TECH NEEDS

Seaweed or macroalgae are aquatic plants that anchor to hard surfaces to grow and are usually found on the ocean floor. Seaweed farming is the fastest growing sector within marine aquaculture with a global market worth of USD 15 billion in 2021 with a CAGR of 7.5% from 2021 to 2028. It is a versatile raw ingredient that can be applied to functional foods, animal feed, biomaterials, personal care products, fertilizers, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals, and even serves as an environmental remediation method. Moreover, it is a carbon-negative crop that has a high potential for climate change mitigation through carbon capture. To go beyond farming at a smallholder scale, there is a need to look at farming at an industrial scale to meet the burgeoning demands in the global market. Based in Singapore, the technology seeker is a company in the aquaculture sector and they are seeking co-development partners to provide marine engineering expertise to develop a platform for industrial-scale offshore seaweed farming. Preferably, the tech provider should have experience in food production/farming systems on an industrial scale in coastal waters. Depending on the collaborators’ preference and further negotiations, the modes of partnership that could be considered include R&D collaboration, technology licensing, and IP acquisition. The technology seeker prefers technology owners with a presence and available technical professionals in Singapore to support this pilot project. Overseas-based technology owners would be considered as well on a case-by-case basis.

The tech seeker is an established manufacturer of electronic and consumer devices is seeking to improve the performance of their products and provide an enhanced experience for their users. Some products are required to allow the flow of gases and liquids internally and there is currently an issue controlling this movement. Specifically, the device needs to allow the flow of gases in one direction and prevent the movement of liquids in the opposite direction. Solutions already exist in the apparel and other industries for this purpose, but typically employ fluorinated textiles to achieve the breathable and hydrophobic functionality, or require significant gas/air pressure to operate. The company is not able to use such fluorinated materials in its devices and air flow can’t be impacted, therefore the client is actively searching for alternative and next generation solutions that could selectively control the passage of gases and liquids. The tech seeker is open to R&D collaborations with companies that have interesting technologies meeting their criteria but may need further help with development.

In the construction industry, foundation steel solutions are used in a variety of applications ranging from waterfront to underground development projects. The application conditions typically lead to a deterioration in the steel condition following some duration in service. Particularly for temporary structures, such steel structural items (e.g., sheet piles, beams, channels) when retrieved from use may vary in condition, exhibiting signs of deterioration such as rust, pitting or dents. It is desired to be able to rapidly and effectively assess and characterise the steel items’ condition in order to determine their re-usability or disposal. A Singapore-based steel solutions company is seeking solvers capable of developing an AI-enabled mobile app solution to capture, process and analyse the condition of steels, for the following tasks (in order of priority): Rust grading – Capture, process and analyse photos of physical structural steel items (e.g., sheet piles, beams, channels). Grade the rust condition in accordance with a pre-determined tiering Counting – To accurately count the number of physical steel items housed within a storage yard. Items are largely standardized parts but may comprise of several different types stored in a stack/pile Dimensional Measurement and Geometrical Analysis – To measure the external dimensions of the physical steel items, and identify the presence of defects such as warpage, deflections, pitting The preferred collaboration mode is to co-develop a POC solution for evaluation followed by operational scale-up.

Fermentation is one of the oldest technologies used in food processing and the technology has been gaining limelight in recent years due to modern applications. With Singapore’s ’30 by 30’ goal to produce 30% of our nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030, and in line with consumer megatrends such as healthy (functional, natural) consumption and advocation for animal rights, fermentation technologies could help to address these issues. There is interest to seek out technology owners who have novel and proven fermentation technologies that can be used for the production of food and feed or to valorise food waste from side streams as low-cost feedstocks to manufacture value-added products as part of closing the food waste loop. These technologies should be available for technology collaborations. The modes of technology collaborations are: R&D collaboration, IP licensing and acquisition. Suitable technologies can be placed as Technology Offers on the IPI portal, subject to internal curation and review. 

Sports provide good physical education and development for children. Participation in sports is closely associated to physical health, mental well-being, and the development of important life skills for the youth including communication, teamwork, decision-making, leadership, perseverance, and time-management. To improve sport performance, it would be important to leverage on sport science, coaching and technology to attract, identify and develop talent to achieve a competency level in a particular sport. Currently, children who sign up for different sports programme are evaluated by the coaches on each session for that particular sport. There is no system in place to analyze and recommend the most suitable sports for each child, so it is difficult for parents, educators, and sports coaches to identify a sport or determine if a child will excel in a sport based on his physical attributes, sport dispositions and strengths. A Singapore-based company who is currently providing sports coaching for children aged 7-12 years old, is seeking technology providers and experts in sports science or physical education to co-create an assessment system for sports performance analysis and recommendation for children.

A leading snack company is interested in novel leavening solutions (ingredient and/or process technologies) that enable effective sodium reduction for their baked goods portfolio (savory/salty crackers, sweet cookies). Sodium-based leavening agents (sodium bicarbonate, SAPP etc.) are commonly used in baked goods to deliver the desired product texture and apperance. Finding alternative solutions that can deliver the same great consumer experience without elevating the pH is of interest.

Research has shown that gamification, i.e., adding game elements/mechanics into a traditional non-game environment would motivate employees and in turn drive greater performance and productivity. Game mechanics make the goals clearer and employee performance more transparent. Gamification would allow employees to receive immediate feedback, and benchmark their performance against their peers.  Given the above benefits, the technology seeker, who is a multinational company providing energy and automation solutions for efficiency and sustainability, intends to start a Proof-of-Concept (POC) project at one of its distribution centers - partnering with a technology owner to design and develop a gamification software application that introduces the following into existing warehouse inbound and outbound tasks: Game mechanics: rules and rewards (e.g. points, levels, missions, leaderboards, badges, and progress) Game dynamics: which illicit a set of emotions, behaviors, and desires resulting from the aforementioned game mechanics (e.g. competition through leaderboards, collaboration through completing team missions, sense of community, desire to earn and collect unique badges, and surprises by unlocking new missions) Additionally, the following are also desirable: Option for an employee to mask his/her identity (e.g. employee-defined username) Operational workflow error checking if the application is also used for task execution Analytics dashboard for an administrator to analyse the performance  Option for an administrator to turn on or off individual game elements

The company is looking for clean label, plant-based ingredients with authentic credentials on taste, texture and appearance (for example - fruit and vegetables, grains and seeds legumes, beans, roots, super fruits). They believed that plant-based ingredient has huge opportunities to be unlocked from nature’s pure, goodness that can give pleasureable taste and maximum health value.  We are interested in Ingredients that are plant-based or plant-derived, or sustainable and/ or are upcycled & have a positive impact on the environment Technologies that help preserve the wholesome, natural benefits of these ingredients

The key requirement is to meet consumer expectations for taste and texture in sugar reduced snacks with (ideally) natural ingredients.​ ​ What we are looking for are natural alternatives to substitute sugar (including sweetening systems as sugar/hybrid sugar + artificial high intensity), to create an end product as close as possible to the sensorial profile and functionality of the standard product made with sugar.