Intrigued to Innovate
Claim This Podcastby NUS Innovation & Design Programme (iDP)
Podcast Overview
<p>Hosted by award-winning educator Dr Jovan Tan, "Intrigued to Innovate" is a podcast that shares inspiring stories of young innovators developing creative solutions for complex, interdisciplinary real-world challenges.</p><p></p><p>Each episode highlights the valuable lessons, insights, and unique perspectives these young innovators have gained throughout their journeys. From time to time, the podcast will also feature in-depth conversations with esteemed thought leaders on a wide range of topics related to innovation, design, and entrepreneurship.</p><p></p><p>The first season of 'Intrigued to Innovate' debuted in 2025 and is produced by the Innovation & Design Programme (iDP) at the National University of Singapore.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
10/28/2025
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Recent Episodes
May 28, 2026
Beyond the Degree: Creating Impactful Innovations as an Undergraduate — The Questions You Were Too Afraid to Ask (feat. Vishnu Saran, Dr Elliot Law and Harini Ravichandran)
<p>In this special episode of Intrigued to Innovate, host Dr Jovan Tan does something he has never done before — he steps aside and lets you drive the conversation.</p><p>For the first time on this podcast, the questions came from you — our listeners, the next generation of innovators — who sent in what you were almost too afraid to ask out loud. To answer them, Jovan brings together three people who know this journey from the inside: an educator (Dr Elliot Law), an alum-turned-founder (Vishnu Saran), and a student still in the thick of it (Harini Ravichandran). Same questions. Very different answers.</p><p><strong>In this episode, you'll discover:</strong></p><p>· <strong>The Real Startup Killer:</strong> Why people management — not product or technology — is what truly makes or breaks a team</p><p>· <strong>The Founder Mirage:</strong> How to tell genuine intrinsic drive apart from fad-chasing</p><p>· <strong>Why Teams Fail:</strong> What struggling teams really blame, and the hidden patterns underneath every breakdown</p><p>· <strong>The Validation Trap:</strong> Why "fake validation" can quietly stall your progress — and what real validation looks and feels like</p><p>· <strong>The Grit Code:</strong> The specific habits that sustain young innovators through their darkest moments</p><p>· <strong>The Unasked Question:</strong> Why the questions you are most afraid to raise are almost always the most important ones in the room</p><p>If you have ever wondered whether the struggle is worth it, this episode was made for you.</p><p><strong>Guests:</strong> Dr Elliot Law, Programme Director, NUS Innovation and Design Programme (iDP) & Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programmes, NUS College of Design and Engineering (CDE); Vishnu Saran, Co-Founder & CEO, Invigilo Technologies & NUS iDP Alumnus; Harini Ravichandran, Final-Year iDP Student, National University of Singapore (NUS)</p><p><strong>Hosted by:</strong> Dr Jovan Tan</p><p><strong>Produced by:</strong> Low Tse Han & Dr Jovan Tan</p><p><strong>Presented by:</strong> NUS Innovation & Design Programme (iDP) at the NUS Engineering Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC)</p>
May 8, 2026
From My Classroom to Silicon Valley: How Two of My Students Outgrew University — and Raised US$2.6M to Prove It (feat. Armaan Dhanda & Samyak Baid)
<p>In this episode of Intrigued to Innovate, host Dr Jovan Tan invites two of his former students back to the same studio where their journey began — not for a project consultation or to submit a report, but as world-class startup founders.</p><p>Armaan Dhanda and Samyak Baid first walked into Dr Tan's CDE2301 Value Creation in Innovation course as wide-eyed freshmen. Samyak later served as his teaching assistant. Together, they pursued their CDE3301 Ideas to Proof-of-Concept project under Dr Tan and Dr Elliot Law, building a prototype to convert food waste into an alternative protein for pet nutrition. They called it Pawsible. It was ambitious for two undergraduates.</p><p>What came next was something else entirely.</p><p>Today, Armaan and Samyak are the co-founders of Anomaly Bio, a Singapore-based biotech startup that engineers microbes into micro-factories that convert sugar into high-value bio-based ingredients for crop protection, nutrition, and personal care. Their ambition is to build more resilient ingredient supply chains by brewing what the world needs in a tank, rather than relying on fragile conventional supply chains at the mercy of climate, geography, and geopolitics. Anomaly Bio's answer? Programme the right microbe, put it in a tank with sugar and water, and brew what you need. Just like beer, but with far higher stakes.</p><p>They have already won the 2025 MIT Water, Food & Agriculture Innovation Prize, secured a paid pilot with Mars Petcare, received a hackathon award directly from Singapore's Prime Minister, Mr Lawrence Wong, and raised US$2.6 million in pre-seed funding, led by Pebblebed Ventures — alongside angel investors Akshay Kothari (Notion), Sean Hunt (Solugen), Eben Bayer (Ecovative), and Mithun Sacheti (CaratLane).</p><p>All before turning 23.</p><p></p><p><strong>Guests:</strong> Armaan Dhanda & Samyak Baid, Co-Founders, Anomaly Bio</p><p><strong>Hosted by:</strong> Dr Jovan Tan</p><p><strong>Produced by:</strong> Low Tse Han & Dr Jovan Tan</p><p><strong>Presented by:</strong> NUS Innovation & Design Programme (iDP) at the NUS Engineering Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC)</p>
