NPA Careers: Interviews

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Careers: Interviews
A Chat with Professor Lam Khin Yong: Vice President (Industry), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore; an accomplished Researcher, where he drives research and innovation partnerships across academia, industry and public agencies; French Legion of Honor; held past leadership positions at National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (ASTAR); was founding Director of several notable institutions, including the NUS Centre for Computational Mechanics, the Institute of High Performance Computing, and the ASTAR Graduate Academy

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Professor Lam Khin Yong.

Professor Lam Khin Yong is NTU Singapore's Vice President (Industry), driving strategic industry partnerships. Previously, as Senior Vice President (Research) (2014 - 2022), he led NTU's research ecosystem with an annual budget exceeding S$700 million and advanced university - wide research initiatives. Over the years, he has held key leadership roles, including Acting Provost (March - December 2017), Chief of Staff (2011 - 2017), Acting CEO of NTU Innovation (2012 - 2013), Associate Provost for Graduate Education & Special Projects (2008 - 2011), and Dean/Chair of the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (2006 - 2008).

A strong advocate of the Triple Helix framework, Prof Lam drives research and innovation partnerships across academia, industry, and public agencies. With support from his colleagues, he has been instrumental in forging NTU's collaborations with global industry leaders such as Rolls-Royce, HP Inc., Singtel, Alibaba, Continental and ExxonMobil, establishing corporate and joint labs on campus. In his previous role as Associate Provost, he also spearheaded global research alliances with top universities like the Technical University of Munich and the University of Cambridge, contributing to NTU's prominent position in Singapore's Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) initiative since 2007.

Before joining NTU, Professor Lam held senior leadership roles at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). He was the founding Director of several notable institutions, including the NUS Centre for Computational Mechanics, the Institute of High Performance Computing, and the A*STAR Graduate Academy. His leadership extended to promoting technology transfer through directorship roles in various innovation and holding companies such as ETPL Investment, KRDL Holdings, Archon, IHPC Technology Ventures, as well as serving as Executive Director of Intellectual Property Intermediary (IPI), focusing on SME technology transfer. Professor Lam was also the Technical Advisor to the Executive Chairman of ETPL, Programme Advisor for the High Performance Computation Programme of the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) and Deputy Director of SMA. In these roles, he worked with the Managing Director of A*STAR and Executive Chairman of ETPL to set up the Managing Director Office and ETPL at A*STAR.

An accomplished researcher, Prof Lam has a research output of over 300 papers in international refereed journals with a citation count of over 13,000 and H-index of 60, primarily in the area of computational mechanics. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Engineering Singapore and on Stanford University's top 2% scientists list.

Professor Lam's numerous global awards include the French Legion of Honour (2017) for fostering academic and industry collaborations that have strengthened bilateral relations between France and Singapore and the Guangzhou Honorary Citizen Award for his contribution to the economic development, international exchanges and social welfare of Guangzhou city through the China-Singapore Joint Research Institute. Additionally, he was conferred the honorary title of Senior Advisor to Hungarian Minister of Culture and Innovation for his contribution towards Hungary's higher education and research-innovation-enterprise ecosystems. Most recently, he was conferred the Honorary Senator of the Technical University of Munich for his scientific achievements, academic leadership, and support of TUM in Singapore. In 2018, he received Singapore's President's Science and Technology Medal (PSTM) for his distinguished contributions to R&D management and development in Singapore. Other honors include the Singapore Distinguished Service Award from NSCC for his long-term service and contribution to High Performance Computing and the National Defence Technology Prize where he was the first academic awarded for leading a research team.

Currently, Professor Lam co-chairs governing boards for industry partnerships with Continental, Alibaba, ExxonMobil, Schaeffler, Nanofilm, Hyundai and many others. On top of that, he oversees NTU's flagship initiatives such as the China-Singapore International Joint Research Institute, the Indonesia-NTU Singapore Institute of Research for Sustainability and Innovation and the Jinan-NTU Green Technology Research Institute. He is an Authority Member of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and a Board Director of Global Finance and Technology Network Limited.

He holds a BSc (First Class Honours) in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London and a Master's and PhD from MIT. He also attended the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School.

TO WATCH THE VIDEO INTERVIEW, CLICK ON THIS MP4 file link