Top proposals from inaugural science competition selected for future collaboration
SINGAPORE, 14 August 2018 – Mitsubishi Electric Corporation successfully concluded the first-ever “Tech Push” incubation programme in Southeast Asia, where local university students and rising start-ups prototyped and pitched their ideas on solving real-life problems using two leading water technologies developed by Mitsubishi Electric.
The two water technologies, named “SeaAerial Antenna[1]” and “Smart Air Coating[2]” respectively, were utilised by six student teams and start-ups throughout the five-month incubation programme. The final proposals were presented to a panel of judges at an event hosted at Platform E by the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) on 11 August, where Team SafeHaven from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) won the final cash prize of S$3,000 for “Quartz” – a cost-effective sensor that can be used for tsunami detection.
The winning teams from the inaugural Mitsubishi Electric “Tech Push” incubation programme
Organised by science venture organisation Leave a Nest and supported by Mitsubishi Electric, “Tech Push” is one of the very first public experiments the Japanese industry giant has carried out in Southeast Asia to cultivate and select innovative ideas on commercialising its patent-protected technologies.
“We have chosen Singapore to host the inaugural ‘Tech Push’ programme as we believe talents and organisations here are creative and full of innovative ideas,” said Takato Abe, Senior General Manager of Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Mitsubishi Electric. “We strongly hope that ‘Tech Push’ can help us kick-start a long-term business incubation programme in Singapore, where our ground-breaking technologies can be commercialised and implemented to benefit more people and local communities.”
“Sometimes it is very difficult for professional researchers and academia to think ‘out-of-the-box’ and make their technologies applicable to people’s everyday life,” said Dr. Kihoko Tokue, Managing Director, Leave a Nest Singapore. “We are glad to support Mitsubishi Electric in exchanging insightful ideas with local students and start-ups through the ‘Tech Push’ programme and hope these proposals will be integrated into real product solutions in the near future.”
Appendix: Tech Push Team Profiles
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About Mitsubishi Electric:
With nearly 100 years of experience in providing reliable, high-quality products, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) is a recognized world leader in the manufacture, marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development and satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation and building equipment. Embracing the spirit of its corporate statement, Changes for the Better, and its environmental statement, Eco Changes, Mitsubishi Electric endeavours to be a global, leading green company, enriching society with technology. The company recorded consolidated group sales of 4,431.1 billion yen (US$ 41.8 billion*) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. For more information visit: www.MitsubishiElectric.com
*At an exchange rate of 106 yen to the US dollar, the rate given by the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market on March 31, 2018
About Leave a Nest:
Leave a Nest Co., Ltd. started as a science venture company in June 2002 by 15 graduate science students, and now hosts an in-house training program for university students and workshops in schools to reduce science graduate employment problems and foster interest in science among the younger generation. Today, Leave a Nest has a direct network with more than 100 companies, 2,000 teachers and 10,000 researchers across Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. Together with its partners and supporting network, Leave a Nest aims to contribute to the world through Science and Technology by engaging in science education, human resource training and research development projects.
[1] Using seawater to transmit and receive radio-wave signals
[2] a super-hydrophobic coating that protects various surfaces from water and dust