April 17, 2026
What Can a Historian Teach Young Innovators? The Secret Sauce That Distinguishes the Great from the Rest (feat. Prof. Jennifer Rudolph)
<p>In this masterclass episode, host Dr Jovan Tan sits down with Prof. Jennifer Rudolph — a political historian at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) — to explore a question that challenges our assumptions about innovation education: what role do the humanities play in building great innovators?</p><p>The answer, it turns out, is everything.</p><p>WPI is no ordinary university. For over 50 years, it has pioneered project-based learning (PBL) — a radical curriculum in which students tackle real-world, open-ended problems with no single correct answer, and in which every undergraduate must complete three major projects before graduating. It is precisely this culture of ambiguity, hands-on inquiry, and interdisciplinary collaboration that makes WPI the ideal home for Jennifer's unconventional mission.</p><p>When WPI sent its first pilot group of engineering students to Beijing, they returned dissatisfied and disoriented — not for lack of technical skills, but because they lacked the cultural understanding needed to navigate the real world. That moment became the catalyst for Jennifer to reimagine innovation education, embedding Asian history, culture, and humanistic thinking into the PBL curriculum through unexpected entry points: China's mega-infrastructure projects, K-pop, and Asian pop culture.</p><p>Her driving conviction? That the "wicked problems" of our time — complex, ambiguous, with no single right answer — demand far more than technical expertise. And that the secret sauce most innovators overlook has been hiding in the humanities all along.</p><p>In this Master Class episode, you'll discover:</p><p>· Why project-based learning is far more than a pedagogy — and why sitting with ambiguity is the foundational skill every young innovator must develop</p><p>· Why "wicked problems" have no single correct solutions — and why that very ambiguity is the most powerful wellspring of creative thinking and innovation</p><p>· How humanistic inquiry trains the very same perspective-taking and empathy skills that every great innovator depends on</p><p>· Why WPI's radical 7-week sprint terms forced a historian to abandon chronological teaching — and how that constraint became her most liberating teaching breakthrough</p><p>· How a failed Beijing pilot project exposed the cultural blind spots among technically skilled students — and what Jennifer did to fix them</p><p>· Why weaving history, culture, and the liberal arts into innovation education isn't a "soft" addition — it's the secret sauce that separates good innovators from truly great ones</p><p>Whether you're a young innovator just starting out, an educator reimagining your curriculum, or simply someone curious about what it truly takes to solve the world's most complex challenges, this is your invitation to look beyond the formula and discover the human thinking that makes real innovation possible.</p><p><strong>Guest:</strong> Professor Jennifer Rudolph, Professor of Asian History and International and Global Studies, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)</p><p><strong>Hosted by:</strong> Dr Jovan Tan</p><p><strong>Produced by:</strong> Low Tse Han & Dr Jovan Tan</p><p><strong>Presented by:</strong> NUS Innovation & Design Programme (iDP) at the NUS Engineering Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC)</p>
12 total episodes available
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Intrigued to Innovate?
<p>Hosted by award-winning educator Dr Jovan Tan, "Intrigued to Innovate" is a podcast that shares inspiring stories of young innovators developing creative solutions for complex, interdisciplinary real-world challenges.</p><p></p><p>Each episode highlights the valuable lessons, insights, and unique perspectives these young innovators have gained throughout their journeys. From time to time, the podcast will also feature in-depth conversations with esteemed thought leaders on a wide range of topics related to innovation, design, and entrepreneurship.</p><p></p><p>The first season of 'Intrigued to Innovate' debuted in 2025 and is produced by the Innovation & Design Programme (iDP) at the National University of Singapore.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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