment, animals and ourselves. It is impossible to produce the amount of seafood required to feed the growing population by 2050. Shiok Meats have created a solution by cultivating meat in the lab. By using stem cells and biotechnology, cultivated crustacean meats can be brought to your table, which are health-, animal- and environment-friendly. In this talk, Ka Yi will share the background and technology of cultivated crustacean meats and the journey of setting up Shiok Meats.
About Ka Yi Ling
Ka Yi is a developmental and stem cell biologist with over 10 years expertise in tracing and studying stem cells during development. Ka Yi received the prestigious A*STAR’s National Science Scholarship and graduated with a Bachelor’s and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She worked closely with stem cell and developmental biology experts like James Thomson, Davor Solter and Barbara Knowles. Following graduation, Ka Yi did her postdoc at IMCB, A*STAR in Singapore. She is an active science communicator since her days in Madison; and frequently takes part in science outreach and speaks at food sustainability and career management events. She also did a podcast called “Science Now” and “Life after PhD” with fellow colleague/scholar. Ka Yi is passionate about marrying her experience in biotech research and her love for food to produce sustainable food products. In August 2018, she co-founded a cell-based crustaceans startup called Shiok Meats, along with Dr Sandhya Sriram.
Ka Yi LingSINGAPORE
Shiok Meats
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Power Electronics to Maximize Solar Photovoltaic Power for Emerging Applications
Solar photovoltaic energy is a viable source of clean, renewable power for applications like wearables, health-monitoring devices, drones, and electric vehicles. However, conventional power system designs drastically reduced power generation when the solar cells receive different amounts of light, as in these emerging applications. Katherine has created an innovative power electronics design, using a technique called differential power processing. This innovation minimizes power lost in the converters while individually maximizing each solar cell’s power. The power converters easily connect together for a modular design. Prototypes for wearables have been built and further development for various applications is in progress.
About Katherine A. Kim
Katherine is Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University. She received the B.S. Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA, in 2007, and the M.S. and Ph.D. Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA, in 2011 and 2014, respectively. From 2014 to 2018, she was an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea. Her research focuses on power electronics and control for photovoltaic systems and wearable applications.
Katherine A. KimTAIWAN
National Taiwan University
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Built a cloud-based supercomputing system emulation engine for supercomputing software development, testing and validation
Archanan Development Cloud (DevCloud) is a supercomputing system emulation engine, which enables development, testing and validation of high-performance computing codes at the desired scale using a fully-featured, web-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Furthermore, it enables supercomputer pre-sizing and emulation to find the best system specifications for given workflows, making it an invaluable tool for both supercomputing centers and OEMs during tendering process.
About Lukasz Orlowski
Lukasz is a passionate software engineer and computational scientist with interest in large-scale computational software, supercomputing systems and distributed computing systems. He has over 8 years of experience in distributed and parallel software development. Having worked at Intel and A*STAR Computational Resource Center, Lukasz experienced first-hand the woes of a distributed software developer and decided to challenge how large-scale simulation software is developed. He cofounded Archanan – a startup developing innovative supercomputer emulation engine, for supercomputer software development, testing and validation.
Lukasz OrlowskiSINGAPORE
Archanan
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Separating industrial chemical mixtures at a molecular level with minimal energy
Chemical separation is imperative for industries ranging from food, pharmaceutical, and petrochemical. Not only are these processes operating at massive scales, but they also require immense amounts of energy-intensive distillation and evaporation separations. Dr. Farahani, cofounder and CEO of SEPPURE, invented chemical-resistant membranes with pores less than 1 nanometer, enabling chemical separations at a molecular level, without the traditional use of heat. SEPPURE’s sustainable alternative can reduce energy consumption by 90% and conserve billions of gallons of water and billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere every single year.
About Mohammad Hossein Davood Abadi Farahani
Farahani is cofounder and CEO of SEPPURE. SEPPURE creates novel nano-filters to separate chemical mixtures at a molecular level with minimal energy use. Originally started as a project at the National University of Singapore (NUS) during Farahani’s Ph.D. program, SEPPURE has raised US$2.55M seed funding to commercialize the technology. He received his Ph.D. degree in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering in 2018 from NUS as an A*Star SINGA awardee. His Ph.D. thesis (SEPPURE's core technology) also received global recognition in 2018 via the “Outstanding Postgraduate Research Thesis Award” from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Mohammad Hossein Davood Abadi FarahaniSINGAPORE
SEPPURE
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MycoTimber; wood from no wood. A global paradigm shift in building industry.
Future economic and ecological development worldwide is strongly connected to the question where our resources for future prosperity come from. As our mines are running dry, our forests are disappearing and CO2 levels are reaching alarming levels, we need to think radically different in all economic sectors. The building industry alone is responsible for 40% of our solid waste production, for 40% of the use of primary energy resources and for 40% of CO2 emissions worldwide. To address this issue, we need to build a sustainable environment using alternative construction materials and systems. In this regard, mycelium, the structural part of fungi which forms its vegetative growth and mass can revolutionize the construction sector. Mycelium forms a net like structure and works as a binder which gets denser during the cultivation process on plant-based waste products. New age green technology to upcycle, transform and repurpose organic waste into “wood from no wood” can address several environmental, economical and socio-cultural concerns over construction industry.
