Exploit Technologies, the commercialization arm of A*STAR, organises the Distinguished Technopreneur Speaker (DTS) Forum to seed innovation and entrepreneurship in Singapore. DTS aims to engage entrepreneurs, industry professionals, researches, scholars and students and inspire them to explore the potential of entrepreneurship, innovation and emerging technologies as envisioned by the new economy.

In the fourth installment of the Forum, we are honoured to have invited Dr Shuji Nakamura, the father of blue LED. A prominent LED lighting scholar and inventor, he is widely known as the “Thomas Edison of the LED industry”. At the DTS forum, he will be sharing his insights on the history, development and applications of Nitride-based visible LEDs and laser diodes.

As part of the Skills Training for Excellence Programme (STEP) initiative, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) will be supporting the DTS forum to encourage the Professionals, Managers and Engineers (PMEs) in the manufacturing industries to learn from Dr Nakamura to spur productivity and innovation.

A*STAR Chairman, Lim Chuan Poh will be the Guest of Honour at the event.

SCHEDULE OF EVENT

Speaker Profile

DR SHUJI NAKAMURA

Dr Shuji Nakamura is a pioneer in the field of green and white LEDs, and blue laser diodes, which are used in Blu-ray Discs and HD DVDs. At a time when many considered creating a Gallium Nitride (GaN) LED too difficult, Dr Nakamura invented the first high brightness GaN LED, its brilliant blue light the key to white LED lighting. His discovery went into mass production in 1993. For his work and research, he has received numerous awards, including the Nishina Memorial Award (1996), MRS Medal Award (1997), IEEE Jack A. Morton Award, the British Rank Prize (1998) and Benjamin Franklin Medal Award (2002). He was elected as the member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2003. He also received the Finnish Millennium Technology Prize in 2006 and the Asturias Award from Spain in 2008. Most recently, he received the Harvey Prize from the Israel Institute of Technology in 2010. Dr Nakamura is currently a professor at the Materials Department of the College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He holds more than 100 patents and has published more than 400 papers.

Moderator Profile

PROFESSOR CHUA SOO JIN

Professor Chua Soo Jin serves as Vice Chair of External Relations at the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and Deputy Director at the Centre for Singapore-MIT Alliance. He is also Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He helped launch the Institute of Microelectronics (IME) in 1990 and established its wide industry contacts and research collaborations during its formative years. Prior to this, he was Director of the Optoelectronics and Electronics Systems Cluster at the Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE), and from 2004 to 2010, served as the Deputy Executive Director of IMRE with responsibility for industry interactions and collaborations. His research interests include research on gallium nitride, MOCVD, organic light emitting devices (OLED) and optoelectronic devices. He has published over 400 papers in international journals and co-authored 30 patents. Professor Chua is best known for inventing the Quantum Dot White LED and pioneering the Quantum Dot Photodetector. His expertise in the field of Optoelectronics is well recognized; he has provided training for companies in Singapore and in the region.

Panelist Profile

DR PAUL MARTIN

Dr Paul Martin is the General Manager of Philips-Lumileds and heads up the automotive LED signaling business based in Singapore. He is also the Vice President for product development at Philips-Lumileds and Philips Lumileds Lighting. His achievements include leading a team to create high power LED products including LUXEON Flash, LUXEON Rebel and LUXEON Altilon. Prior to this, Dr. Martin joined Hewlett-Packard’s optoelectronics R&D team in San Jose, California and followed the corporate evolution from HP to Agilent to Lumileds to Philips-Lumileds. Dr Martin is passionate about innovation with more than 30 patents granted to his name. He has also authored numerous presentations and publications.