20 May, 2010 – A panel of distinguished speakers engaged in a stimulating discussion at the Ngee Ann-Adelaide Education Centre’s Inaugural Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum 2010. The speakers addressed the challenges and opportunities in developing entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities to a delegation of 200 professional and institutional delegates. The President of ASME, Mr Lawrence Leow was invited as the Guest of Honour to deliver the Opening Address to the Forum chaired and moderated by Dr Seet Pi-Shen, Senior Lecturer, Business School, University of Adelaide.

Other broad aspects of entrepreneurship were presented by Dr Allan O’Connor, Academic Director of the Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Innovation Centre; in representation of the research team on “Business Incubation: Does it really help?” The research team formed by Dr O’Connor, Dr Seet and Dr Noor Hazlina Ahmad, Senior Lecturer at the School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang was funded by Ngee Ann Kongsi and the University of Adelaide to research on the impact of business incubation as means to help minimise risks while maximising survival and growth of new ventures through a comparative study of incubation programs in Singapore and Australia.

Delegates were given an insight on the “Dynamic Capabilities for Superior Organisation Performance” by Guest Speaker, Mr Koh Hock-Tee, PhD Candidate, Business School, the University of Adelaide and the possibilities of “Exploiting Business opportunities with Disruptive Technologies” by Dr Jim Kery Li, CEO and Founder of Ventura Group of Companies.

The Forum closed with the launch of the Singapore Entrepreneurs’ Challenge 2010, a business plan competition organised by Ngee Ann-Adelaide Education Centre with the aim to foster the successful development of new ideas into investment – ready, early-stage companies amongst the youths.

The Singapore Entrepreneurs’ Challenge will culminate with a Forum and Award Ceremony in the Global Entrepreneurs’ Week on 18 November 2010.