About Nazanin Saeidi
Nazanin is a postdoctoral researcher and project coordinator of Mycelium-based composite materials lab at Future Cities Laboratory, where she is working on upcycling plant-based waste products and turning them to ecological products with the aid of fungal mycelia as natural binder. Dr Nazanin Saeidi attained her BS degree in chemical engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran in 2008. She received an A* Star scholarship and pursued her post-graduate studies in chemical and biomedical engineering at Nanyang Technological University, where she worked on engineering microbes to sense and eradicate a human pathogen. In 2013, she became a postdoctoral research fellow at the Singapore Membrane Technology Center where she studied the development of improved strategies to control Biofouling of membranes in water industry. In 2014, she joined the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at National University of Singapore to pursue a new research experience and focused on emerging microbial contaminants of concern in tropical urban catchments and the effect of diverse land use on the geospatial distribution of Emerging microbial contaminants of concern in tropical environments.
Nazanin SaeidiSINGAPORE
Singapore ETH Centre
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Developing Computer Vision and AI technologies to understand human behaviors such as facial expressions, emotions, and social relationship
Dr Luo’s research focuses on developing Computer Vision (CV) and AI technologies to understand human behaviors such as faces, emotions, actions and social relationships, in order to advance human-AI paired systems that outperform their singular counterparts. His groundbreaking researches included delving deeply into understanding the foundations of deep neural networks including autonomous deep learning, normalization, and optimization of deep neural networks. His work also enable many popular applications of AI and computer vision such as generating and editing high-fidelity images and videos, as well as understanding fashion trend by analyzing clothing images.
About Ping Luo
Ping is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science, the University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD degree in 2014 in the Chinese University of Hong Kong under the supervision of Xiaoou Tang (founder of SenseTime) and Xiaogang Wang. Previously a Director at SenseTime Research, Ping has published more than 70 top-tier conferences and journals such as TPAMI, ICML, ICLR, NeurIPS and CVPR, with 8500 citations in Google Scholar. He has won many awards such as the first runner-up in 2014 ImageNet ILSVRC Challenge and 2013 Microsoft Research Fellow Award.
Ping LuoHONG KONG SAR
The University of Hong Kong
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Multifunctional Metallic Backbones for Next-Generation Soft Robotics
Po-Yen's work focuses on the tight integration of actuation, sensing, and wireless communication capabilities into robotic bodies, enabling the development of new-generation soft robots with multiple built-in functionalities. The integration of functional nanomaterials (especially 2D materials) into soft matter allows for the fabrication of soft robotic materials with required multifunctionality and reconfigurability. Po-Yen and his lab have developed strategies to integrate a wide range of 2D materials with various soft matter, including a post-stabilization approach to produce reconfigurable and multifunctional metallic backbones (e.g., Pt-elastomer) for the fabrication of origami robots with built-in strain sensing and wireless communication capabilities. Compared with traditional robotic materials (papers and elastomers), the soft robots with Pt-based bodies demonstrated distinct capabilities without the needs of external electronics, such as built-in strain sensing, and wireless communication.
About Po-Yen Chen
Po-Yen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at National University of Singapore. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was awarded a Hibbitt Independent Postdoctoral Fellowship at Brown University. He was also awarded AME Young Investigator Award at Singapore and AIChE-SLS Outstanding Young Principal Investigator Award 2019. He aims at building a multidisciplinary research group that focuses on the mechanically patterned 2D materials that are capable of undergoing large and reversible stretching and deformations for the fabrication of stretchable electronics and smart soft robotics.
Po-Yen ChenSINGAPORE
National University of Singapore
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Helping doctors predict and prevent strokes using deep learning and computational modelling
See-Mode is a medtech startup with a team of scientists, engineers, and clinicians tackling the 2nd leading cause of death in the world: stroke. Currently, prediction and treatment planning of stroke is based on the decades-old method of stenosis grading, i.e. measuring the extent of narrowing of blood vessels in the neck or in the brain. However, mounting clinical evidence has recently proven that the risk of stroke depends on other physiological biomarkers that are difficult to obtain in real clinical settings. At See-Mode, cutting-edge deep learning and computational modeling techniques are applied on medical images to helps doctors predict stroke and decide the optimal treatment for their patient. See-Mode has developed and validated its first product for AI-based analysis of vascular ultrasound images, has received regulatory approval from Health Sciences Authority in Singapore, and is awaiting CE approval.
