Intrigued to Innovate: The Podcast
Learning from the Student Innovators of iDP (And More!)
Every innovation journey begins with a spark. Intrigued to Innovate, the new podcast by the NUS Innovation & Design Programme (iDP), shines the spotlight on students and guests who have successfully transformed that spark into real-world innovation. Hosted by Dr Jovan Tan, the podcast reveals the untold stories of student innovators, highlighting their challenges, breakthroughs, and key moments of discover.
Why “Intrigued to Innovate”?
The podcast’s title, Intrigued to Innovate, carries a double meaning that reflects the essence of every innovator’s experience. On one hand, students feel inspired, curious, and eager to explore new ideas, often unsure where they might lead. On the other, Intrigued to Innovate encapsulates the entire process of creation—beginning with inspiration and culminating in innovation.
Listeners are invited to discover what it truly takes to bring ideas to life: from early ideation to iterative development, navigating real-world challenges, and uncovering the valuable lessons learned along the way.
A Platform for Learning From Peers, Not Just Professors
Unlike traditional lectures or seminars, Intrigued to Innovate flips the classroom dynamic.
Each episode showcases inspiring stories of student innovators tackling complex, real-world challenges through creative, interdisciplinary solutions. Here, Dr Jovan Tan learns from them, gaining insight into the fresh perspectives and creative problem-solving approaches that they bring to the table.
The series also occasionally features thought leaders in innovation, design, and entrepreneurship, offering listeners a blend of student-driven stories and expert insights that together paint a holistic picture of innovation in action.
Listeners can expect to gain practical insights into the innovation process from multiple perspectives, including those of students, professors, and industry experts. Through these candid conversations, listeners can learn more about how creative collaboration, interdisciplinary thinking, and iterative product design drive meaningful innovation. Each episode offers valuable lessons that students can apply to their own disciplines, projects and learning journeys.
Tune In
Whether you’re a first-year student curious about innovation, or a seasoned creator eager to learn from peer mentors, tune in to Intrigued to Innovate on Apple Podcasts and Spotify for authentic, insightful stories grounded in real experience. New episodes will be released every Wednesday.
Episodes of Intrigued to Innovate
Episode 1 (29 Oct 2025)
Validate First, Prototype Later: Why Stakeholder Alignment Beats Perfect Design (feat. Low Tse Han)
Intrigued to Innovate’s debut episode features Low Tse Han (Electrical Engineering, Year 3), Executive Producer of the series, and creator of MaternAI — a clinical decision-support system that helps OBGYN clinicians determine when a C-section is truly needed.
Through candid reflection, Tse Han shares how the MaternAI team faced unexpected challenges, including mid-project pivots and changing stakeholder expectations. Together with Dr Jovan Tan, he shares how these moments shaped his understanding of product design, adaptability, and real-world collaboration.
Episode 2 (12 Nov 2025)
Razor's Edge: How Two Young Innovators Were on the Edge of Failing — And How They Bounced Back (feat. Lee Seung Jun and Aditya Satish Nalini)
In this captivating episode of Intrigued to Innovate, host Dr Jovan Tan sits down with Lee Seung Jun (Chemical Engineering, Year 4) and Aditya Satish Nalini (Mechanical Engineering, Year 4) who dared to reimagine men's grooming retail. What began as an ambitious vision to create an AI-powered razor recommendation system nearly ended in complete failure — until a desperate cold email turned out to be their salvation.
This episode reveals the messy, unglamorous side of innovation that nobody talks about — dead ends, false starts, and the moment when staying silent becomes more dangerous than asking for help.
Episode 3 (26 Nov 2025)
From Trash to Treasure: How Two Women Engineers are Redefining Waste into Sustainable Innovation (feat. Harini Ravichandran and Felicia Tan)
In this engaging episode of Intrigued to Innovate, host Dr Jovan Tan sits down with Harini Ravichandran (Materials Science and Engineering, Year 4) and Felicia Tan (Chemical Engineering, Year 4), who are turning municipal food waste into a sustainable future.
Facing challenges like contaminated bacterial batches weeks before their final presentation and daily exposure to food waste fumes, Harini and Felicia's journey highlights the often-overlooked, gritty side of lab-based innovation. Whether you're a student engineer, sustainability advocate, or simply curious about turning environmental challenges into valuable resources, understand why the greatest innovations emerge not from perfect execution, but from embracing every setback as a stepping stone.
