New Year Remarks from the Managing Director of Leave a Nest Singapore: “Taking the first step towards Singapore as Global Knowledge Hub”
Happy New Year.
Leave a Nest Singapore reached a 14 years mark since the foundation in 2010. The year started with the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Singapore on 27th January at National University of Singapore which attracted close to 200 researchers, business people and entrepreneurs. The theme captured the exciting year ahead with “Nexus of Knowledge Spheres: Rise of New Resource for Singapore” We were referring to the knowledge as a source of new resources. To accelerate the knowledge accumulation in Singapore, we have also leveraged on the Japanese government led program to bring Japanese deep tech startups to Singapore. Later in the year we had the second Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Singapore 2024. The theme focused on Serendipitous or Designed: The Duality of Impactful Innovation. In addition, we continued to bring out the deep tech startups from Singapore to go to Japan to expose the potential of Singapore as a deep tech knowledge hub as well. To bring in new members, the very first Add Venture Forum gave another opportunity to showcase Leave a Nest Singapore taking the first step as a Global Knowledge Hub.
The Inaugural Global Knowledge Hub Forum (GKH Forum) 2024
Leave a Nest Singapore conducted its first-ever Global Knowledge Hub Forum (GKH Forum) on August 27th, 2024. The conference aimed to realize our mission of building a knowledge hub, leveraging Singapore's strategic position to bridge players from overseas with other countries. The inaugural forum attracted nearly 130 participants from 7 different countries, with 31 booths exhibited. The GKH Forum facilitated direct communication and showcased technology from outside Singapore to MNCs and SMEs within the country, while also providing opportunities for deeper conversations between exhibitors and participants through one-on-one meetings. The poster presentation by the UK startup Icthion was done at this time. From there they came back to Singapore to announce their launch of project during Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in Singapore 3 months later. We are planning to have 2 Global Knowledge Hub Forums in 2025 with the first one happening on January 22.
Leveraging on the Existing Environment
With various corporate headquarters, R&D centers, and innovation centers already established in Singapore, we can learn from these partners about the challenges they face while connecting with their headquarters in Europe, Australia, and Japan, using Singapore as a landing point. This unique position allows Leave a Nest Singapore to gather valuable insights and adapt to create new projects that cater to the needs of the global market. What may be great to complement this condition is to have more people who are able to create knowledge by combining various seeds of knowledge being accumulated. For such talents to grow, we need programs to nurture life long learning mindset and those who can bridge between different disciplines and expertise.
Our Roots: NEST Education and Science Castle in Singapore Revival
As we move towards our 15th anniversary this year, Leave a Nest Singapore will strengthen root business: educating the next generation. In the past we worked with the Science Centre to organize a Science Fair that brings exciting Japanese advanced science content to accelerate STEM education. We will bring NEST education back with the revival of Science Castle Singapore in 2025. This initiative will be a crucial foundation for nurturing future generations and supporting the growth of the Global Knowledge Hub in Singapore. This will be happening in April 2025.
The first subsidiary in Southeast Asia of Leave a Nest Group
We are grateful for all the support we have received from ecosystem partners here in Singapore and beyond. Based on the foundation built, we are actively engaging with respective governments namely, Japan and Singapore. Through deep tech startups business expansion to bring technology solutions to challenges, we also accelerate. We were not able to achieve so much without the partnership. We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to our partners for taking chances with us. Looking forward, we are sure to continue to move forward with existing partners and new partners to come. Leave a Nest Singapore invites you to join us in these initiatives as we work together to build a knowledge hub that advances science and technology for global happiness.
Wishing you a very fruitful year ahead.
Kihoko Tokue Ph.D.
Managing Director
Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.