TECH NEEDS

The technology seeker is a designer and manufacturer of portable electrical devices for use by consumers in various scenarios, including when at home, work, or travelling. A number of these devices use heating elements, and currently require protective cases to ensure the consumer does not come into direct contact with a heat source or heated outer surface. However, this can make the devices bulky, heavy and hard to use, negatively impacting the user experience. The company wishes to protect consumers from unintended access to hot surfaces, by insulating the heat source and/or cooling the external surfaces touched by the user. The company already offers a wide range of products to worldwide markets. They have a well-established research and development team and are keen to collaborate with appropriate solution providers. The company is able to provide testing of suitable materials or technical solutions, and is keen to learn of new technical solutions.

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.

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. 

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.

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