(serene music)
- [Narrator] Welcome to Singapore, a hub for entrepreneurs
pushing the boundaries of technology.
Here, innovators are tackling some of the most pressing
issues of today.
From sustainability to health care and communication,
these technologies have an impact
that could make a difference worldwide.
- [Man] This Great Big Story was made possible by
the Singapore Tourism Board,
Singapore Economic Development Board
and Enterprise Singapore.
- [Narrator] On the Island of Singapore,
where city and nature co-exist,
researchers developed a small but mighty solution
to protect an essential natural resource.
- The world is running out of access to fresh water,
and that's why we want to make an impact
by utilizing an environmentally-friendly sponge
to clean the water and not to waste available resources,
but to make them available for recycling.
My name is Andrew Stolz and I'm the CEO
and co founder of EcoWorth Tech.
This is the Carbon Fiber Aerogel,
it's a pure carbon super absorbent sponge
that has the ability to absorb a wide range of organics.
And through a simple mechanical squeezing,
we're able to recuperate and reuse those available organics.
And also we're able to reuse the sponge over and over again.
Here in the lab, we produce the sponge
via controlled burning process.
We load the furnace with a cellulosic material
and then we heat up the furnace so we end up with a material
that attracts oils, grease, fats, dyes and repels water.
We believe that in the future,
we can clean up oil spills offshore.
So it's something that we are very passionate
to bring to life and with that achieve
big positive environmental impact.
- [Narrator] In another lab, scientists are brewing
a big idea that involves a certain pesky insect
with the key to preventing diseases.
- Over 40% of world's population is at risk of dengue.
Mosquitoes can spread this disease.
If this problem isn't being addressed,
the situation will become worse.
With our innovative solutions we are able to reduce
the disease mosquitoes in the community.
- [Narrator] David Du is the co-founder
of Orinho Technology.
His team with the help from
Singapore's National Environment Agency has created a system
to help scientists breed male mosquitoes.
They are injected with a bacteria called Wolbachia
and then released into an environment to mate
with the female mosquitoes, causing them to lay eggs
that do not hatch.
Many companies want to use this technique,
but counting as well as sorting the males and females
can be extremely laborious.
The larvae dispensing system quickly counts the larvae
and the pupae separation systems sorts the sexes.
- [David] We hope more industries could adopt our technology
to improve public health and quality of life.
- [Narrator] Helping people live a better life
is at the core of this next Singapore-based invention.
It's all about giving an extra hand.
- Due to aging population, we have more and more people
with stroke causing physical damage.
By using soft robotic technologies,
we can make something new that's very portable
and easy to use.
My name is Jane Wang, I'm the co-founder and CEO of
Roceso Technologies.
This is called EsoGLOVE, which is a soft robotic hand glove
for people with neurological disorders
and eventually may have hand impairments.
We have selected one specific material, a very light fabric.
We also have a control box to provide the power
and the air into the glove.
And together with our software, we are able to provide
hand rehabilitation therapy.
So far, we have been trying our device
on hundreds patients in different continents.
So we have seen very positive outcomes
from very mild patients all the way
to serious stroke patients.
There are a lot of problems in the world,
especially healthcare problems.
So if we can utilize our innovations to help people
recover much faster, we can improve the quality of life
of all the people who are affected
with diseases or disabilities.
- [Narrator] Now onto a light bulb moment,
that's bringing power to rural regions.
- More than 2 billion people
have very limited access to electricity.
A lot of these people use kerosene lamps.
There are many accidents that happen.
it's not very environmentally friendly.
Our solar lanterns solves all these problems.
My name is Hariharan and I'm the founder and CEO
of Third Wave Power.
This is the solar lantern.
The solar panel is the primary element
that actually collects energy.
It's exposed to the sun and energy goes into the battery.
The battery stores the energy during the day.
When the lantern switches on, the LED will
start consuming the energy from the battery.
We also use a battery technology called the LFP batteries
that lasts for nearly four to five years.
So it's definitely way more efficient, way more safe.
The impact that solar powered applications can create in the
future is far greater than what we have achieved today
and it's only the beginning of the journey.
- [Narrator] And finally,
a device that uses a different kind
of light to empower those without access
to what many people take for granted.
- There's a lot of areas in the world that don't have good
access to internet simply because building infrastructure in
those spaces is too expensive.
We believe everyone, regardless of where they're living
should have access to the internet.
That's why we're building the Centauri technology.
The Centauri One is a laser communication device
that can help people get access to super fast internet.
It uses state-of-the-art laser communication technology.
All you need to do is go on a rooftop,
mount the device, point it towards the closest
location nearby, where you do have access to internet.
You put another one of these devices
on that rooftop as well, the lasers will find themselves
and boom, you have a fiber like connection
between the two buildings.
Our ultimate goal is to build a global network of satellites
using lasers to connect every single place on the planet to
each other, so that's the way we see
ourself growing in the future.
Connectivity for everyone.
(mellow music)