entrepreneurship

Spotlight on Singapore: 10 Questions for Shiok Meats’ Ka Yi Ling

 Innovation Council sat down with Ka Yi Ling, the CTO and Co-Founder of Shiok Meats, a cell-based meat and seafood company in Singapore. An early member of Innovation Council, the company produces delicious and nutritious meats that are at the same time animal-, health- and environment-friendly. A recent tasting event in Singapore confirmed the appeal of the Shiok Meat crustacean meat products to discerning palates. 

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Q&A with Innovation Council members Wetility & Renewables in Africa

Innovation Council sat down with Vincent Maposa, the Founder and CEO of Wetility and Tony Tiyou, the Founder and CEO of Renewables in Africa, to talk about the beginnings of their companies and what made them successful.

Wetility is a rooftop solar PV technology company based in South Africa. It creates optimal capacity for stand-alone and sectional title homes and small commercial buildings. The company harnesses the power of the sun, with the aim of introducing the world to a hybrid solution that works seamlessly and in harmony with current power supply options.

Renewables in Africa is a clean energy engineering consultancy providing services in renewable energy and energy management to project developers and investors. RiA is primarily focused on projects in Africa, but it does advise clients about energy projects in other emerging markets as well. RiA is also a media platform with the vision to transform Africa and African lives by leveraging the power of renewable energy.

Wetility and Renewables in Africa work closely together.

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Q&A with Innovation Council member Villgro Africa

Innovation Council sat down with Wilfred Njagi, Co-Founder and CEO of Villgro Africa to learn more about the success story and lessons learned. The healthcare business incubator has a demonstrated track record having incubated over 30 healthcare innovators in East Africa that have gone on to increase access to affordable, superior quality healthcare in E. Africa touching over 2 million lives in the last 5 years.

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Q&A with Innovation Council member Medixus

Innovation Council sat down with Nicole Kayode, Founder and CEO of Medixus to talk about her passion for health and social impact tech. She created a communication, collaboration and learning platform for doctors aimed at improving case management and clinical practice. Medixus believes that quality patient care relies on smooth communication between healthcare professionals, and access to resources that will further their development.

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Key IP considerations for smaller enterprises

The Innovation Council team wrote an article that was published in the June issue of WIPO Magazine. The article, by Phil Wadsworth, with Jennifer Brant and Peter Brown, highlights key IP considerations for smaller companies. In particular, the article highlights the importance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of patents, trade secrets, copyright protections, and trademarks, as well as design rights, and discusses how these protections can facilitate collaboration, successful commercialization, and other beneficial outcomes for small businesses.

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2021 Innovators Under 35

In the “35 Innovators Under 35” competition, the MIT Technology Review nominates more than 500 people every year and will showcase these global winners in their July/August issue and online. From this group, the Technology Review’s editors select the most promising 100 competitors to advance to the semi-finalist round, and the work of these top 100 contestants is then evaluated by a panel of judges with expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, software, energy, and materials. Using the insights from these rankings, the editors select the final list of 35.

Read the full story and scroll through the list of inventors.

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European Inventor Award 2021 Popular Prize

The race is on to see who will win the coveted Popular Prize at the 2021 European Inventor awards. Fifteen inventors or inventor teams from around the world have been nominated for this year’s Popular Prize. They are in five categories: Industry, Lifetime achievement, Non-EPO countries, SMEs and Research.

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This robot doesn’t need any electronics

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have created a four-legged soft robot that doesn’t need any electronics to work. The robot only needs a constant source of pressurized air for all its functions, including its controls and locomotion systems. Soft robots are of particular interest because they easily adapt to their environment and operate safely near humans.

Most of them are powered by pressurized air and are controlled by electronic circuits, but this approach requires complex components like circuit boards, valves, and pumps, often outside the robot’s body; these components, which constitute the robot’s brains and nervous system, are typically bulky and expensive. By contrast, the UC San Diego robot is controlled by a light-weight, low-cost system of pneumatic circuits, made up of tubes and soft valves, which are built into the robot itself. The robot can walk on command or in response to signals it receives from the environment.

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E-commerce Story Pitch Contest

In this online pitch competition, three e-commerce companies from developing and least developed countries will pitch their story and will be asked a series of questions, with online participants deciding who wins.

In their pitch, finalists will have to provide practical e-commerce insights, actionable tips and innovative approaches. The aim is to share specific learnings, get inspired, and learn useful tips and tools to boost online sales. The winning e-commerce entrepreneur will receive a prize package worth 1,000 USD for digital marketing services.

The three companies are MYANiture from Myanmar, Booksie from Ghana, and Nanjala from Kenya.

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