Episode 4 (10 Dec 2025)
From Leaks to Crystal Clear: How Friendship, Fun, and Fortitude Led to the Ultimate Wine Glass Cleaning Machine (feat. James Wang and Chong Jay-En)
In this hilarious yet hard-hitting episode of Intrigued to Innovate, host Dr Jovan Tan uncorks the story of Eclat, a fully automated wine glass washer and polisher built by James Wang (Mechanical Engineering, Year 4) and Chong Jay-En (Electrical Engineering, Year 4), the duo behind Crystal Clear and winners of the Best Prototype Award at the EDIC Project Showcase 2024.
What starts as a casual "why not?" project with friends quickly escalates to flooding labs, leaky pipes, disasters with applying silicones, and a dual-stream air nozzle that somehow manages to leave wine glasses spotless in minutes. Whether you're an engineering student, a design enthusiast, or simply someone who enjoys witnessing or transforming chaos into brilliance, this episode highlights how messy, humorous, and fundamentally human real innovation truly is.
Episode 5 (24 Dec 2025)
The Question Before the Answer: Why Problem-Setting Beats Problem-Solving (feat. Prof Luca Iandoli and Asst Prof Nadya Shaznay Patel)
In this masterclass episode, host Dr Jovan Tan sits down with Professor Luca Iandoli, Dean of the Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies at St. John's University and founder of the St. John's University Design Factory, as well as Assistant Professor Nadya Shaznay Patel from the Singapore Institute of Technology's Business, Communication and Design cluster.
Luca and Nadya are co-authoring a new book, Design Your Business: Transformational Pathways for Future-Ready Entrepreneurship, which reframes entrepreneurship as a twin dance of experimentation and transformation, anchored in a radical insight: the questions we ask matter far more than the speed of our solutions. Whether you're an entrepreneur stuck in execution mode, an educator shaping future innovators, or someone prepared to reconsider how you solve problems, this is your invitation to slow down, ask more insightful questions, and create something truly meaningful.
Episode 6 (7 Jan 2026)
Tiny but Mighty: Confronting Climate Change with Nature’s Tiniest Engineers (feat. Naadiah Ibrahim, Aaryana Pradhan, and Pahaul Ahluwalia)
In this captivating episode of Intrigued to Innovate, host Dr Jovan Tan sits down with Naadiah Ibrahim, Aaryana Pradhan, and Pahaul Ahluwalia – three newly graduated Mechanical Engineering students who boldly ventured into uncharted territory for their final year project in the NUS Innovation & Design Programme.
What began as an ambitious question – " What if nature's tiniest engineers could solve climate change?" – became a year-long journey filled with late-night lab sessions, unexpected breakthroughs, and resilience driven by a true passion. This episode highlights the complex, inspiring journey of young innovators fighting for a sustainable future. Whether you're an engineering student, a sustainability advocate, or just curious about how real and impactful climate solutions are built, this conversation is sure to both motivate and humble you.
Episode 7 (21 Jan 2026)
From Fear to Fearless: How a Biomedical Engineer Turned Childhood Trauma into a Medical Device Transforming Myopia Care (feat. Lakshmi Sujeesh)
In this deeply personal episode of Intrigued to Innovate, host Dr Jovan Tan sits down with Lakshmi Sujeesh, a recent Biomedical Engineering graduate from the NUS Innovation & Design Programme, who transformed her childhood fear of eye treatments into EyeWonder™, a groundbreaking device that's changing how children experience contact lens insertion for myopia control.
What began as a clinical observation of a struggling child at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) became a mission fueled by empathy, pig eyeballs stored in home freezers, and relentless iteration. Working within the Duke-NUS Health Innovator Program (D-HIP) alongside a medical student and an MBA student, Lakshmi's interdisciplinary team secured a S$50,000 grant, filed a provisional patent, secured news coverage on The Straits Times, and attracted interest from major lens manufacturers — all within 9 months. Lakshmi's journey reveals how the best healthcare innovations emerge not from pure engineering brilliance but from genuine empathy for the people you're trying to help.