TECH EXPERTS

Prof Ng Wun Jern is currently a Professor at Nanyang Technology University (NTU) School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Principal Lead for the Environmental Bio-innovations Group (EBiG). His research and professional interests are in the areas of water, wastewater and waste management, and soil remediation. He is familiar with research, translation and development, and project implementation issues. He has been deeply involved in collaborations with the industry, having channeled his research into some 250 case studies of which 130 led to the design and implementation of full-scale wastewater treatment facilities. In addition to technology licensing and having founded and exited two spin-off companies, he continues to provide technical advice to public listed companies, SMEs, start-ups, and government agencies in the chemicals, food and beverage, marine engineering, water, wastewater and waste domains. Prof Ng also provides support to private equity funds and accelerators to assess projects and start-up companies in terms of founding team capabilities, financial models, technologies, and markets. Prof Ng founded and led the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) for 10 years. Previously, he had also served as Dean, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore and at the College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University. His research output may be found in some 600 publications - including journal papers and patents.

Dr Koh Niak Wu is the Founder and CEO of Cosmiqo International Pte Ltd, a company that is focused on building intelligent systems that optimises resource allocation for 4-wall operations. He specialises in supply chain analytics, strategy execution and operations management innovation. He is an Intellectual Transcendences 2019 recipient recognised by the Asian Productivity Organisation and China Productivity Centre. Dr Koh was formerly part of the Global Supply Chain and Logistics team at Dell contributing to strategy analytics. He was also in the Planning and Operations Management Group at SIMTech, A*STAR where he gained valuable insights into the evolution of industries. Additionally, Dr Koh is an Adjunct Faculty at the Singapore Management University (SMU) and Singapore University of Social Sciences where he shares his views and cross-industry experiences on supply chains and operations management. He is also an Expert with the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) and has been sharing his views on the future economy across Asia and the Pacific. Dr Koh codes, believes in the power of operational analytics and how it shapes business decisions. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Robotics from the National University of Singapore and a Bachelor of Engineering (Double 1st) from King's College London.

Dr Li Xiaodong has been a Research Scientist in Advanced Materials Technology Centre (AMTC), Singapore Polytechnic since 2011. He has more than 10 years of research experience in solar cells, PV module recycling and solid waste management. In AMTC, he leads a technical group that focuses on clean technology and materials recycling research projects. As a Principal Investigator, he supported local SMEs and MNCs in carrying out multiple R&D and industry projects, and actively involved in prototype development. Dr Li specialises in solid waste recycling (photovoltaic (PV) modules, Li-ion battery, e-waste and incineration bottom ash); building materials development from recycled materials (silica aerogel from incineration bottom ash as thermal and acoustic insulator, sand substitute from plastic waste); functional coatings development (thermal insulation, fireproofing and waterproofing paints); and pilot scale process development (PV module recycling plant, aerogel fabrication plant). Dr Li obtained his PhD in Materials Science and MSc in Materials Engineering from the East China Normal University in Shanghai, China.

Dr Lim Zheng Bang is currently Research Scientist and Technology Group Leader of Advanced Materials Technology Centre (AMTC) at Singapore Polytechnic (SP), focusing on built environment projects with SMEs and large local enterprises in the area of green chemistry, electronics, waste recycling, and construction materials. He has led project teams to garner more than 10 externally and internally granted R&D projects worth more than S$2M. He has developed, implemented and managed over 30 industry collaborative projects with MNCs as well as SMEs, involving the above-mentioned research interests. These projects have generated 5 IPs as well as more than 10 technical solutions adopted by industries.

Dr Li Chunxiang is currently Senior Research Scientist and Technical Group Leader in Singapore Polytechnic with a strong academic and engineering background in chemistry and materials (inorganic, organic, nanomaterials and colloids). She has more than 20 years' experience in research and development of active ingredients and delivery system development, nanomaterials synthesis and applications and chemical compound synthesis. With her extensive research experiences in active ingredient extraction, encapsulation, fermentation, cosmetic efficacy testing and product formulation, she has successfully developed several commercial products containing active ingredients extracted from plant sources which were licensed to the industry. She has successfully secured S$17 million of research funds together with collaborators over the past ten years and has extensive experiences in successfully leading and managing the research projects.

