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2009 Issue #4 According to Wikipedia, “Eureka!” is an exclamation used as an interjection to celebrate a discovery. It is most famously attributed to the ancient Greek scholar Archimedes, who reportedly proclaimed “Eureka!” when he stepped into a bath and noticed that the water level rose – he suddenly understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body that he had submerged. This meant that the volume of irregular objects could be calculated with precision, a previously intractable problem. He is said to have been so eager to share his realization that he leapt out of his bathtub and ran naked through the streets of Syracuse.
With more modesty, we will share with you the “Eureka!” moments experienced by the innovative minds in the NUS community. Dr Kevin Tan and Dr Martin Lear have created a fluorescent tag, which has both diagnostic and drug discovery applications. We also shine the spotlight on Kai Square going places with their ideas – from the Start-Up@Singapore Business Plan Competition, to being lauded as one of “Asia’s Best Young Entrepreneurs 2009″ and last but not least, getting a glimpse of royalty.
We wish you many “Eureka!” moments in the months ahead – anywhere, anytime!
Happy reading! 2009 Issue #4 “The Global Security Challenge (GSC) is a useful platform and conduit for meaningful innovations to be identified and rewarded. It is also an excellent opportunity for officials from the public and private sectors to exchange ideas and spawn new initiatives. It is important that we continue to tap on such opportunities to forge stronger partnerships in the field of public security,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Wong Kan Seng.
 Neo Shi Yong and Victor Koh from Kai Square - the only Singaporean start-up in the GSC Asia finals and also a finalist in this year’s Start-Up@Singapore business plan competition. Being a London Business School alumni, DPM was invited to speak at the Asia Regional Finals of the GSC. At the Asia Regional Finals, three SMEs and three start-ups were competing for two winning places – the Best Security SME and the Most Promising Security Start-up. They presented their business plans to a panel of judges, comprising a US government official, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. This event was hosted by the British High Commission, with NUS as the Partner University.
“Diversity encourages a fertility of ideas and experimentation. In this vein, there are many opportunities and many areas in the field of security for SMEs and start-ups to bring in new ideas. The Singapore Government and its security agencies welcome such new ideas and strongly encourage SMEs and start-ups to bring innovative solutions to be tested and applied wherever practical and appropriate,” said DPM.
2009 Issue #4 Two issues ago, Edwin shared with us his experience in the iLEAD programme – an internship-based entrepreneurial experience that immerses NUS students in knowledge-intensive local enterprises. We caught up with him after his graduation and found that he had started his own company.
 “When others see a crisis, I see opportunities.” ~ Edwin Kheng (far left), Faculty of Science graduate, iLEAD alumni.
To be honest, there was a time when I was contemplating between a conventional job and being an entrepreneur. However, there were several factors that made me choose the entrepreneurial path.
2009 Issue #4 Do you want to start a company, but do not know how?
Come find out the answers to all these and more at the second Global Entrepreneurship Week, which will be held from 16-22 November 2009. Co-hosted by NUS Enterprise and Action Community for Entrepreneurship, this will be a week-long event, filled with events that aim to celebrate and promote innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity.
“Besides reaching out to students, we are also leveraging on the alumni groups of the various Institutes of Higher Learning, to reach out to newly employable youths, and professionals who are already in the workforce. Through the range of activities and initiatives happening during the Global Entrepreneurship Week, we hope to open up the youths’ minds to consider entrepreneurship as a possible career option,” said Dr Lily Chan, CEO NUS Enterprise.
Check out the http://www.entrepreneurshipweeksg.org for details! 2009 Issue #4 A collaboration between the departments of Microbiology and Chemistry at NUS has resulted in a new technology to help in the treatment of malaria patients.
 Caption of Partner1 picture: Dr Martin J. Lear and Dr Kevin S.W. Tan (flanking the TV screen) with their PhD/ MSc candidates, Santosh R Kotturi (far left), Jun Hong Ch'ng and Kunal H. Mahajan The project began when Dr. Kevin Tan (Microbiology department) wanted to see how death is induced in the malaria parasite. He noticed that the anti-malarial drug, chloroquine, could kill the parasite with different features of cell death, depending on the dose the parasite is exposed to. He hypothesized that at low to high doses, the drug would accumulate within different locations in the cell. To test his hypothesis, he collaborated with Dr Martin J. Lear (Chemistry department) to find out where the drug goes in a cell. Dr Lear designed and tagged a fluorescent molecule to chloroquine, which allowed the researchers to observe and understand the mode of action of chloroquine, and how it differed at high and low doses.
2009 Issue #4 NUS Enterprise successfully helped the following companies to clinch the YES! Startups, a scheme that was launched in November 2008, to provide funding support of up to S$50,000 for youths to set up their innovative startups:
2009 Issue #4 The ability to think well is an important skill and it is often what differentiates failure from success. This has led to the emergence of a mental framework called Critical Thinking. What exactly is critical thinking, and can you learn how to do it?
According to Wikipedia, critical thinking is the “purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or what to do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguments”. People who use critical thinking tend to be able to take the initiative as well as to be more objective.
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