15 July 2008

NUS tops LKY Global Business Plan Competition

GELOMATRIX TRIUMPH: Team member Cher Wei Liang at the competition.

NUS team has done it again – coming tops at the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition organised by the Singapore Management University (SMU). NUS has won three of the four competitions held so far. The team won for themselves a cash prize of US$10,000 as well as an investment grant of up to US$10,000.

The team for the latest win, Gelomatrix, beat five other teams from SMU; Oklahoma City University, USA; Seoul National University, South Korea; Queen’s University, Canada as well as fellow team from NUS, Solar-in-the-box which deals with solar panels installation.

Gelomatrix comprises Bio-engineering students Cher Wei Liang, Chua Zi Yong and Goh Qing Zhuang and Mechanical Engineering student Darren Luo Xueli. They are also from the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) Programme. Their product, Chondromatrix is an implantable material that repairs knee cartilage through in-vivo tissue regeneration. The procedure utilises stem cells from the patient’s bone marrow and is minimally invasive. They seek to be the leader of knee cartilage repair market for patients with active lifestyles.

Said Wei Liang: "In-depth market research such as speaking to orthopaedic surgeons and the numerous consultation sessions with entrepreneurs and other related experts in the industry were key factors in helping us develop a successful business plan.

"The team's past experience in the Wharton Business Plan Competition held at the Wharton School, Upenn, has given us tremendous amount of feedbacks, helping us address some of the key issues related to a biotech business. Our ability to clarify our intellectual property and regulatory position was also a key factor in convincing the judges our future development plans."

Another important strategy for the team was always to validate their ideas and assumptions by conducting research and inteviews. The NOC programme has provided them with tremendous amount of opportunities. "It was during this one year internship-study programme in Philadelphia that the team was formed, and the business plan was developed. The entrepreneurial environment spurred us on," he added.