Harnessing its strengths in innovation and enterprise, NTU will use a key grant awarded by the National Research Foundation to enhance its campus-wide initiatives in entrepreneurship.

NTU, the first Kauffman Campus outside of the United States, has received a shot in the arm – a sum of $6.5 million from the National Research Foundation (NRF)'s University Innovation Fund (UIF) to advance campus-wide innovation and enterprise.

The UIF is a $50 million kitty for universities to drive innovation and entrepreneurship projects that can lead to the creation of high-tech startup companies and the commercialisation of university technologies. It will be given out over five years and is part of the larger $360 million National Framework for Innovation and Enterprise.

Supplementing the universities' internal funding for innovation and entrepreneurship activities, the grant supports entrepreneurship education, the development of platforms to encourage start-up formation (such as fellowships), guidance to budding entrepreneurs, and activities that promote entrepreneurship.

Describing the injection of funds as a "turbo boost", NTU President Dr Su Guaning said that it would advance projects such as NTU's burgeoning initiatives with the Kauffman Foundation. NTU students, for example, will be further exposed to technology entrepreneurship through attachments to the Kauffman Foundation under the inaugural Kauffman-Singapore Global Scholars Programme, which trains top students to bridge the gap between laboratory innovation and marketplace success.

Taking innovation to the next level
Said Dr Su: "The funds will definitely help NTU take innovation and entrepreneurship development to the next level and help build a total campus environment that incorporates enterprise and innovation as part of the NTU experience, one that imparts an entrepreneurial mindset that has the ability to seize opportunities, and create value and impact."

As part of the UIF, NTU has set up a high-level Enterprise Board to oversee the use of the grant. The NTU Enterprise Board comprises Mr Inderjit Singh, a member of the NTU Board of Trustees and Founder & CEO of Infiniti Solutions Pte Ltd (as Chairman); Mr Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman of Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology & Research; Dr Robert Herbold, Managing Director of The Herbold Group and retired COO of Microsoft Corporation; NTU President Dr Su Guaning; and Mr Ron Sim, Executive Chairman, OSIM International Ltd.

NTU was chosen as a Kauffman Campus in December 2008 for its exceptional entrepreneurship ecosystem, which is well supported by the Nanyang Technopreneurship Centre, behind courses such as Asia's first Master of Science in Technopreneurship & Innovation Programme, or TIP. Among those who graduated from TIP in July 2008, 51 per cent joined small and medium enterprises to help grow and develop ventures, while 27 per cent started businesses.

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