Moving towards Building Knowledge Hub from Singapore by Embracing and Questioning the Norm
Greetings from Leave a Nest Singapore. I would like to express our sincere gratitude to our partners for continuous support for 2023. I am looking forward to our journey together for this exciting 2024.
The first month of 2024 went quickly for Leave a Nest Singapore. We welcomed the new year with initiatives for researchers and interdisciplinary people to gather in one place under the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Singapore 2024. We are starting our 14th year here since the foundation of Leave a Nest Singapore by Dr. Andrew Gung. I joined Leave a Nest headquarter in 2011 May and I became a managing director for Leave a Nest Singapore at the end of 2016. When I first came here my mission was to build a network and hire local members to establish Leave a Nest Singapore as a corporate organization.
Last year, we had focused on building formal ties with existing partners and hiring local members. At the beginning of 2023, we only had 4 members besides board members and administrators. 1 year later, we are happy to announce 11 members. We are taking on the challenges of creating new initiatives from Singapore as Leave a Nest Singapore.
Our group vision is “Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness” To achieve it, Leave a Nest Singapore is working with a mission of “Building Knowledge Hub by Nurturing Next Generation Leaders” To nurture next generation leaders, we need strong partnership with Higher Learning Institutions. We have signed and planned for an entrepreneurship mindset program with University partners here in Singapore and also in Thailand. In 2023, we have signed 5 MoU (Kasetsart University, Chulalongkorn University, KMUTT KX, NSTDA, and Mahidol University) to prepare towards such initiatives in 2024.
In 2024, we will expand our projects by utilizing the foundation we have created over 14 years. With the theme of “Embrace & Question the Norm” we will move forward to create examples of how a mature economy can achieve the next stage. Singapore is at the stage of a mature economy and we know of so many successful formulas which we can refer to. When we have success, it usually becomes difficult to try something new. Thus embracing the current situation and understanding the current situation becomes more important. In order for Leave a Nest Singapore to go to the next level, as challenging as it is going to be, we need to take another brave step to question what has become the “norm” until now. This can be tested with Hyper Interdisciplinary Conferences and ONE Earth initiatives. One of such “norm” can be how to showcase growth. In addition, we need to look deep into ourselves and embrace the fact.
Leave a Nest Singapore will continue to engage in pillar projects such as Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference for researchers (November), TECH PLANTER for deep tech startups (May and July), Career Discovery Forum (March) for young professionals, and education program ONE Earth (April and September). Through these projects, we join forces with partners to build a strong ecosystem. While we continue with existing programs, we should also be careful not to just repeat what we have been conducting. We will focus more on running entrepreneurship mindset workshops and showcasing it during SCENT (Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Training) forum which will be a new initiative in 2024 for Singapore. As there are various entrepreneurship programs happening in Singapore, we would like to invite these program organizers to discuss the unique initiatives they are implementing. Leave a Nest Singapore will also share about our ideas on how to nurture entrepreneurs for sustainable, symbiotic business (combining assets to bring solutions to untackled challenges in the form of business) which we foresee in the near future.
With a rapid change happening in the society, Leave a Nest Singapore wants to share knowledge and combine knowledge with partners to provide much needed programs and solutions through our initiatives to build Knowledge Hub here in Singapore. For Hub to function, we need people who can create, combine, manage and manufacture knowledge. To do this, we will strengthen our ties with universities and increase education programs for school children to bring “Turning Everyday Wonder into Scientific Adventure”
Leave a Nest Singapore will move forward with the theme “Embrace and Question the Norm” in all the initiatives we will be taking a lead to bring new value into the society and towards Knowledge Hub.
Come on board this initiative with us and you are sure to enjoy this adventure of “Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness”
January 31, 2024
Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Representative Director Dr. Kihoko Tokue