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By JAN [email protected] World College SouthEast Asia’s (UWCSEA) Dovercampus will soon include Sin-gapore’s most energy-effi-cient office with space-savingtechniques.
The project will be spear-headed by Future Cities Labo-ratory (FCL), a research pro-gramme focused on urbansustainability. FCL is part ofSingapore ETH Centre (SEC),the only research centre out-side of Switzerland under theumbrella of the prestigiousSwiss Federal Institute ofTechnology Zürich (ETHZürich).
The 600 sqm office situat-ed in a 20,000 sqm buildingwill be the first commercialapplication of the ‘3for2’ ar-chitecture here when it iscompleted in 2015.
The ‘3for2’ concept allowsbuilding developers to con-struct three floors within thestandard space needed forconventional methods to con-struct two floors without anyimpact on perce ivedfloor-to-ceiling heights.
Currently, up to a quarterof vertical spaces in local of-fices are occupied by duct-work, structures and othertechnical systems. However,the team behind ‘3for2’ hasfound a way to greatly reducethe amount of ductwork need-ed and integrate the remain-ing ductwork into the floor,thereby saving on a largeamount of headspace.
The ‘3for2’ design alsosaves on space and energy
consumption through newconstruction technologiessuch as LED lighting panelsand passively cooled ceilingtiles.
The new office will alsoemploy a more energy effi-cient chilling system for itsair-conditioning, which ac-counts for the bulk of energycosts in modern Singapore of-
fices. This is achieved via in-creasing the overall chilledwater temperature requiredto chill a space from about 6degrees to about 17 degrees.The office is expected to con-sume 40 per cent less energythan an average office in Sin-gapore.
Reducing energy con-sumption while increasing vi-
able space seems to have hitarchitectural jackpot. Yet, asa new concept to local proper-ty developers, ‘3for2’ has yetto gain traction. In fact, theUWCSEA ‘3for2’ office is amere 3 per cent of the newbuilding’s floor space. Howev-er, the FCL team believesthat starting small is goodenough.
Dr Adam Rysanek, SEC
FCL manager of the ‘3for2’implementation at UWCSEAsaid: “Before we can reallyconsider applying our con-cept throughout a 50-storeyskyscraper, we need to makesure we get the basics right.With our project at UWCSEA,we have to first prove thatour system will deliver themost energy-efficient officespace in the region.”
TO the naked eye, the capsulesproduced by biotechnologyfirm Austrianova look likebrightly coloured balls, eachbarely a millimeter in diame-
ter.
But each one of these capsules is infact a pod capable of containing10,000 living cells.
Professor Walter Gunzburg, thechairman and chief technology officerof Austrianova, explained that the cap-sules are made of a special type of cot-ton, designed to protect the cells andcocoon them so they can grow and dothe job they need to do – for thesecells, contained in their pods, are tobe injected into the human body for avariety of potential applications –from cancer treatment to probiotics,stem cells and cosmetics.
The special cotton of which the cap-sules are made also ensure that thebody’s immune system does not re-ject the cells, he said.
“We take living cells and we mixthem with this cotton material – thisspecial proprietary cotton derivativewhich we manufacture ourselves.When you mix the two together youform these capsules, with the cells in-side.”
This is what Austrianova’sCell-in-a-Box or cell encapsulationtechnology is about – and it couldchange the way medication is admin-istered to patients.
The capsules are all porous, to al-low for the movement of substancesin and out. This way, the cells insidecan draw nutrition from outside andexpel waste; the porous membrane al-so enables useful substances pro-duced by the cell to enter the body.
Prof Gunzburg said: “What we’redoing here is making a mini implant.Instead of manufacturing a pharma-ceutical product in a factory, putting itin a bottle, sending it to the hospitaland then administering it to the pa-tient, we are actually moving the facto-ry into the patient.”
Diabetes patients, for example, areinjected with these capsules contain-ing insulin-producing cells, which canbe programmed with mechanisms toreact to the body, only producing asmuch insulin as is needed each time.
Dosing in this way will be moreprecise, compared to the convention-al method of making rough estima-tions for each dose, or relying on afixed dose regardless of changes inthe body.
The system is thus self-regulating,which takes some burden off patientsfrom having to monitor their doses.
Austrianova’s most advanced pro-gramme so far is in the treatment ofpancreatic cancer, which has been in
two clinical trials in Europe involving27 patients with advanced stages ofthe disease.
Prof Gunzburg said existing drugshave a small effect on one’s survivaland reduce pain, but cause a range ofside effects.
