PatSnap CEO Jeffrey Tiong named EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018

PATSNAP CEO Jeffrey Tiong has been named the overall EY Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) 2018 Singapore by professional services organisation EY.

He will represent Singapore at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year to be held in Monte Carlo, Monaco in June 2019, competing against more than 50 other country winners for the world title.

"It is a great honour to be named EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Singapore," said Mr Tiong. "I think this shows that what we do is really meaningful, developing software to help R&D teams improve their innovation productivity. It is a good validation of the business we are in and the problem we are trying to solve."

Mr Tiong, who also received the EOY award under the Analytics Intelligence category, founded PatSnap in 2007, soon after graduating from the National University of Singapore. The platform provides data and analytics on patents, licencing, litigation and company information, allowing research and development (R&D) teams to gain insights into innovations being developed around the world.

"Jeffrey is an outstanding technopreneur and innovator in his use of analytics intelligence to address the information gap in the R&D industry," said the chairman of the judging panel, YCH Group executive chairman Robert Yap.

"By taking strategic risks to disrupt the industry, he was able to carve out a new market and build a notable presence worldwide."

The other four EOY category awards were also presented on Friday, at the 17th EY EOY awards gala held at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore. The event was graced by guest-of-honour Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Home Affairs.

Expand Construction's chairman Von Lee Yong Miang won the EOY award in the Engineering and Construction category, and Pictureworks managing director Cheong Chia Chou won the EOY award under the Media and Lifestyle category.

Rigel Technology group CEO Christopher Ng received the EOY award under the Sustainable Bathroom Solutions category, and Teledirect CEO Laurent Junique won the EOY award under the Outsourced Solutions category.

The winners were selected from more than 40 nominations and assessed on six criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, financial performance/value creation, strategic direction, national and global impact, innovation and personal integrity/purpose-driven leadership.

Max Loh, Singapore and Asean managing partner, Ernst & Young LLP, commented: "Technological disruption is often viewed as a threat - to our jobs, our businesses and our society. Yet, our winning entrepreneurs are challenging this view by bravely seizing the upsides of technology, combining it with their entrepreneurial qualities of passion, risk-taking and problem-solving, to develop innovative solutions."

Other awards presented at Friday's gala dinner included the EY Asean Entrepreneurial Excellence award, which went to Stephen Riady, executive chairman of OUE Limited, and the EY-Standard Chartered Family Business Award of Excellence, which went to Sing Lun Holdings.