TECH OFFERS

Lists are an indispensable part of the online experience, often used to show many results, such as products, web pages, and food dishes. These items can be neatly sorted by a desired attribute like price, relevance, or healthiness. Listed items often have multiple attributes. However, instead of being able to sort multiple attributes simultaneously, consumers are currently limited to sorting only one attribute at a time. This makes searching for the desired item tedious and confusing. Imma Sort supports interpretable and multi-attribute sorting. Sorting for two or more attributes is possible. In contrast to existing search technology, Imma Sort trades off the smoothness of the sorted trend for the main attribute to increase ease of prediction for other attributes, by sorting them more approximately. Results for specific attributes can be made smoother by setting higher importance weights. Provides intuitively sorted results sorted by two or more attributes to improve decision-making and user experience Results can be customised by allocating higher weightage for selected attributes Enables users to perform multi-attribute sorting in any existing list interface without requiring sophisticated spreadsheets or data visualisations Can be integrated into search and recommendation systems across a wide range of applications Can also be incorporated into various search and recommendation systems for more effective search results. Examples of possible applications: Food dishes can be sorted by healthiness and tastiness Hotels can be sorted by price and distance Sorting by price and rating would generate results that generally trend in one direction for both attributes. This makes it easy for users to anticipate the values of multiple attributes as they move down the list, without having to construct a mental list for the secondary attribute. By decreasing users’ mental effort, this will improve decision-making and increase satisfaction. Multi-Attribute Sorting, e-commerce, algorithm Infocomm, eCommerce & ePayment, Enterprise & Productivity

Cadaveric bones are used to carry out medical training for surgeons and trainees. However, such bones are limited in supply, difficult to store, inconsistent in terms of quality and costly to use for repeated training. As such, it is necessary to create an alternative to cadaveric bones that is equally realistic while being more cost effective and easier to obtain. This technology can resolve the limitations of cadaveric bones by offering the formulation and processing method to produce a Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) system-agnostic bone-like 3D printing filaments for surgical models printing. Printed anatomical bone models developed from this technology will have the look and feel of the real bone. The technology presents an affordable and readily available alternative that minimises the demand for cadaveric bones while still providing realistic training to medical professionals. The technology owner is seeking for collaborations with companies interested to scale-up the manufacture of the filaments and/or licensing of the technology.   The technology offers the formulation and processing method to produce bone-like filaments that allows users to 3D print realistic and relatively lower cost cadaver bone models for use in medical training of surgeons and trainees. These bone-like filaments have the following features: Compatible with all FDM 3D printers Achieves good mechanical properties  (~80% improvement in tensile strength) compared to the commercial bone-like filament. Printed bone models using this technology feel realistic to drill and cut and screws can be tightened nicely, just like real cadaveric bones. This technology is primarily targeted for use in the healthcare industry (hospitals, medical schools, and biomedical companies) to obtain realistic anatomical bone models for surgical training and workshops at a more affordable price compared to cadaveric bones. Surgeons can also create 3D printed bone structures to help them plan surgical procedures before operating on the patient to better understand the procedure. Significantly lowers the cost for realistic medical trainings and workshops as compared to using cadaveric bones Fabricated bone models are equal in quality with actual cadaveric bones cadeveric bones, cadever, cadevers, 3d printing, fdm, medical training, surgery, surgeon, medicine, bone models, additive manufacturing, fused deposition modelling, printed anatomical bone models, surgical models, printing, bone-like Materials, Composites, Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing, Moulding, Sintering, Casting & Nanoimprinting, Life Sciences, Industrial Biotech Methods & Processes

