Episode Details

Filmed at the A5X Conference, Singapore - This interview forms part of a wider series we filmed in collaboration with NUSX, who invited us to Singapore to speak with founders, investors and academics from across the globe about shared challenges, the developing bridge between Europe and Asia, and the lessons we can learn from each other. In this conversation, we sit down with Dr. Tan Sian Wee, Senior Vice President (Innovation & Enterprise) at the National University of Singapore, to explore the NUSX story - from the A5X vision and its billion-dollar ambitions to Singapore's growing role as a global launchpad for DeepTech ventures. Having worked across Silicon Valley, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Dr Tan offers a rare comparative perspective on what it actually takes to turn world-class research into a world-class company. We discuss why so much brilliant university research never reaches the market, where the biggest gaps between lab and commercialisation lie, and what NUS is doing to close them. We also dive into the launch of Nova, NUSX's full-stack AI platform for opportunity discovery - what problem it's solving, and how AI might fundamentally change the way universities identify which ideas are worth building companies around. Finally, Dr Tan shares what catches his eye when he evaluates a young deep-tech company, and what needs to happen over the next five to ten years for Singapore to become a place where the world's most important DeepTech companies are not just funded, but born and built.