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Good practice Imported

NTUitive — Nanyang Technological University's Innovation and Enterprise Company

Singapore · Singapore · See the Singapore profile · See the Singapore profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 74% 57/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

NTU Singapore's wholly-owned innovation company has incubated 330 start-ups and deep-tech spin-offs in under a decade — 70 of them now worth over S$820M combined — while licensing 140+ technologies last year, 40% more than five years earlier.

330 companies
Start-ups and deep-tech spin-offs incubated (as of Oct 2023)
70 companies
Deep-tech spin-offs (as of Oct 2023)
820 SGD million
Combined last-funded valuation of deep-tech spin-offs (as of Oct 2023)
518 disclosures
Technology inventions/disclosures filed in latest year
140 licenses (more than)
Technologies licensed in latest year
40 %
Growth in licensing versus 5 years earlier
1500 disclosures (more than)
Technology disclosures reviewed over the prior decade
800 IPs (more than)
Intellectual properties licensed over the prior decade
NTUitive — Nanyang Technological University's Innovation and Enterprise Company

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
NTUitive Pte Ltd / Nanyang Technological University
Period
2013–present
Keywords
technology transfer, deep tech, startup incubation, IP licensing

Context

NTUitive Pte Ltd is the wholly-owned innovation and enterprise company of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, responsible for managing the university's intellectual property, licensing technologies, and supporting spin-off and start-up creation from NTU research.

Activities

NTUitive supports this pipeline with proof-of-concept and prototype-development funding, start-up founder grants and equity investment.

Results

As of an October 2023 NTU showcase event ('Igniting Innovation'), the university reported having incubated 330 start-ups and deep-tech spin-offs in under a decade — comprising 70 deep-tech spin-offs, collectively valued at over S$820 million based on their last funded valuations, and 260 further startups. In the preceding year, NTU filed 518 technology inventions and disclosures and licensed more than 140 of them, a 40% increase compared with five years earlier; over the preceding decade it had reviewed more than 1,500 technology disclosures and licensed over 800 intellectual properties to companies. Spin-outs showcased at the event include ACM Biolabs (a nanoparticle vaccine/drug-delivery platform, with a COVID-19 booster candidate that completed Phase 1 trials), MindSigns Health (a cloud-based EEG analysis platform for epilepsy and mental-health remote monitoring), and VFlowTech (a vanadium redox-flow battery spin-off that had recently raised US$10 million).

Conclusions

As with any single-institution figure, the S$820 million portfolio valuation reflects last-funded-round marks rather than realised exits.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — No specific NTUitive operating budget disclosed; scale indicated by the S$820 million combined last-funded valuation of its 70 deep-tech spin-offs and its proof-of-concept/founder-grant/equity-investment funding instruments.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Period of reported growth spans roughly a decade (2013-2023) to the October 2023 'Igniting Innovation' showcase.
Staffing & skills
Wholly-owned subsidiary of Nanyang Technological University managing IP, licensing and spin-off creation

Conditions for success

  • Integrated funding pipeline combining proof-of-concept/prototype funding, start-up founder grants and equity investment in a single vehicle
  • Sustained decade-long growth in disclosure and licensing volume (licensing up 40% over five years)
  • Diversification across deep-tech domains (biotech, health tech, energy storage) reducing reliance on a single sector

Common failure modes

  • The S$820 million portfolio valuation reflects last-funded-round marks rather than realised exits, meaning reported value has not yet been crystallised through sales or IPOs

Where it fits

Governance type
university-owned innovation and enterprise company
Scale
single institution (Nanyang Technological University)
Income level
high-income (Singapore)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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