This technology offer helps to address the problems of global warming, food security crisis and energy crisis. With the increase in human population and rapid urbanisation, the change in weather patterns and increase in food demand has been inevitable. One of the major concerns faced in Singapore, due to global warming, is the urban heat island effect. This occurs when urban areas in cities have a higher air, surface and soil temperature than rural areas. Initiatives for high-rise greenery has been put in place to help solve the problem. However, there has been problems with limited space and high maintenance cost for these greeneries. Rooftop hydroponics farming is a possible solution to offset the running costs of rooftop greeneries or even generate profits for rooftop greeneries as it produces fresh produce, while simultaneously reducing the urban heat island effect. The reduction in urban heat island is due to a combination of green and blue body acting as a thermal buffer and contributing to the building sustainability (due to reducing in cooling costs). This initiative addresses the constraints of limited land, as solar energy generators require large areas for photovoltaic panels to be laid. This technology offer aims to provide an integrated solution to this economic challenge for environmentally sustainable urban planning. This Technology Offer is a luminescent solar concentrator that enables both power generation by photovoltaic modules, as well as efficient urban rooftop farming. In rooftops where solar panels are used for power generation, real estate would be taken up by the solar panels, so farming cannot be done. If crops are placed under the solar cells to be grown, the growth rate will not be optimal due to the obstruction of sunlight by the solar panels. This technology features a luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) film with organic dye which converts wavelengths not used in photosynthesis (green and yellow) to the red wavelength used for photosynthesis. This film is placed under the matrix of solar cells, and can be used to optimise the growth rates of crops placed under the solar cell matrix, so that solar power generation and rooftop farming can co-exist together. Know-how is also available to optimise the solar cell arrangement to maximise both solar cell power output and plant growth. The existing configuration has solar cell coverage of 54.1% which is able to maximise the amount of energy that could be harvested by the solar cells, and yet still ensure adequate light passing through the spacings between the solar cells to maximise the growth rate of the plants placed under the solar cells. This complete system is known as Wavelength Selective Photovoltaic (WSPV) system. The wavelength-selective solar photovoltaic system technology is suited for the following: Urban food production with simultaneous solar power generation Controlled plants R&D Industries that are interested to improve crops growth   Customer benefits includes: Optimise crop’s yield, yet achieving solar power generation Space saving Energy saving We are seeking industry partners to scale up, and to out-license the technology. Energy, Solar, Life Sciences, Agriculture & Aquaculture, Sustainability, Food Security

This Technology Offer is an Internet of Things ( IoT) based platform designed to assist the modern-day farmers in monitoring the entire farm seamlessly. It can be customized to suit each farm depending on the type of sensors, machine vision camera, cloud storage, etc., and is equipped with detailed data tracking and analytics to provide the most accurate growth process from start to finish. The software architecture used in this technology offer addresses a decentralized framework to provide the ability to exchange data between IoT devices autonomously without any centralized server. In recent years, the development of IoT applications has become increasingly complex. Thus, this technology addresses this problem by providing the ability to simplify the streaming of data to the IoT platforms over the web. This design can be customized for other applications. The software has a light-weight runtime, taking full advantage of its event driven, non-blocking model. This makes it ideal to run at the edge of the network on low-cost hardware such as Raspberry Pi as well as in the cloud. Real-time data can be easily imported and exported for sharing with others. Plug & Play solutions make it easy to connect various sensors. This system has good fault tolerance as each node runs a distinct component of the web server application software and identical copies of each other. Upon a node failure, the application software can be replaced by another good node easily. The failure and restoration processes of the hardware and software are highly dependent on the status of other components as well as the sequence of failure events. Data can be downloaded from each individual node or from the consolidated database in the cloud. This IoT platform architecture can be applied to the following segments of the market: Outdoor farming Indoor farming Laboratories/research/education institutions Home Hobbyist It can also be applied in the following segments of the market: Office Building, Home, Hotel: Fire alarm system Electrical system This technology is a low-cost functioning system, easy-to-install and is compatible with most standard Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, switches, and gateways. This Technology Offer allows modern-day farmers to monitor the entire farm seamlessly. It can be customized to suit each farm depending on the type of sensors, machine vision camera, cloud storage, etc., and is equipped with detailed data tracking and analytics to provide the most accurate growth process from start to finish. Urban Farming, IoT Farming, Indoor Farming, Outdoor Farming Electronics, Sensors & Instrumentation, Life Sciences, Agriculture & Aquaculture

