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Dr. Shonali Krishnaswamy
Chief Technology Officer
AIDA Technologies
I would like to share my journey of creating a successful AI startup and seeing it through to a successful exit / acquisition.
Brief Bio:
AiDA is a multi-award winning Machine Learning (ML) start-up from Singapore, delivering AI / ML solutions to Health Insurance in the ASEAN region. AiDA has recently been acquired by Amplify Health:
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/startups-tech/startups/aias-amplify-health-acquires-ai-startup-aida-plans-hiring-spree
Prior to co-founding AiDA, Dr Shonali Krishnaswamy was Head of Data Analytics at the Singapore Government's national R&D Agency (A*STAR), where she led one of Singapore's largest analytics teams with over 70 data scientists.
She has also held multiple academic/professorial appointments in Australia at Monash University and Swinburne University. Over the last 15 years, she has pioneered research in Mobile and Ubiquitous Data Analytics and published over 150 papers. Dr Krishnaswamy is the recipient of several national and international awards including the Institute of Engineers Singapore Prestigious Engineering Award, the ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Award, the IBM Innovation Award and the Australian Research Council 's Australian Post-Doctoral Fellow Award. In 2020, Shonali was recognised as one of Singapore's Inaugural 100 Women in Technology by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the Singapore Computer Society (SCS).
Speaking at SFF 2026
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4:10–4:20pmThu 19 NovFounders StageHall 2, Singapore EXPOPremium
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4:30–4:55pmFri 20 NovCatalyst StageHall 3, Singapore EXPOOpen
Technology Rewiring
AI Scientist Entrepreneurs: From AI Research & Innovation to Entrepreneurship
About this session
History shows how breakthrough scientific discoveries can reshape the world. From Edgar F. Codd’s relational databases and Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web to Mark Weiser’s vision of ubiquitous computing, pioneering technology research has transformed industries, economies and everyday life. Today, Artificial Intelligence presents a similarly transformative opportunity. A new generation of scientist-entrepreneurs in AI has the potential to translate frontier research into breakthrough technologies, products and ventures that redefine industries and address humanity’s greatest challenges. Their journey is not simply about commercialising discoveries, but about turning bold scientific ideas (developed through years of research) into innovations driving deep tech enterprises. The challenge is to create a sustainable pathway for academic innovations and scientist entrepreneurs to cross the bridge from science to enterprise seamlessly.