About Sadaf Manajemi
Sadaf is the cofounder of See-Mode Technologies, a med-tech startup that empowers doctors to predict strokes without any additional test using deep learning and computational modelling. After finishing her PhD in National University of Singapore (NUS), which was focused on the applications of machine learning and AI in medicine, she cofounded See-Mode to apply her research skills on a real-world problem that has a significant impact on patients and the healthcare industry. Over the past 2 years, she has grown See-Mode to an interdisciplinary team of 13 engineers and scientists, making rapid progress in bringing latest stroke research into hospitals.
Sadaf ManajemiSINGAPORE
See-Mode Technologies
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Advanced hand-held microfiber-based sensor for water quality monitoring
Water quality monitoring used to be is laborious, time-consuming, costly and in some rural areas, inaccessible. Stephanie developed a hand-held sensor that can detect various heavy metals such as cadmium and lead in five minutes, at a fraction of the cost of conventional measurement. It is also more affordable to public/private use, allowing for water quality monitoring to be conducted thoroughly and frequently. Using the developed sensing platform, Stephanie is currently working on extending the applicability of the sensor for other organic and biomolecule water contaminants as well as incorporating IoT for large-scale distributed sensing.
About Stephanie Hui Kit Yap
Stephanie received her B.Eng. in Electrical-Telecommunication (1st Class) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in School of Electrical Electronic Engineering in Nanyang Technological University. Her invention of a handheld water quality monitoring sensor for heavy metal detection has received recognition from international exhibitions such as the 46th International Exhibition of Invention Geneva 2018 (AFJ Gold medal) and International Trade Fair Invention 2018 (Gold medal). Stephanie is currently working on extending the applicability of the invention for other organic and biomolecule water contaminants as well as incorporating IoT for large-scale distributed sensing.
Stephanie Hui Kit YapSINGAPORE
Nanyang Technological University
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Using light to rapidly detect dengue
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease which has more than 390 million infections worldwide every year. Wei Ru’s research is focused on the development of a rapid dengue detection technology to expedite the detection of the dengue infection in blood. The detection can be done within 30 minutes as compared to the current, week-long laboratory diagnosis. The rapid sensing technology is based around the interaction between light with the chemical dynamics that take place when a virus is captured by the antibodies specific to the said virus. Both the sensor chips and the assessment modules are currently in the pre-commercialization phase.
About Wei Ru Wong
Wei Ru received her B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Malaya, where she is now a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Electrical Engineering. During her PhD, she was a visiting student at University of Ottawa, Canada for two years. Her research focuses on the development of a rapid dengue detection technology to expedite the detection of the dengue infection in blood. She was the recipient of Malaysia Toray Science Foundation (MTSF) Science and Technology Award in 2017 and University of Malaya’s Excellent Service Certificate (SPC) in 2018.
Wei Ru WongMALAYSIA
University of Malaya
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Building modular hardware for quantum computers
Quantum computers offer a powerful new paradigm of information processing that harnesses the unique features of quantum mechanics. A robust quantum computer has far-reaching impacts, capable of transforming a wide range of industries from every facet of life, from drug discoveries to logistics optimisations. Yconne will talk about the key modular quantum hardware she built using electrical circuits, which are cooled below a fraction of a degree to capture their quantum behaviour. These circuits can be manipulated to reliably store, process, and transfer quantum information. They offer a promising platform for realising robust large-scale computation.
About Yvonne Gao
Yvonne is a quantum physicist focusing on developing crucial hardware building blocks for quantum computers. She holds a B.A. from the University of Oxford and Ph.D. in Physics from Yale University. Yvonne is now working on establishing a new research initiative in Singapore, specialising in manipulating electrical circuits to store and process quantum information. Outside the lab, Yvonne plays an active role in building a vibrant quantum ecosystem in Singapore through public talks, panel discussions, and popular science writings.
Yvonne GaoSINGAPORE
Institute for Materials Research and Engineering
A*STAR
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Developing the world’s first intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-guided robot for bilateral stereotactic neurosurgery
Stereotactic neurosurgery involves a technique that can locate surgical targets using an external positioning system. It is one of the treatments to a variety of movement and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. Ziyan has developed a robot that is incorporated with magnetic resonance-safe actuation, wireless tracking technique and intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging for bilateral neuro-stereotaxy. It allows for shorter procedural time and optimized workflow, as surgeons could accurately control and evaluate the stereotactic manipulation bilaterally to the left and right brain targets in real-time.
About Ziyan Guo
Ziyan is a robotics scientist focused on innovating robotic devices for interventions requiring magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance, e.g. stereotactic neurosurgery, and cardiac catheterization. She received B.Eng in vehicle engineering from Tsinghua University and pursued PhD in surgical robotics in IRIS group under the supervision of Dr. Ka-Wai Kwok at The University of Hong Kong. Her work was recognised in several prestigious awards, including Best Conference Paper Award in ICRA’18 (the largest robotics conference), First Place Prize Paper Award in TPEL 2017, and Best Live Demonstration Prize in Surgical Robot Challenge 2016.
Ziyan GuoHONG KONG SAR
The University of Hong Kong
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