Climate change, energy shortages and healthcare disparities — these are just some of the global challenges that deep tech start-ups seek to overcome with their transformative innovations. Students looking to push the boundaries of what’s technologically possible while making a difference are unsurprisingly drawn to the deep tech start-up space.
But what does it take to take tech from lab to reality? And how can we ensure these technologies serve real-world needs? At Start-up Fest 2026, 300 students explored these questions by listening to industry speakers and start-up founders. Organised by the NUS Students' Design and Engineering Club and the NUS Innovation and Design Programme Student Club (iDPSC), Start-up Fest featured expert talks alongside 14 booths, 12 of which were start-ups spanning fields from AI to space tech.
The range of product demos and tech showcases truly brought "real tech in action” to life. “I loved how interactive the booths were; you could really see, touch, and understand the technology firsthand,” shared Sekar Shree Charan (Year 3, Industrial & Systems Engineering). These interactions gave students the opportunity to explore roles with start-ups that were actively hiring.
For some alumni-founded start-ups, this event marked a full-circle moment. One such start-up was NuSpace, founded by CDE alumnus Zhen Ning Ng (Engineering Science Programme, Class of 2015) as part of the NUS Graduate Research Innovation Programme (GRIP). Through IoT nanosatellites, NuSpace enables remote locations across Southeast Asia to overcome connectivity challenges cost-effectively.
Another rising star — both in the start-up scene and at the fest — is Ecovolt. Founded by current NUS student Raphael Chew (Business Administration) from NUS Business School, together with recent graduates Joseph Ho (Electrical Engineering, Second Major in Innovation & Design), Eugene Chia (Computer Science), and Glenn Quah (Information Systems) from NUS Computing, Ecovolt tackles invisible energy waste. Its AI-native platform helps buildings monitor, manage and reduce energy use in real time, supporting their net-zero goals.
At the Founders’ Panel, both NuSpace founder Zhen Ning Ng and Ecovolt co-founder Raphael Chew shared about their start-up journeys — what it takes to build, scale, and sustain these initiatives. For many seeking internships and job opportunities within the start-up sphere, these firsthand accounts from alumni and start-up founders provided invaluable insight.
“Start-up Fest made the start-up space feel accessible, exciting, and something I could see myself being part of,” shared Jessen Wiryawan (Year 4, Industrial & Systems Engineering).
“I walked away understanding not just what start-ups do, but also why their research actually matters,” added Ming Cheng (Year 2, Mechanical Engineering).
