Live your dream, thanks to
“The Enterprise Challenge”

        Call it a re-engineered fairytale. The story begins with two young, engineering graduate students making an amazing discovery while studying at the Nanyang Technological University .

        “We found a way to turn nasty, toxic industrial waste materials into safe and re-usable bricks, pavers and aggregates,” says Roy Tan Hsin Loong, one of the two partners in this project.

        Tan’s humble description of the project belies the massive potential of the technology that he and his partner Tang Tsen Meng created and patented under their company NewEarth (NE) Pte Ltd. Mentored by the University and the Maritime and Port Authority the next challenge for the two young engineers-turned-entrepreneurs was to take their innovation out of the laboratory and into full-scale pilot testing.

        “When we did the math, the numbers were daunting. We needed close to a million dollars to turn our dream into a reality. We needed to find a dream maker.” recalls Mr Tan.

         The “dream maker” turned out to The Enterprise Challenge (TEC), an initiative driven from the Prime Minister’s Office.

         TEC was introduced in 2000 to provide an open platform for radical innovations from any sector. Basically anyone with a good idea that could potentially result in significant improvement to the public service could submit a proposal.

        “Public agencies often prefer to stick to tried-and-tested solutions,” said Dr Tan Kim Siew, Chairman of TEC, at its inaugural TEC seminar held in July this year, “They are hesitant to adopt new ideas or innovations which may fail or not work, thereby wasting their time and resources. Being public officials, they will be concerned with auditors faulting them for wasting public funds. This is where TEC comes in. We take the risk, wholly or partially, for them.”

         The first step for any potential innovator is to complete an online application at TEC’s websites. The TEC secretariat will then work closely with the innovators to nurture their proposals, bringing out their uniqueness and value propositions to the public service. The more promising proposals are sent to the TEC panel for evaluation. The TEC panel, comprising distinguished CEOs, academics and leaders from both public and private sectors, would decide whether or not to fund the project.

         Executive Chairman of Frontline Technologies Steve Ting shares why he voluntarily sites on the panel. “I hope my years of experience as an entrepreneur will help the TEC panel in promoting a strong entrepreneurial spirit in Singapore . It has been an interesting experience working with the various organisations and fellow Panel members.”

         Mr Goh Chung Meng, CEO of Avi-Tech Electronics(S) Pte Ltd, has been a TEC panel member for almost four years. “I have a passion for innovation. It has been exciting to be on the panel as I have witnessed groundbreaking innovations put forward. It shows that we can be a thinking society. We can no longer be a mainframe in a PDA generation.”

         “To me, being innovative means being able to navigate a problem to find a solution rather than relying on precedents that may have worded in the past. So when we review a proposal, we look for fresh ideas that will be of benefit to society.”

         Bearing this in mind, Roy Tan’s team began to prepare their proposal to the panel. To assist them, TEC provided a manager to guide the untried but intrepid entrepreneurs. “Our TEC manager helped us craft our proposal for the panel. Given the scale of the project, our proposal for funding demanded a solid framework. Fifteen proposals later, we had a winner!” Mr Tan says with a laugh.

         Ms Lee Yoke Peng, Head of TEC, say, “The innovation that TEC funds has to be something that is untried and untested in any part of the world. Or it could be an existing idea implemented in a different field or in a different manner. It should also have the potential to create new value or substantial improvement to the public and society.”

         Mr Goh, who was on the panel, says: “It’s a mindset of change and a spirit of innovation that makes the difference. And we could see this in the team from NewEarth and their partners.”

         He describes the decision-making process as a rigorous one, “When we consider a proposal, we look for a gem of an idea. Then we consider the value of the innovation in terms of benefit to the public. Next, we look at the scale of the project, the budget required and the proposed framework to make the innovation a reality. We debate actively among panel members, and we usually manage to come to a consensus.”

         After just two presentations, to the panel, Mr Roy Tan and his team got their answer within the week. “TEC agreed to provide us with funding of close to a million dollars! We could hardly believe it. This was one of the largest amounts of funding TEC had ever provided,” says Mr Tan.

         He adds: “There is often the fear of ‘red tape’ when working with government agencies. But our experience with TEC has shown that it does not have to be an obstacle course. We were heartened to discover a team of shrewd risk-takers on the TEC panel who were willing to bet on a couple of students with a good idea.”