​2 Regional Listees makes the Global MIT Technology Review magazine Innovators Under 35 List

Singaporean Benjamin Tee郑志强博士, 33, Co-founder of Privi Medical and Australia-based Rikky Muller, 34, CEO and Co-founder of Cortera Neurotechnologies, both regional finalists honored on EmTech Asia’s Innovators Under 35 (TR35) list for 2015 have attained global recognition by being listed as two of MIT Technology Review magazine’s 35 Innovators Under 35 for 2015. The list will be published in the October edition of the magazine.

Tee is a young technoprenuer with a doctorate in Electrical Engineering, which he gained at Stanford University in 2013. His research centers on wearable, flexible sensors, circuits and electronics. In particular, his work in flexible electronic sensor skins is highly cited and has been widely featured in various news media, earning him several prestigious international graduate research awards such as the TSMC Outstanding Research Gold and Academy Award, and the MRS Graduate Student Gold Award. Benjamin was also named the Singapore-Stanford Biodesign 2014 Global Innovation Fellow.

Dr. Muller founded Cortera Neurotechnologies based on her Ph.D. research in neurological implant microsystems. She is leading the development of next-generation implant systems for treating neurological disorders and is a principal investigator in the first major project of the Obama BRAIN Initiative. She received her Ph.D. in 2013 from the University of California, Berkeley in Electrical Engineering (EE), which she followed as a McKenzie Fellow and Lecturer of EE at the University of Melbourne. She graduated with a Bachelor and Masters degree in EE from MIT and is the recipient of numerous awards including the McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowship, the MAP Entrepreneurial Fellowship, the Berkeley EE Graduate Fellowship, and the CNEP Graduate Fellowship.

Muller urges others to apply for inclusion in the 2016 list. She says, “The TR35 not only recognizes the technologist, but also the potential of the technology. The TR35 is an incredible opportunity for an innovator to be exposed to a global community of innovators that are advancing technology for human benefit. Being connected to this global community of accomplished people is a true honor. Being a regional winner makes you an automatic finalist for the global award that is recognized by millions of people worldwide and has included very prestigious winners in the past such as Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.”Other regional listees are appreciative of the honour and recognition they have gained from being named to the list.

“It is a great honor to be a TR35 Asia listee,” says Juliana Chan, a pioneer in nanomedicine who made the 2014 EmTech Asia regional list. “Being a TR35 Asia winner has helped increase my visibility as a nanotechnology researcher. MIT Technology Review is featuring me as an alumni in their Sept/Oct 2015 magazine. Earlier this year, I was elected a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum - I'm the first professor from Nanyang Technological University to be given this honor. I believe that being a TR35 APAC listee was a stepping stone to these opportunities.” Dr. Chan is a Nanyang Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University and Editor-in-Chief of Asian Scientist Magazine.

Dr. Shawn Tan, a scientist and principal investigator at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, also made the 2015 list. He designs and build nanostructures that can manipulate light at the nanoscale, and specifically tune how light interacts with carefully-designed tiny metal nanostructures, which has opened up a new paradigm for printing colour with structures rather than inks, at unprecedented resolutions of up to 100,000 dpi.

Dr Tan says of him being listed at the regional level that, “There definitely has been a greater recognition, appreciation and interest in the work on plasmonic colour printing. The 3 minute pitch that I gave on the EmTech Asia stage was enough to draw keen interest from several companies that use colour printing technology to investigate opportunities for further development. The exposure to the technopreneur community for a nascent technology such as this cannot be understated.”

Applications for the regional list for 2016 close 18 September 2015. Apply at http://www.emtech.sg/tr35/nominate/