What Europe's Startups Can Steal From Singapore's DeepTech Playbook

Jan de Vries · 2026-10-08

What does it take to turn university research into a globally competitive startup? And what can Europe and Asia learn from each other when it comes to innovation, investment, and emerging technologies? Those questions shaped a recent visit to Singapore's A5X conference, where founders, investors, and academics gathered to talk about the future of DeepTech. Across six conversations, plus interviews with the winners of the Singapore Defense Tech Hackathon, one theme kept surfacing: scientific breakthroughs alone aren't enough. You also need capital, infrastructure, international collaboration, and a much clearer path from the lab bench to the market. ### Beyond the Lab One of A5X's biggest announcements was the evolution of NUS Enterprise into NUSX. The new entity has set some serious goals: generating $1 billion in financial returns and developing technologies that could positively impact one billion people by 2035. That's not just ambition—it's a blueprint for how universities can become venture engines. Dr. Tan Sian Wee, Senior Vice President of Innovation and Enterprise at NUS, explained that reaching those goals means rethinking the earliest stages of venture creation. Instead of just investing in existing startups, NUSX wants to identify commercially promising research, validate its market potential, and help assemble the teams needed to turn discoveries into businesses. > "So it's really a talent pipeline, a technology pipeline, a capital pipeline and then an impact pipeline. That's what we're thinking about step by step by step." — Dr. Tan Sian Wee A key part of that strategy is Nova, a newly announced AI platform designed to analyze university research and spot potential commercial applications, licensing opportunities, and industry partnerships. Professor Benjamin Tee, Vice President of Ecosystem Building at NUSX, reinforced the commercialisation focus. A serial entrepreneur and researcher himself, Tee knows firsthand how hard it is to translate academic discoveries into products—especially in fields that require expensive infrastructure and lengthy development cycles. He put it simply: research institutions have to start thinking about real-world outcomes. "Going out of your lab, talking to potential people, potential users, and seeing how your technology can fit into their workflow, into their lives." That's the shift. ### Bridging Two Worlds International collaboration was another hot topic, especially after NUSX announced a partnership with Munich-based UnternehmerTUM. Professor Helmut Schönenberger, co-founder and CEO of UnternehmerTUM, explained how his organization built a venture ecosystem connecting education, research, prototyping, investment, and industrial partnerships. But even the best local ecosystems can't provide everything a globally ambitious startup needs. "If you really want to build a global company today you have to leverage many ecosystems," Schönenberger said. Munich offers access to established industrial networks, engineering expertise, and European customers. Singapore, meanwhile, brings its own strengths in deep tech and Asian market access. For European founders, the takeaway is clear: you don't have to choose one home base. You can—and probably should—plug into multiple ecosystems to accelerate growth. ### What This Means for European Startups So what can Europe learn from Singapore's approach? A few things stand out: - **University commercialization is a pipeline, not a project.** NUSX treats it as a continuous flow of talent, technology, capital, and impact. - **AI can help spot commercial potential early.** Nova shows how machine learning can scan research for market fit. - **Global from day one.** Leveraging multiple ecosystems isn't a nice-to-have; it's a competitive advantage. Europe already has world-class research institutions and a growing startup scene. But if we want more homegrown DeepTech giants, we might need to borrow a page from Singapore's playbook: get out of the lab earlier, build bridges across borders, and treat commercialization as a core part of the research mission. The conversations at A5X made one thing clear—the future of innovation won't be built in isolation. It'll be built by those who can connect the dots between labs, capital, and customers across continents.