The pancreatic cancer patientshave been injected with capsules con-taining cells that have been genetical-ly modified to activate the chemother-apeutic chemicals these patients areadministered.
So the chemotherapy is activatedonly where these cells land up. Austri-anova’s chief executive Dr Brian Sal-mons said: “It’s like a magnifyingglass, focusing the effect on the tu-mour. This allows you to go in with alow dose, so that you don’t really getmany side effects. So you get better an-ti-tumour activity and fewer side ef-fects as well.”
Results of the trials have so farbeen promising: the patients have amedian survival period of 40 weeks,double that of the current gold stand-ard treatment. In eight of the 27 pa-tients, the tumours shrank as well.
Cell-encapsulation pioneerAustrianova is the only company inthe world using its proprietary cottonmaterial to advance cell-encapsula-tion technology.
The material of which the capsulesare made enables the capsules to befrozen and shipped around the worldand stored for up to five years. Mostother cell products need to be used im-mediately, making logistics more cost-ly and complicated.
Austrianova’s operations are pri-marily partner-based. The companyhas around 10 partners worldwide,with whom it conducts research anddevelopment and leverages on theirexpertise in order to deliver a custom-ised product.
“It’s very customised. Once the pro-duction process is set, it’s very sim-ple: you just put the cells and the cot-ton together at the beginning and thebeads come out at the end. But howyou tweak the cells, how you tweakthe cotton to make the perfect beadfor the perfect application, like thesize of the bead, the size of the holes –that’s all stuff that we tweak,” saidProf Gunzburg.
Interestingly, this business modeldiffers from what the founders of Aus-trianova initially had in mind.
The company rose in Austria, withits original focus being to develop allstages of its product for pancreaticcancer, but this was an extremely cost-ly mission.
Austrianova thus went from devel-
oping its own product to being a tech-nology platform, and this is how thecompany came to be in Singapore,known for its vibrant stem cell com-munity. Singapore became the compa-ny’s stepping stone into Asia when itset up here in 2007.
But what Singapore lacks, com-pared to Europe, was a venture capi-tal culture.
Austrianova adapted. It has sincebuilt itself here by relying on financ-ing from high-net-worth individuals.It has also placed a premium on avoid-ing risks and diversifying the compa-ny’s offerings, instead of being fo-cused on a single product as is thenorm in Europe.
Dr Salmons said: “In the past, weused to focus on our oncology prod-uct, but now, we’ve got many horsesin the race, different ways to makeproducts and generate income.
“As a company offering a technolo-
gy platform, we work with other part-ners who have specific needs. So theyhave cells which they would like touse for some particular application;they come to us and we co-developthe product with them.”
Prof Gunzburg agreed, saying:“The most important thing is to keepthe company liquid and move the com-pany forward, and you have to find away to do that, whatever it takes.”
Subsidiary in ThailandThe company’s cash flow comes fromits clients, who pay for every stage oftheir product development with Aus-trianova.
It also places an emphasis on mini-mising costs and keeping the compa-ny’s burn rate low by outsourcingfunctions on a pay-by-use system; itdoes this with its financial services,business development and legal ad-vice functions.
Austrianova has also set up a sub-sidiary in Thailand, which it fullyowns. This unit concentrates on themanufacturing of medical productsfor global export and be off theground by the end of the year.
Thailand was chosen because it ischeaper, more cost-efficient than Sin-gapore, said Prof Gunzburg. The com-pany hopes to begin manufacturingits pancreatic cancer product for fur-ther patient trials by the first half ofnext year.
Dr Salmons said: “Running a com-pany is not just about making money.It is important to bring your investorsa return, but it is also because there’sa medical need out there for which wewant to develop products that will ac-tually help patients eventually.”
Prof Gunzburg said: “We’re build-ing a company that should grow andbe around in 10 years’ time. We aretrying to build something that is sus-tainable.”
By LEE [email protected]@LeeMeixianBT
MORE companies across the world areengaging in environmental and sociallyresponsible activities - not simply forbrand building or altruistic reasons, butsimply because it makes good financialsense.
This was according to the latest re-search by Grant Thornton which hasbeen tracking business attitudes to cor-porate social responsibility (CSR) since2008.
In Singapore, the top five drivers to-wards more sustainable business prac-
tices are: cost management (73 percent), followed by client or consumer de-mand (62 per cent), “because it is theright thing to do” (55 per cent), tax relief(51 per cent), and recruitment and re-tention of staff (44 per cent).
For instance, over the last 12months, more than half of Singaporebusinesses have started calculatingtheir carbon footprint. This is the No 1CSR initiative adopted here.