The Dilution Air Processing Unit (DAPU) is an ideal solution for small and medium businesses to prepare themselves for the Covid-19 new normal by employing an enhanced air ventilation technique. The DAPU system allows the creation of zones (e.g. sickbays, waiting rooms, etc.) within workplaces with no recirculation of air. This prevents cross-contamination of unclean air in between the zones. This solution is suitable for hotels and other premises to be used for quarantine purposes. The DAPU consists of the following key features: Provides 100% fresh air supply with no recirculation Reduces airborne particles exposure by greater than 60% Achieves 25% energy efficiency in providing 100% fresh air supply as compared to conventional systems Uses fully portable modular approach Can be easily retrofitted to any existing air-conditioning system resulting in lower implementation cost The DAPU can also be deployed in any area without an existing air-conditioning system making it highly versatile. Key design advantages: A portable and modular design suitable for any area, even those without an existing Air conditioning system. Air Change Rate per Hour (ACH) of 40 for dilution, which means it is able to perform air change every 1.5 min for an entire room volume in contrast to the nominal 5 to 6 mins by conventional systems. 100% air change per room volume by fresh air in contrast to the nominal 25% to 30% using traditional mixed ventilation. The modular design feature makes it unique and versatile. The system is suitable for various operating modes bypassing intermediate devices. This allows for the adjustment of nominal operating conditions during post-pandemic situation. Key Performance advantages: Achieved 27.7% (target: 25+/-5%) energy efficiency improvements in building HVAC in comparison to conventional approach for achieving 100% fresh air supply. Actual measurements showed that there was a 30% reduction (target: 20%+/-5%) of cumulative concentration of airborne particles (greater than 0.3 µm and less than 1µm). This is in comparison to conventional room air conditioner without fresh air.  The use of the novel Bio antibody filter has reduced the airborne exposure of the occupants within the test chamber. There was a reduction of 45% of PM 1.0 particle concentration in the absence of fresh air.  With the availability of both 100% fresh air and the Bio antibody filter, airborne exposure of the occupants is further reduced by greater than 60%. DAPU is an innovative solution for enhanced ventilation and reduced transmission of airborne infectious diseases. Its aim is to offer an easily implementable and low-cost solution for 100% fresh air supply to buildings in curbing infections during a pandemic.  The system has 25% less energy consumption in comparison to conventional options and maintains the optimum humidity range at 45% to 55%. The modular design feature makes it unique and can be easily retrofitted to buildings. DAPU achieves 60% reduction of integrated airborne particle concentration in comparison to ordinary air-conditioners (with 100% recirculation).  DAPU could be an ideal solution when it comes to the creation of isolation zones within buildings to curb the spread of infectious diseases. This can play a vital role in safeguarding public health and ensuring global health security. Examples of practical applications are as follows: Isolation rooms in hospitals Sick Bays in campus or business places Swab stations Waiting rooms The DAPU technology demonstrates the innovative strategy in improving the capabilities of existing solutions and applying novel concepts to a very challenging situation such as pandemic control. The estimated market size for this technology could be largely due to its sustainable approach in meeting the demands for an expanding healthcare facility in the future. For pandemic control, DAPU can be operated indoor for the test chamber with 1 patient and 1 attending nurse/staff. This setup has a simple payback of less than 2 years. However, for high usage areas such as swab test stations in airports or conference venues, simple payback is expected to be less than a year. The business case for DAPU can only be properly articulated after this solution has been deployed in an actual situation and feedback obtained from stakeholders. This will ensure the integrity of the information provided and improvements to be made to ensure wider adoption of the system by other companies. dapu, air quality, Dilution Air Processing Unit Green Building, Heating, Ventilation & Air-conditioning, Sustainability, Sustainable Living

Spent coffee grounds are one of the major food waste produced globally with several million tonnes being discarded annually. It has been reported that only 6% of the original coffee cherry can be used to make a cup of coffee and the remaining balance are inedible and has no value to the industry. As such, a large amount of residue is currently generated from the coffee industry and disposed of at incineration plants or landfills.   This technology features a cost-effective and scalable thermochemical process to transform spent coffee grounds into carbon-rich solid materials, known as hydrochar, as a form of low-cost solid adsorbents for industrial wastewater treatment. Thermochemical processes are well suited for wet biomass such as spent coffee grounds and utilises mild temperature profiles under relatively low pressures. The process also has the potential to convert other kinds of food waste, such as durian husks, coconut husks, fruit peels etc, into hydrochar.This presents a sustainable solution for creating a circular economy and minimising negative impact on the environment by converting non-edible and no value food waste into a value-added product for food and water industries. The technology relates to an innovative and custom-designed thermochemical reactor capable of converting the spent coffee grounds into solid adsorbents also known as hydrochar. Hydrochar particles produced have the following attributes which include a robust mesoporous framework, higher surface area, and functionalised removal of cations, anions and organic pollutants in wastewater. Up to 80% of the organics and chemical oxygen demand can be removed after passing through the hydrochar. After water treatment usage, hydrochar can be repurposed as a soil conditioner which helps in plant germination, closing the loop on food waste. The thermochemical reactor is also capable of converting other food wastes including durian husks, coconut husks, fruit peels, and other non-edible food waste. The technology can be adopted in the food and beverage industry that are looking to upcycle the non-edible and no value food waste into value-added products, such as solid adsorbents. The carbon-rich material, hydrochar, presents a sustainable alternative as the low-cost adsorbent that can attract interest from sectors that require treatment of reject and backwash water. These include industries from semiconductors, petrochemicals, wastewater treatment, desalination, and textiles. Offers a cost-effective process to produce higher value-added products from food waste, creating a circular economy Reduced disposal cost Revenue creation from waste Tailor-made design of thermochemical reactor to produce higher surface area and better efficiency of solid adsorbents from food waste Highly scalable hydrochar, wastewater treatment, sustainable, circular economy, adsorbents, spent coffe grounds, food waste, valorisation, thermochemical Environment, Clean Air & Water, Filter Membrane & Absorption Material, Chemicals, Organic, Waste Management & Recycling, Food & Agriculture Waste Management, Industrial Waste Management, Sustainability, Circular Economy

