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Sharanjit Leyl
MC, Chancellor
Bath Spa University
A familiar face on global screens, Sharanjit Leyl has brought you the news from Asia on BBC World News, Bloomberg Television and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for a quarter of a century. She spent eighteen years with BBC World News, covering business and politics, anchoring from its Asia bureau and from London's Broadcasting House.
Singaporean by birth, she's produced and presented documentaries on TV and radio about her city on the BBC. Educated in North America with undergraduate degrees in Journalism and a Master of Arts in English, Sharanjit has lived and worked in Tokyo, London, Vancouver, Washington DC, and Singapore, bringing a truly global perspective to her work. She now regularly moderates high-level debates for the United Nations, the ADB and other multilateral and financial institutions while balancing a board career and advising companies and educational institutions on media strategy.
A champion of the Arts, Sharanjit holds leadership roles at the Fashion Museum of Bath where she co-Chairs the Board of Trustees and heads the DEI committee at The Holburne Museum. In Singapore, she serves on the board of The Necessary Stage and is an advisor to The British Theatre Playhouse.
In May 2024, Sharanjit made history as the first Singaporean appointed Chancellor of a UK university — Bath Spa University — succeeding her predecessor Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons. As a result, she divides her time between her homes in Singapore and Bath.
Speaking at SFF 2026
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3:40–4:15pmFri 20 NovFounders StageHall 2, Singapore EXPOPremiumModerator
Talent Rewiring
Prototype Rich, Capital Poor: Fixing the University-to-Market Gap
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Prof. Shonali KrishnaswamyDirector of Monash AI InstituteMonash University, Australia
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Bryan ZhangExecutive Chair, Financial Innovation for Impact; Executive Director, Cambridge Centre for Alternative FinanceUniversity of Cambridge
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Sharanjit LeylMC, ChancellorBath Spa UniversityModerator
About this session
Universities are some of the most productive IP engines in the world. Researchers and students build new technology, file patents and often ship working prototypes. Then too much of it stalls. The people who invent are rarely the people who raise money, price a licence or find a first customer. Tech transfer offices work to academic timelines while capital works to market ones, so good IP sits on the shelf.
This panel asks two questions. First, what should universities change so their IP becomes investable: spin-out terms, founder support, equity and licensing models, and incentives for faculty? Second, should investors stop waiting for deals to show up and go into campuses to find them? We'll look at what each side gets wrong about the other, and what a working lab-to-market pipeline looks like. -
