At CDE, one of the paths our undergraduate and graduate students take is to venture into entrepreneurship, applying their innovative spirit to transform potentially game-changing ideas into commercial reality.
Backed up by innovation programmes at both the College and University level to guide and support the development of promising ventures, CDE students have developed a reputation for initiating several exciting start-ups.
CDE alumni, for example, are behind both Carousell, the online marketplace, and PatSnap, the patent analytics start-up that in 2021 became the first NUS-supported ‘unicorn” venture valued at over US$1 billion.
In 2023, here are three CDE-originated startups making an impact.
| Hivebotics |
HiveBotics is an autonomous robotic cleaning start-up which uses robots to perform essential but menial cleaning jobs.
The start-up sprang from the Innovation and Design Programme (iDP) and was co-founded by class of 2023 graduates Rishab Patwari (Computer Engineering) and Nguyen Tuan Dung (Mechanical Engineering).
The venture recently announced that Abluo, their autonomous toilet-cleaning robot, would soon make its debut in Singapore’s public bathrooms.
Equipped with a swivelling arm, brushes, a steam spray and an array of other tools including an advanced sensor system, Abluo aims to halve the time that human cleaners typically spend cleaning toilets so that they can focus on other tasks.
Development of Abluo began in early 2021 and received support from the NUS Graduate Research Innovation Programme (GRIP) under NUS Enterprise.
The Hivebotics team also received support from technical advisor Prof Marcelo Ang (Mechanical Engineering) Director of the NUS Advanced Robotics Centre.
| MeasureAI |
At the PIER71™ Great Circle 2023 event, MeasureAI, a start-up founded by Gokala Krishnan Ramachandran, a PhD graduate in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering, was named the winner of the seventh Smart Port Challenge.
The event marked the fifth anniversary of PIER71™, a collaboration between the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and NUS Enterprise that has been instrumental in nurturing the growth of nearly 110 MarineTech start-ups over the past five years.
Founded in March 2023 after incubation under the GRIP programme, MeasureAI - a start-up using innovative sensing technology coupled with state-of-the-art AI - won the top prize for its innovative gas-sensing platform with organic coatings for multi-gas sensors.
Their platform enables real-time detection and quantification of various gases, specifically addressing safety issues related to toxic marine fuel leaks, such as ammonia – one of the most promising “alternative” fuels for the maritime industry.
The Smart Port Challenge 2023 attracted 150 applications from over 32 countries, with a strong emphasis on solutions for maritime decarbonisation.
MeasureAI's victory reflects its commitment to addressing critical concerns in the maritime industry, including the identification of toxic gas leakages onboard ships.
| SpaceJot |
Another CDE-originated start-up backed by the GRIP programme, SpaceJot uses the power of generative AI to revolutionise the way interior designers do sales.
Co-founded by Shaun Mak, a class of 2023 Master of Architecture graduate, the start-up applies Shaun’s design knowledge and experience to bring efficiencies to the competitive and costly process of closing sales that interior designers traditionally go through.
An AI-backed web application, SpaceJot swiftly and automatically generates a wide array of interior visualisations, helping designers maximize the likelihood of closing sales while also drastically reducing the time and effort spent on creating design proposals.
By creating a personal landing page that overlays the designer's portfolio onto the spaces of clients, the app’s ability to quickly generate conceptual designs also improves customer satisfaction through quicker turnarounds and engaging experiences.
SpaceJot was among 14 teams featured at GRIP’s 10th Lift-Off Day (LOD) held at NUS on 30 November. The event saw teams presenting their deep tech start-up ideas to over 400 attendees, including corporate partners, investors, NUS alumni and guests.
