Turning Research Into Billion-Dollar Startups

Prof. Benjamin Tee, Vice President at NUSX Key points: Entrepreneurship teaches lessons that academia can't - insights that only come from trying to turn ideas into companies Deciding whether breakthrough research should stay in the lab or become a real company is a skill in itself, and one that can be learned The journey from lab to market for first-time founders can be structured and supported The biggest opportunities in physical AI sit at the intersection of AI, robotics and the physical world over the next few years Working at the frontier of research on technologies like electronic skin reveals just how long DeepTech really takes to reach the market University spin-outs rarely fail because of weak science - scaling globally requires doing things differently, from ecosystem support to commercial ambition