Singapore, 14 August 2017 (Monday) — The Singapore Management University (SMU) today announced the 32 finalist teams for the 9^th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition, which is organised by the Institute of Innovation &  Entrepreneurship (IIE) at SMU for university, college and polytechnic students around the world to showcase their entrepreneurial talents.

Themed 'Smart City', the competition calls for innovative proposals that address the opportunities and challenges a smart city faces in the areas of health, living, mobility and services.

This year, the competition received a record 550 submissions from over 300 universities in 68 countries, surpassing the last edition of 184 entries from 140 universities. These include submissions from leading universities in Asia, Europe and the US. To participate, students prepared a page-long summary, presentation slides and a video. Apart from record submissions, this year’s competition also saw a record number of organisations, judges and mentors supporting the event.

“The LKYGBPC is a major effort by IIE involving the academia, public and private-sector organisations in Singapore to bring together global youth entrepreneurs and thought leaders to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing mankind,” said Hau Koh Foo, Director of the Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Singapore Management University. ”We have received many proposals with disruptive Smart City ideas that could potentially be implemented here in Singapore.” 

“The quality of the submissions are way better than any student competition that I have come across”, said Paul Santos, Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners, a Platinum Sponsor of the competition. Julien Mialaret, Operating Partner of Idinvest Partners and one of the judges for the Living category added, “Some of the submissions that I have evaluated are truly promising and amongst the best smart city innovations that I have seen at this early stage.”

The teams which have qualified for the finals can be found in Annex B. They will travel to Singapore during the week of 11 September for a week-long immersion program to visit innovation and start-up hotspots and meet industry mentors.

The Grand Finals and Awards Ceremony dinner will be held on 14 September 2017, during which the winners will be announced. The winner of each category will take home $25,000. An overall champion will be identified among the category winners, and will walk away with the grand prize of $100,000, the largest single prize amount given in the Competition's sixteen-year history. In addition to the cash prizes, finalist teams will also stand to win various investment and in-kind prizes provided by the sponsors.

The panel of judges for the Grand Finals are Michael Seibel, CEO of Y Combinator, Shirley Wong, Managing Partner of TNF Ventures, Professor Lui Pao Chuen, Advisor of National Research Foundation Singapore, David Su, Founding Managing Partner of Matrix Partners China, and Paul Santos, Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners.

The Competition Finals is also a week of celebration on innovation and entrepreneurship. Three public events have been developed for the Singapore community in conjunction with the Finals. On 14 September, members of the public are invited to attend the Grand Finals and the Fireside chat with Michael Seibel and David Su. Startup founders who are interested in joining Y-Combinator can also sign up for the “1-1 Office Hours with Michael Seibel” taking place on 15 September. Interested parties may visit www.smu.edu.sg/lky or write in to lkystaff [at] smu.edu.sg for more information on how to participate in these public events.     

The Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition is supported by Wilmar International Limited.           

For more information about the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition, please visit http://smu.edu.sg/lky.

Enclosed with this press release are:

- Annex A: Grand Finals judges

- Annex B: List of 32 finalists

- Annex C: List of sponsors

For more information, please contact:

Teo Chang Ching

Senior Assistant Director

Office of Corporate Communications and Marketing

DID: (65) 6828 0451

Email: ccteo [at] smu.edu.sg

Amelia Chen

Senior Manager

Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Singapore Management University

DID: (65) 6808 5133

Email: ameliachen [at] smu.edu.sg