Guest of Honour
Moderator
OverviewDistinguished Technopreneur Speaker ForumThe DTS Series was launched in 2008 as part of A*STAR’s initiatives to seed innovation and entrepreneurship in Singapore.Through this platform, we invite luminaries from around the world to share with us their experiences in science and innovation. The speakers are selected based on their proven records of adopting technology and innovation to create value-add and wealth for their communities. Some of our past DTS recipients included Sir Gregory Winter from the University of Cambridge, Prof Shuji Nakamura from the University of California Santa Barbara, Nobel Laureate Prof Phillip Sharp from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and most recently in 2015 - Sir Tom Blundell from the University of Cambridge. Click here for past news on DTS.
Lecture Synopsis The Entrepreneurial Journey: Balancing Technological Exploration and Exploitation in the Pursuit of Breakthroughs in Medicine & Healthcare Three decades ago, the message of being diagnosed as an AIDS patient pretty much equalled to the delivery of a death sentence with execution within 2-3 years. Today, the outlook for many HIV patients is totally different. We are also witnessing in other areas of medicine the first promises -as well as practical challenges- of a higher precision medicine where the outcome for the individual patient benefits from (i) therapies targeted at the specific molecular dysfunctions that underlay many diseases and (ii) ‘precision’ diagnostic tools that reveal the biomarkers that drive or correlate with these aberrant molecular processes. Both of these examples and developments will feature as the backdrop of the entrepreneurial journey that Dr Pauwels took and lived through with his many colleagues. It will allow highlighting the enabling role of certain technologies and strategies in the results that were achieved. It will point to the importance of a true understanding of current and future medical needs, of aiming at the right innovation target level and of the role all participants and stakeholders can play in the execution of these projects. There are no formulas for success, but a number of principles, strategies and mind-sets could help new entrepreneurs, industry professionals, researchers, students, policy makers and investors on how to foster innovation and create companies and solutions that patients and society - now and in the future - are waiting for. |