Straits Times 24 Jun 09;
HE INVENTED a portable, easy-to- use filtration system that gave clean water to more than 100,000 people in Aceh after the 2004 tsunami.
Now, local researcher Adrian Yeo, 32, has developed another potential winner - a membrane sensor network that diagnoses the 'health' of a water treatment plant, to make sure it is performing at its peak.
His start-up - Membrane Instruments and Technology - has been given US$100,000 (S$145,800) to commercialise his latest invention, which will be tested at one of PUB's water treatment plants.
The device works via sensors that monitor the state of membranes used to produce clean water, highlighting where contaminants are concentrated, which could cause a drop in performance, said Dr Yeo.
The system could reduce a plant's maintenance costs by up to 10 per cent. This could add up to savings of $2 million a year in running the Tuas Desalination Plant, for example, added the research fellow at Nanyang Technological University, who set up his company six months ago.
The funding comes from a well- known figure in the water industry - Dr Andrew Benedek, the first winner of the $300,000 Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize last year, who was chosen for his pioneering use of membranes to treat water.
The 65-year-old Canadian announced the annual award at a Singapore International Water Week conference yesterday, and said the award would be given out over the next three years, after which he would 'assess its success' before deciding whether to continue with it.
Dr Benedek, executive director of UTS Biogas, a leading biofuel technology company in Germany, wants the award to go to start-up ventures in water treatment to help them commercialise fast.
He called the award the Don Quixote Fund - after the idealism of the fictional Spanish figure who relinquished his worldly possessions and travelled the world to right wrongs.
'Whenever people have a dream, society around them says that it is impossible,' said Dr Benedek. 'The guys who dream the impossible are like Don Quixote.'
AMRESH GUNASINGHAM
NTU researcher makes a splash with award
Lee U-Wen, Business Times 24 Jun 09;
SIX months ago, right in the heart of the global economic downturn, Singaporean scientist Adrian Yeo still took the plunge to set up his own company.
Called Membrane Instruments and Technology (Mint), the specialist firm aims to develop strategies for water treatment plants that use membrane technology.
But if the 32-year-old research fellow at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) ever worried about financing, he need not fret anymore.
Yesterday, Dr Yeo was named the inaugural recipient of the Don Quixote Fund award, a US$100,000 prize set up by Andrew Benedek, the winner of last year's Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize.
The new award provides start-up venture capital to enable graduate students and early-career scientists to develop new technology ideas that could impact the global water industry in future.
Speaking after receiving his award as part of the festivities at the ongoing Singapore International Water Week, Dr Yeo said he plans to use the money as seed funding to start commercialising his invention, the Membrane Integrity Sensor.
The device provides real-time information on the state of membranes used in the water purification process. It has already undergone pilot plant testing and Dr Yeo will use the prize money to install the sensor in water treatment plants.
'I've had good support from NTU, and they are providing my team with some office space to incubate. I have been able to tap on their business advice and things are moving along smoothly so far,' he said.
This will not be the first product that Dr Yeo has conceptualised. He previously invented a simple membrane-based water filter for the Indonesian market.
When the tsunami hit Aceh in December 2004, he trained locals there on the use and maintenance of the filters and personally delivered some 8,000 litres of drinking water to needy people.
Dr Benedek told BT that Dr Yeo stood out from the other applicants because 'his technology was interesting, the requirement was real, and he displayed entrepreneurial qualities'.
'He is a worthy recipient and he will receive the necessary coaching and mentoring to be successful. He is young and hungry and will go far,' he said.
Meanwhile, the National Research Foundation gave out 12 environmental and water technologies PhD scholarships yesterday to deserving students with a strong passion in clean water and energy research.
They received their scholarships at a lunch event from Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim.
Two of the winners will head to Cambridge University in the UK and Cornell University in the US, while the other 10 will pursue their research locally at NTU and the National University of Singapore.