Food tracking and traceability systems can utilize Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Internet-of-Thing (IoT) sensors to streamline the workflow of food supply chain management. Such a traceability system mitigates the complex business processes and speeds up the workflow of working through multiple business owners along the nodes in the value chain. This Technology Offer is a DLT application that can be used to manage the food supply chain. The technology aims to obtain transparency, ease of transactions and speed of delivery, synchronization, tracking and security. As an example, IoT sensors can be attached to livestock to obtain information about them from the source, and is uploaded to the ledger data of the node. When the livestock is shipped to the manufacturer, shipment tracking data can be uploaded. The transport is thus done with trackable ownership, possession and telemetry parameters such as location, temperature, humidity and activity. The manufacturer then processes the livestock, weighs the meat, packs and labels them. The label has a unique cryptographic QR code or NFC tag that links to the data citing the origins of the meat. The packaged meat is then shipped to the distributors, and eventually reaches the buyer. The final buyer can access a complete record of information and trust that the information is accurate and complete. This Technology Offer is developed using a state-of-the-art permissioned blockchain platform that enables businesses to transact directly and in strict privacy with one another. With this technology, the system can bring numerous benefits to the process owners and customers in the supply chain. Customers are more likely to trust the quality and safety of the food they consume. Food manufacturers and logistics companies could benefit from enhanced productivity, cost savings and boosted process transparency by eliminating the need for third-party intermediaries to handle monetary transactions. This allows businesses and their customers to interact and transact directly at lower costs. In terms of security, all contract transactions processed by the system are stored in chronological order in the blockchain and distributed across multiple systems. The transaction blocks are linked to each other and secured using well-established cryptography to provide high data integrity. No one can alter the contents of a block as all other nodes on the blockchain will detect this discrepancy and mark such an attempt as invalid. Regulators can also exploit the immutable feature of blockchain as an audit trail to verify compliance and detect fraud. DLT is important in the global food trade as it ensures food safety and underpins trust to the end consumers. This technology is targeted at corporations and supply chain management that deals with livestock. It can be used by supply chain management to trace the food from farm to fork. The software developed serves as a reference implementation for a food supply chain application. The target users are the process owners and consumers. This system can also be customised for other food industries such as halal, organic or agri-food industries. Currently, proof-of-concept stage has been completed, and this Technology Offer is available for industry partners for collaborations and potential licensing. Blockchain, Distributed Ledger Technology, Food Supply Chain Infocomm, Smart Cities, Blockchain & Other Distributed Ledgers, Sustainability, Food Security