Dr Song Sung Do has over 18 years of experience in senior management leadership, strategic development, business development, consulting, as well as sales and marketing. Dr Song has managed research, technology commercialisation and innovation in the agriculture, environmental sciences and chemical technology industries. Dr Song has 30 years of experience in crop science, and 20 years of experience in agriculture, horticulture and phytochemical ingredient science and technology. In addition, he has extensive knowledge in food production and process of agribusiness and environment - soil, weather and water - in both chemical and biological technology applications. Backed by comprehensive and practical working knowledge of Asia Pacific agriculture, bioenergy markets and industry trends, as well as a keen interest in a sustainable bio-based economy, Dr Song has successfully completed projects in agronomic, agro-ecological and land evaluation, farm construction, field evaluation, plant cultivation and optimisation for urban farming around South East Asia and China. Dr Song has a PhD in Agriculture and Environmental Sciences from Yeungnam University, Master of Science in Agronomy from Seoul National University, and an MBA from National University of Singapore.

Oh Tiong Keng is currently manager-in-charge of Autonomous Technology Innovation Centre at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), focusing on autonomous-related projects with SMEs in the area of logistics, healthcare, facilities management, security and surveillance, hospitality, etc. He leads and develops AI & autonomous system solutions in the area of manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, security, etc. Prior to this, he was manager-in-charge of the Imaging Technology Centre and Machine Vision Centre at NYP, focusing on imaging-based applied R&D projects with industry in the area of machine vision, video analytics and real-time automated inspection, test and measurement systems, etc. He has led project teams to garner 9 externally and internally granted R&D projects worth more than S$1.7M. He has also developed, implemented and managed over 120 industry collaborative projects with SMEs and MNCs such as Seagate, Delphi Automotive, Rolls-Royce, Hoya Medical. Throughout his career, Tiong Keng has led many award-winning project teams such as the development of a patented depth-programmable self-floatation device, and an automatic 2-dimensional semiconductors package inspection system.

Prof Josep Pou has 25 years' experience in power electronics and applications and is currently Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He is also Programme Director of Renewables' Integration & Microgrids (Power Electronics) at ERI@N (Programme Partner - EcoLabs COI), and co-Director of the Rolls-Royce @ NTU Corporate Lab. Prior to joining NTU, he was with the Technical University of Catalonia-BarcelonaTech (1989-2013), and the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia (2013-2016). He spent two sabbatical years (2001 and 2005) as a Visiting Professor at the Center for Power Electronics Systems, Virginia Tech, USA, and one year (2012) at the Australian Energy Research Institute (AERI), UNSW. Since 2006, he has collaborated with Tecnalia Research & Innovation as a research consultant. He has authored over 310 published technical papers, is a co-inventor of 7 patents, and has been involved in several industrial projects and educational programs in the fields of power electronics and systems. He has authored two book chapters. He has received 6 scholarship and fellowship awards, including the prestigious Endeavour Research Fellowship Award, sponsored by the Australian Government. He was the recipient of the 2018 IEEE Bimal Bose Award for Industrial Electronics Applications in Energy Systems given by the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

Dr Palaniswamy Suresh Kumar is a Research & Development Scientist in Environmental and Water Technology Centre of Innovation (EWTCOI), Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. Prior to that, Dr Suresh has spent 3 years as a Research Fellow in the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and Energy Research Institute (ERI@N), Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Dr Suresh has more than 10 years of research experience in energy and environmental applications. Currently, he is providing technology consultancy for CleanTech companies. As a Principal Investigator, he secured high impact projects funded by National Research Fund and Ministry of Education, and industrial projects (POC/POV) in collaboration with local SMEs, large organisations, and MNCs. He has published more than 65 peer-reviewed international publications (journal papers, review articles, and book chapter). His publications have been cited more than 3800 times with an h-index of 35. His current research focuses on development of electrospun nanofibers based filter for air filtration application; prototype design, testing and performance evaluation of active and passive air purification systems; multifunctional nanocoatings (e.g. self-cleaning, antibacterial and photocatalytic) and polymer coating for membranes; and optical sensor development.