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Entrepreneurship
Review
The global knowledge enterprise was conceived
to make NUS education and research more realworld
relevant by enhancing them with global
and entrepreneurial dimensions. The increasing
robustness of the University’s entrepreneurial
dimension has contributed to NUS’ growing reputation as a hotbed of innovation and
technological development. All indicators
continued to point to a university community
committed and energised by the prospects of
turning ideas into applications.
EDUCATING ENTERPRISE
The enrolment of entrepreneurship-related
courses offered by NUS Entrepreneurship
Centre increased from 1,100 to 1,200 over the
last academic year. The NUS Overseas Colleges
programme set up to provide undergraduates
with windows of opportunity to immerse in the
working culture of some of the world’s most
dynamic entrepreneurial centres, was on track in
its plan to launch a college per year over a fiveyear
period. The fourth college, NUS College
in Stockholm, opened in the review year.
RESEARCHING ENTERPRISE
In its drive to promote an entrepreneurial
climate, the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre has
built an international reputation for its research
in entrepreneurship. In the review period,
14 papers were accepted for publication in
a number of journals and for presentation
at international conferences. At the same
time, the Centre participated in the Stanford
University co-ordinated project on Regions of
Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE) and a
World Bank-funded project on Innovative Cities
in East Asia.
ACTING ON ENTERPRISE
The pro-enterprise climate in NUS is well
reflected at NUS Business Incubator where 12
of the existing 19 tenants were new start-ups
that emerged in the year. Four were viable
enough to cut away from the University’s apron
strings and graduate from the incubator as
standalones.
Since 1989, 83 start-ups and spin-offs have
been spawned from ideas generated at NUS.
Together they have raised $176.8 million on their own and with the University’s help. In
the process, they have served as engines of
growth making available hundreds of jobs. The commercial viability of several of these
companies continued to attract investors. In
the year under review, Lynk Biotechnologies
Pte Ltd secured an investment of about $2.5
million from WhiteRock Associates to further
develop a new product line catering to
arthritis, joint and muscle stress. Innvo System
Pte Ltd, specialising in embedded software
development, attracted an investment of $14
million from Walden International.
Besides business incubation, NUS’ proactive
nurturing also includes the provision of seed
funding for start-ups with feasible business
plans. In the review year, two high-tech startups,
Avant Werx Pte Ltd and ThirdSight Pte
Ltd, received seed capital of up to $300,000
from NUS Venture Support Fund (NVSF1) to
fund their business development. Avant Werx
Pte Ltd, which specialises in the creation of
information management products, has already
secured a three-year sales order amounting
to $6.5 million from IT products distributor,
Digiland.
The NUS Student Enterprise Programme,
fuelled by funds from the government’s
Entrepreneurial Talent Development Fund
to help students in the early stages
of their business plans to start up, has
funded 10 companies in the nine months
since it first received the government’s
endowment. The new ventures highlight the
versatility of our students’ creativity as
their business activities range from mobile
and wireless technology to consumer robotic
manufacturing.
The growth of NUS’ entrepreneurial dimension
can be traced in tandem with the coming of age
of Start-Up@Singapore. The national business plan competition was driven by NUS as one of
the University’s first major initiatives to generate
an entrepreneurial outlook. After five years and
with six competitions to its credit, the event
is now a business launch pad which attracts
the partnership of more than 40 business and
industry organisations and has spawned more
than 40 start-up companies.
The competition’s growth and maturity were
rationalised in the year with the onset of
the Start-Up@Singapore Enterprise Launcher,
targeted to bring together its 2,500-strong past
participants through follow-up programmes
such as investment forums and mentoring
tie-ups.
EDUCATING ENTERPRISE
| No. of students attending NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) during Academic year 2004-2005 |
| NOC in Shanghai |
25 |
| NOC in Silicon Valley |
48 |
| NOC in BioValley |
23 |
| Total |
96 |
| Breakdown of students who have attended NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) since January 2002 |
| Current students |
96 |
| NOC Alumni |
149 |
| New students
(departing in
July 2005) |
57 |
| Total |
302 |
ACTING ON ENTERPRISE
| Breakdown of NUS’ Entrepreneurial Initiatives (1 July 2004 to 30 April 2005) |
| Patents Granted |
51 |
| Patents filed |
124 |
| Technology disclosures |
123 |
| Start-ups funded by NVSF1** |
2 |
| Start-ups funded by SEP* |
10 |
| Licensing deals signed |
17 |
| Total |
327 |
* Student Enterprise Programme
** NUS Venture Support Fund 1
| Composition of Start-ups in NUS Business Incubator (2004) |
| Engineering |
5 |
| IT and
Telecommunications |
10 |
| Life Sciences |
4 |
| Total |
19 |
| Consultancy Projects undertaken by NUS Community |
| 703 |
by 398 faculty
members |
Revenue Earned:
$4,700,000 |
| 21 |
by NUS
Consulting |
Revenue Earned:
$700,000 |
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