EBV is a ubiquitous human herpes virus, which spreads through saliva. EBV infects over 90% of the human population and can establish life-long persistence in the host. Most people get EBV when they are young, but they will not experience any symptoms until they get older. There are about 200,000 EBV-associated cancer new cases per year. Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is one of EBV associated cancers which is endemic in a few areas including Southern China, Southeast Asia, North Africa and the Arctic. The highest NPC incidence rate is found in Southern China including Hong Kong. The association of NPC and EBV is nearly 100% in endemic areas. Unfortunately, more than 80% of the new NPC cases are diagnosed in stage III or IV, while the survival rate of stage IV NPC is only 38%. Early detection and treatment would help to increase survival rate. This invention is a new EBV-specific targeted agent which selectively kills cancer cells without affecting any normal cells. The uptake of this drug can also be traced by the fluorescent signal that can be used for cancer cells imaging. Currently, there is no single agent that can both image and kill NPC cancer cells at the same time. Epstein–Barr nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1) is the only viral protein expressed in all EBV-infected cells. This invention is an EBNA1 targeting bio-probe that can effectively target EBNA1 to disrupt its cancerous activities and inhibit cancer cell growth. In addition, it can also emit fluorescent signals to show the presence of EBV-infected cells, and this can be used for imaging the EBV-associated cancers. The invention is the first known agent with a dual function that can accurately trace and image for the EBV-associated cancers while being a pinpointed therapeutic intervention at the same time.  Other than providing a fast, simple and accurate detection for EBV-associated cancers, this invention shows a high efficacy at a low dose (less than 4mol/kg, ~92% cancer inhibition) toward cancer treatment. This invention shed light to develop a new generation medical reagent that has both imaging function and anti-cancer activity. The specificity of this technology provides a crucial means in the accurate detection of EBV-associated cancers. More importantly, its anti-tumour ability provides inhibition in the cancer cells and thus reduces potential metastasis. People in NPC-endemic areas could benefit from this world’s first agent with dual functions that can detect EBV-infected cells and inhibit cancer cells. It can be used to trace the presence of residual cancer cells after treatments. This invention could also replace or minimize the use of the radio- and chemo-therapies for NPC which could greatly improve the survival of patients with advanced diseases, as well as their quality of life. Nasopharyngeal cancer, Nasopharynx cancer, Epstein-Barr Virus, EBV, EBNA1, EBV-positive Healthcare, Diagnostics, Telehealth, Medical Software & Imaging, Pharmaceuticals & Therapeutics, Life Sciences, Biotech Research Reagents & Tools

According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and about 1 in 6 deaths is due to cancer. Chance of survival is greater if tumour is diagnosed when it’s still confined to the organ of origin (stage I). Survival rates decline when tumours are getting larger and spreading regionally (stages II, III) or even distantly (stage IV). For example, 93% of colon cancer patients are alive five years after the disease is diagnosed, but this number drops to only 11% if the cancer is diagnosed late and has spread to other organs. Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs) are cancer cells shed from primary tumours into the bloodstream. They can be considered as an indicator of the presence of tumours during early cancer stage. However, the blood-based or liquid biopsy detection of cancer has always been challenging due to the heterogeneity and small size of CTCs. There is an urgent clinical demand for a more efficient cancer-detecting method.  Our technology offers early cancer detection for patients, tracking cancer metastasis, cancer relapse, and giving prognostic information by making use of our patented nanoparticles for CTC catching. This technology enables surgeons to identify the cancer cells location precisely and navigate the whole isolation process in real-time under magnetic manipulation. Besides, combining our technology with the current commercially available CTC detection kit, the sensitivity of cancer detection could be significantly improved by 20 folds when compared with the existing technology.  A regular CTCs screening can be performed using only a few blood samples (7.5 mL). Some commercially available CTCs detection methods like CellSearch and AdnaTest have limitations and their sensitivity is only up to 70%. Besides, the captured CTCs cannot be further analysed due to the damage to CTCs during assay process.  In contrast, our unique technology captures most of CTCs, isolating different CTCs without relying on cancer markers expression. Identification and quantification of CTCs can also be achieved. Furthermore, without damaging the CTCs during the isolation process, the CTCs isolated could be used in single cell analysis and cell culture for further investigation. Accounting for the benefits of CTC screening, it offers a rapid evaluation of post-surgical and therapeutic drug efficacy. Other than early cancer detection, it plays a monitoring role in drug resistance, cancer relapse and metastasis. Most importantly, it can be performed regularly in a non-invasive way. The screening outcome will be formatted into a customized report, providing full analytic results and representative cell images. Our technology provides an easy and accurate means of early detection. It is beneficial to cancer patients, cancer survivors and people who are at high risk of suffering cancers for monitoring their health conditions. It can be used with other cancer detecting tools (e.g. iFISH) to improve the sensitivity and specificity of detection. It could make a valuable contribution to early cancer diagnosis, monitoring cancer status and relapse, and treatment efficiency evaluation. Early cancer screening using this technology can be introduced into routine body check-ups. In particular for the individuals with a family history of cancer. We are actively seeking potential collaborations with hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres, where people of interest could acquire CTC screening. It is a non-invasive and fast way for early cancer detection. People can benefit from early cancer screening when this technology is used in routine clinical practice. Detecting cancer early can effectively reduce the mortality associated with cancer. Cancer diagnosed at a late-stage may result in lower survival, potentially greater morbidity and higher costs of treatment.  cancer, cancer detection, Circulating Tumour Cells, CTC, iFISH Materials, Nano Materials, Healthcare, Diagnostics, Pharmaceuticals & Therapeutics, Life Sciences, Biotech Research Reagents & Tools