Singapore companies also donateproducts or services to community andcharities (47 per cent), partner a charita-ble organisation for philanthropy (45per cent) and donate money (43 percent).
The survey of 2,500 businesses in 34economies was conducted in May thisyear, and interviewed C-Suite and othersenior decision-makers in mid-marketbusinesses - of which 50 were Singa-pore business leaders.
It also found that more companiesare also reporting on sustainability,while a majority now view integrated re-porting as best practice.
Since Singapore Exchange intro-duced sustainability reporting guide-lines in 2011, many major corporationsin Singapore have included a CSR com-ponent in their business framework toalign with the global investor expecta-tions, it said.
Austrianova runs a tight ship here as it grows its business of delivering medical treatments in ‘capsules’. AMANDA EBER reports
By CAI [email protected]
FRAUDSTERS are operating throughmoney mules and even using unwit-ting blogshop owners to scam onlineshoppers, said the Singapore PoliceForce yesterday.
New statistics indicate that cheat-ing cases involving e-commercejumped 425 per cent in the first halfof this year from the correspondingperiod a year ago.
Lian Ghim Hua, the deputy assist-ant commissioner of police and com-mander of the Ang Mo Kio Police Divi-sion, said: “I think it’s a general reflec-tion of how more and more peoplehave started to engage in e-com-merce... And with that, criminals arealso looking to exploit this space topursue some of their illicit activities.”
Multiple payment online purchase(MPOP) scams, for example, have ris-en from 13 in the first half of last yearto 302 reported cases in the first halfof this year.
The amounts swindled are now al-so larger – at least $237,000 in thefirst half of this year from S$28,000last year.
In MPOP scams, the perpetratorsput up online advertisements offeringto sell items at heavy discounts. Theirvictims, drawn to the deals, contactthem and are instructed to send pay-ment, typically through bank trans-
fers. The cash goes to local accountsheld by money mules, who then trans-fer the sum to the masterminds.
The goods are never delivered.When the victims enquire on the de-lay, they are told to pay additionalfees in order to receive their orders;the victims pay until they realise theyhave been duped.
Police have stepped up effortsagainst these fraudsters. In a two-dayoperation that ended yesterday, theyarrested six men and 12 women, Sin-gaporeans aged 16 to 47 suspected ofhaving been money mules for MPOPscams.
Preliminary investigations suggestthat the masterminds are in Africa.Some money mules are recruited un-der the pretext of a work-from-homejob, others, with promises of love.
In rare cases, scammers have alsooperated through blogshop owners.
These scammers contact blogshopowners, feigning interest their prod-ucts. They then go to their victims, in-structing them to deposit amounts farhigher than the price of those items in-to the bank account of the blogshop.
The scammers then close in, tell-ing the blogshop owners that theyhad mistakenly overpaid, and askthat these owners transfer the excesspayment to their bank account.
Police have warned members ofthe public to be wary of deals that aretoo good to be true, and to buy onlyfrom sellers with strong trackrecords.
Legitimate businesses will find itharder to get a footing in cyberspace;new online shops, with no history tospeak of, will find it even more diffi-cult to build their customer base.
More firms find CSR makes financial sense
Biotech firm a leader in cell-encapsulation
Rising cyber scamsmake it toughfor genuine businessesto get firm foothold
UWC Dover campusoffice to also haveenergy-efficientsolutions
Cell-in-a-Box know-how: The key personnel in Austrianova are (from left) chief operating officer Dr John Dangerfield, chairman and chief technologyofficer Dr Walter Gunzburg and president and chief executive officer Dr Brian Salmons PHOTO: YEN MENG JIIN
Conventional building ‘3for2’ building
Flat, cold water radiators attached to ceiling
Bulky mechanical equipment hidden along exterior of facade
Sloped windows for improved daylight quality
Ductwork integrated into concrete slabs
Sour
ce: F
utur
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ties L
abor
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y 201
4
Test case for space saving building method
This profile is the 13th of a series o ffeatures on the 16 finalists of theEmerging Enterprise Award 2014.
Jointly presented by The Business Timesand OCBC Bank, the Emerging Enterprise
Award 2014 recognises promising enterprises and startups which are up to
10 years old and have an annual turnoverof S$15 million or less. It is supported by
RSM Chio Lim, MasterCard, SingTel,ACORN Marketing & Research
Consultants, INSEAD and SPRING Singapore. The winners will be unveiled
at a gala dinner on August 29.
Online scamsup 425% in H1from year ago
The Business Times, Thursday, August 21, 2014 SINGAPORE NEWS 9
