TECH PLANTER(en)

Below are the Judges for 2021 season

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  Mr. Abdul Hakim SahidiManaging Director, Leave a Nest Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.

  profile

  Mr. Abdul Hakim Bin Sahidi is one of the pioneer members at Leave A Nest Malaysia when he joined the company in 2016 and now established a strong passionate teams in the country. His passion is in business and technology advancement that could bring greater impacts to the society. He has been mentoring researchers and startups in Malaysia and Indonesia and bridging them with the right partners from local and Japan. His current mission is to nurture more technopreneurs in Malaysia and support the implementation of meaningful technologies to the society.

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  Mr. Masahito YanoSenior Project Manager, New Business Development Division, Mitsui Chemicals Singapore R&D Centre, Pte. Ltd.

  profile

  Mr. Yano had served as a project coordinator to Japanese S&T funding agency for 7 years in Singapore and joined Mitsui Chemicals in 2017. Currently he is working at Singapore’s R&D Centre to explore new business opportunities based on R&D in Asia Pacific Region. One of his current challenges is to transform the R&D centre to an innovation engine.

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  Mr. Daiki KumamotoGlobal Fund Manager, Real Tech Holdings Co., Ltd.

  profile

  Mr. Kumamoto belongs to Real Tech Fund, one of largest VC in Japan focusing on supporting deep-tech / real-tech startups. He is specialized in supporting startups, especially that bring solutions to care / welfare and is also the leading the Global Fund mandated to invest in startups in Southeast Asia. Before joining Real Tech, he was the president of the largest youth ran NPO in Japan that commits in supporting young entrepreneurs globally. He graduated from Keio SFC University with a bachelor in management.

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  Dr. Adeline Yeo Syin LianResearch Scientist, Basic R&D Division, Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

  profile

  Malaysian citizen who obtained PhD in Nara Institute of Science and Technology and was directly recruited to join Rohto, a multinational corporation and one of the top pharmaceutical company in Japan with renowned consumer products. Specialized in the field of Microbial Molecular Genetics (PhD) and Immunology (M. Med. Sc). Possess experience in projects related to pharmacological control and drug development. With the support from Rohto, pursuing various business domain and making connections for the betterment of healthcare and well-being.

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  Mr. Kenji MinefujiManager at Business innovation & DX Strategy Division, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

  profile

  Mr. Kenji Minefuji has led various open innovation activities with his business strategy and venture finance expertise. Since 2016, he has provided hands-on supports for many startups in over 10 countries as a mentor. During his communication with startups, he developed novel collaboration schemes/concepts between startups and multinational corporations. He started his career as a research scientist of optical communication technology at the Information Technology R&D Center. In his mid-career, he planned R&D strategy of the R&D center, and was in charge of resource allocation and project management, too. His deep understanding and experience of both cutting edge science & technology and business strategy made him launch unique open innovation activities with startups at the Center for Future Innovation.

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  Mr. Muhammad Ab. RahmanVice President, FUND ADVISORY UNIT (Head of Unit), Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC)

  profile

  Mr. Muhammad Ab. Rahman started his career in banking since 1995 with a portfolio comprising public listed companies, government-linked companies and state economic development corporations. He continued gaining exposure in corporate banking experience with several conventional as well as development banks. He joined Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) in 2015, attached to the financial advisory and value- added services department, primarily on fund raising scope and funding collaboration programs.

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  Mr. Kamarul A MuhamedFounder and Group CEO, Aerodyne Group

  profile

  Mr. Kamarul is the Founder and CEO of Aerodyne Group, a Malaysian-based drone solutions provider that is ranked second in the world by Drone Industry Insights of Germany. He was recently named 'EY Entrepreneur of The Year 2020', 'EY Technology Entrepreneur of The Year 2020 Malaysia' as well as 'SEBA Entrepreneur of The Year 2020’. Kamarul led Aerodyne from a 3 person startup in 2014 to a global company with presence in 35 countries in just 6 years. He is a TEDx speaker and a drone industry thought leader, who has presented his ideas and innovation on AI, Drones and Industry 4.0 around the world. An auditor by training, Kamarul spent his formative years in the city of London before switching his career to the tech industry upon returning to Malaysia after a 10 year stint in the UK. Kamarul is an avid explorer and has travelled to more than 100 countries, both for business and pleasure.

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  Dr. Nor Azmi AliasSenior Vice President of Research Management, Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science & Technology (CREST)

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  CREST is a catalyst for collaboration between industry, academia and government in identifying industry needs and gaps, ideation of new concept, implementing solutions to the problems, and promote awareness on career in the E&E sector. Dr Nor Azmi obtained his BSc, MSc and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island, specializing in the field of corrosion science and technology. He has more than 15 years industrial electrochemical R&D experience applications, in semiconductor and telecommunication packaging, product electronic design chemicals, and components technology. He believes in identifying passionate, capable highly potential talent and nurture to be technology leaders in their chosen field.

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  Ts. Dr. Ng Sing KweiVice President, Strategy & Investment, Cradle Fund Sdn. Bhd.

  profile

  Dr. Ng is well experienced in the translation of R&D investment into revenues. He is analytical, creative and is well experienced in early stage investment, technology evaluation, market due diligence and facilitation of commercialisation activities. A graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr. Ng has more than 13 years’ experience in innovation and technology investment. As the Vice President of Strategy & Investment, Dr. Ng holds overall responsibility in assessing organizational performance, developing achievable goals and implementing processes that improve organizational effectiveness and build a sustainable competitive advantage. Before joining Cradle, he was the Head of Technology Commercialisation at PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM).

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  Mr. Auni AliasHead, Investor Promotion & Relations, Cyberview Sdn. Bhd.

  profile

  Mr. Auni Alias heads the Investor Promotion & Relations Department under the Technology Hub Development Division at Cyberview Sdn Bhd. As a Technology Hub Developer, the company has been mandated by the Malaysian Government to attract technology companies especially in Research and Development and Commercialisation (R&D&C) as well as Information Technology (IT) to choose Cyberjaya as their preferred investment location. Auni graduated from Multimedia University Malaysia (MMU) with a bachelor's degree in Information Technology (Knowledge Engineering) and has more than 10 years of work experience related to IT. Previously, he was a Regional Manager for Asia at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) where he was responsible for business and industry development, focusing on attracting digital technology investments from ASIA especially Japan.

Below are the Finalists for 2021 Season

• Qarbotech

  Harvast Photosynthesis Enhancer

• PUTRA AGROTECH SDN BHD

  Super Seed to Maximise Paddy Production

• NannoVac ZA

  Transgenic Microalgae for Fish Oral Vaccination

• UTM-myThrob

  Intelligent Home-based Heart Rhythm Monitoring Device

• Chemosensor

  Personalized Cancer Treatment Using Biosensors

• UM07

  COVID19 Rapid Molecular Test

• CLIFTON FOOD ASIA

  Kacangma (Motherwort) Chocolate: Ladies Secret Valentine

• Sarang

  Quick Ready Edible's Bird Nest

• i-Clean

  A Novel Adsorbent From Green Pyrolysis of Plastic Char To Treat Water Pollutants