TECH PLANTER(en)

2021 Judges coming early next year. Below are the judges from 2020

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  Mr. Shohei Michael MaekawaDirector, Leave a Nest Singapore Pte. Ltd.

  profile

  Mr. Maekawa is also the President of Leave a Nest UK. He was born in USA and raised in Europe. He studied Zoology for his undergraduate degree and Evolutionary Anthropology for his postgraduate degree, both at University College London. With experience aboard and passion towards advancement of science and technology, he joined Leave a Nest in 2013.

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  Dr. Eiji WatanabeGeneral Manager, Mitsui Chemicals Singapore R&D Centre, Pte. Ltd.

  profile

  The corporate mission of Mitsui Chemicals Inc. is to contribute to society by providing high-quality products and services to customers through innovations and the creation of materials and products. Dr. Watanabe is scouting new ideas and technologies related to Mitsui Chemicals’ five business domains; Mobility, Health Care, Food & Packaging, Next Generation Businesses and Basic Materials. He has a strong desire to create new businesses in Southeast Asia by integrating the new innovative technologies and Mitsui Chemical’s wide variety of products.

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  Mr. Akitaka Wilhelm FujiiPresident, Real Tech Holdings, Inc.

  profile

  As President of Real Tech Holdings, Mr. Fujii drives the company’s mission to solve societal and environmental challenges throughinnovative deep-tech technologies. The company has four venture capital funds under management, with one specifically focusing on South East Asia. Prior to joining Real Tech Holdings, Mr. Fujii worked for EIT Climate-KIC, EU’s largest organization fostering climateinnovation. He was involved in setting up several business units, led a company-wide change management program focusing on people management and managed the company’s effort to assess its climate impact. Mr. Fujii holds a Master's degree in International Studies from the University of Tokyo.

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  Mr. Yu KitaokaR&D Manager, Rohto-Mentholatum (Vietnam) Co., Ltd.

  profile

  Mr. Yu Kitaoka received his pharmacist license and joined Rohto in 2015. He was in charge of developing wide variety of skin care products and technology. After receiving the degree of MBA in 2020, he started his career in Vietnam as R&D Manager. And he is now managing whole R&D activities such as the development of eyedrops, skin care, lip care, deodorant and functional food for ASEAN regions. As a member of total health care company, he devote himself to contribute to human health through their products and services.

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  Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ta Minh ThanhRelationship Manager, Sun* Startups, Sun* Inc.

  profile

  It has been shown a strong belief of Thanh in Vietnamese IT young talents during his career path. Thanh joined Sun* Inc. in 2015 as a Section Manager and got his best business environment to turn his belief into action by helping startups, not only in education but also in technical mentoring. Currently, he has worked as a Leader of R&D group in their innovation research and a Relationship Manager who ensures Sun* Startups’ ecosystem be prospectively expanded in Vietnam, bringing startups more opportunities to reach success.

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  Dr. Jenny DangFounder & CEO, ALI and Regional CEO, Topica Edtech Group

  profile

  Dr Jenny Dang is the Founder and CEO of ALI for the last 4 years (2017-2021) . She is also the Regional CEO of Topica Edtech Group in Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. She currently leads currently leads and manages all activities for international partnership since 2014. With a good leadership, mentoring and coaching skills with over 20 years working experiences in education/training and business consulting, she has 10+ years in E-learning industry; startups innovation together with accelerators/incubators promotion and experienced Judges with a demonstrated Skilled in Negotiation, Public Speaking, Communication, Interpersonal Skills, Management, Strategy and Leadership. Strong cultural understanding and networks in Southeast Asia with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) focused in International Business from the EARIST (Philippines). Dr. Dang was deeply involved with virtual incubation activities, as co-director of Topica Founder Institute Hochiminh City, co-organizer of Mobile Monday Hochiminh City (supported by Worldbank Infodev's Virtual Incubation grant), annual judges for incubation/entrepreneurship competitions in Asia Pacific Incubator Network (APIN) and has trained dozens of incubator managers and government officials on incubator management courses in 2012 & 2013.

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  Ms. Huong NguyenFounder, Entrepreneurs Hub

  profile

  Ms. Huong Nguyen has background in IT, and had 12 years experience in software development before founding an Edtech startups. Then Huong joined startup ecosystem as community builder to support for startups with her experience and knowledge. Huong became startup mentor and fundraising advisor and supported a lot of startups in Vietnam.

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  Ms. Minh Nguyen Dang TuanCEO & Co-Founder, KisStartup

  profile

  Ms. Minh Nguyen Dang Tuan is the founder of KisStartup Innovation. Minh is among 16 women leaders from 13 countries in the world selected to join Fortune - U.S. Department of State Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership in 2018. She is one of 12 Innovation Coaches (Innovation Partnership Program, www.ipp.vn ) certified by Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland. With 15 years of experience working and researching in entrepreneurship, business development, management and digital enterprise management and startup, Minh is also contributing to innovation community by both intensive innovation coaching, mentoring and researching.

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  Mr. Tanveer GillFounder, RT Capital

  profile

  15+ years of work experience spanning Venture Capital, Private Equity and Equity Research across US, Singapore, India & Vietnam. Founder of RT Capital, Investor and mentor to multiple early stage start-ups in South East Asia.

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  Ms. Ana Le My NgaFounder, Hermes Management Group

  profile

  Author of the book “ Chat with Startups- from idea to fund raising “. Founder of Hermes Management, investing and strategic consulting into deep-tech startups since 2016 i.e. Medtech, Energy, ArgriTech, EduTech, Fintech. Ana Le My Nga is also the Vietnam Representative of ABS Group, a Worldwide Certification and Technical Verification Organization in Marine & Energy. She has been working in Marine & Energy industries for more than 20 years, in charge of senior positions. With her broad experience and expertise, Ana Le is a proven leader and strategic thinker. Quote: “Once saying that the project has always obsessed you, even in your dreams, it means you've got off to asuccessful start”.

2021 Finalists will be shared once selected. Below are the Finalists from 2020 Season

• Brain Analytics

  Software platform to help doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s disease

• CRE Vietnam

  Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) screening for hospitals in Vietnam.

• tMonitor

  Smart air quality monitoring solution

• ROBOT3T

  Smart air quality monitoring solution

• Toppy

  Adaptive learning platform for K12 education

• Tepbac Company Limited

  High-tech aquaculture platform

• Galaxy Biotech

  Preservation of agricultural products using nanomaterials technology

• TraToMa

  3D Printing filaments from plastic waste.

• Cricket One

  Cricket food & beverage ingredients