• SUTD launches the Design·AI Innovation and Venture Exploration (DIVE) platform, which provides students and alumni funding and support to encourage them to grow beyond the classroom and laboratory.
• DIVE runs alongside academic life, giving students the option to explore and cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset. Every undergraduate who embarks on the DIVE journey will be trained to be a builder and innovator using AI, Design and Domain knowledge (“trilingual”).
• DIVE goes beyond encouraging innovation; it aims to nurture human traits such as empathy and values – all of which are critical in an AI world.
• DIVE sets the stage for an eventual shift to an innovation-focused education integrating academic depth with real-world application, as opposed to an academic-centric one.

The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) is investing $35 million in a new innovation and venture exploration platform that will transform the SUTD community into creators, innovators and founders. This move will eventually set the stage for a shift towards an innovation-focused education as opposed to an academic-based one.

The launch of Design·AI Innovation and Venture Exploration (DIVE) at InspireCon is SUTD’s response to the rapidly changing global demands in the face of AI, which is increasingly able to outthink, outcode and outsmart humans. InspireCon is SUTD’s flagship exhibition showcasing over 90 student-led innovations.

SUTD President Professor Phoon Kok Kwang explained: “Graduates of today and tomorrow must be able to offer more than what AI can because competing head-on with AI solely based on mastery of knowledge will be impossible. Instead, they must bring to the table human-specific aspects which AI currently isn’t able to duplicate. Put simply, they will have to be bold innovators and proactive problem solvers who employ empathy and values for what they choose to build and for whom they build. They must have the ability to question assumptions and act with integrity in complex, real-world contexts. SUTD is well known for nurturing design innovators and innovator-leaders. DIVE takes us to the next level.”

Through DIVE, it aims to steer students away from viewing the university merely as a place to study, to one where they can freely explore creativity and innovation. Running alongside academic life, DIVE nurtures the ability to dream boldly, act ethically and communicate clearly. Central to DIVE is that some of the most important lifelong qualities, such as courage, resilience and moral clarity, cannot be taught in classrooms but must be learned from experience.

Prof Phoon added: “DIVE puts knowledge into motion, cultivates an entrepreneurial mindset, and prepares students to create what doesn’t yet exist. Through DIVE, students will be encouraged to innovate in tandem with industry partners. They will begin by understanding their entrepreneurial profiles and learning how entrepreneurs think – identifying opportunities, conducting market research, and building towards product-market fit. Armed with skills that embrace uncertainty, risk and failure, students can become founders, researchers, or intrapreneurs. Most significantly, DIVE sets the stage for an eventual move towards an innovation-focused education rather than a purely academic one.

“This is however not to say that DIVE will replace pillar or domain knowledge. On the contrary, it reinforces and strengthens it. Students will still be trained in all required fundamentals in their chosen discipline, but they will now be encouraged to take on an even more hands-on approach by working with AI in an industry-mentored environment. This way, our students will not just be armchair thinkers, but AI-trained doers,” he said.

Mr David Neo, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Senior Minister of State for Education graced the event as Guest-of-Honour and highlighted how DIVE represents a shift towards innovation-focused education and strengthens pathways from classroom-based innovation to industry impact.

Unlike an academic programme, DIVE is self-directed, allowing students to engage at any point depending on their readiness and interest while developing an understanding of their own motivations, strengths, and values as they navigate ambiguity and make decisions. DIVE consists of the “Explore”, “Experiment”, “Expose” and “Enterprise” phases to support students’ transition from curiosity to action and to nurture globally minded, venture-literate and values-backed innovators.

For undergraduates, the journey begins in the Freshmore or first year, grounded in the DIVE Residential College, a living-learning community where values, mindsets and a sense of belonging are cultivated through shared experiences. Workshops incorporating drama, music and comedy provide students with opportunities for self-exploration and narrative-building. Students are also encouraged to join facilitated discussions on themes including technology ethics and the future of humanity that spark critical conversations on tech and society. Over the next few years, students will deepen their engagement through dedicated venture funding and the Global Innovation Internships (GII), which place them for up to 12 months in leading innovation ecosystems across cities such as China’s Greater Bay Area, Hangzhou, Stockholm and Toronto. These internships span sectors including deep tech, sustainability, semiconductors, robotics and logistics. A venture grant in their final year of school or immediately after graduation is available to support the transition from innovators to founders.

Postgraduates will also benefit from DIVE as they will have the opportunity to engage industry and real-world users when developing solutions from the lab and research. The postgraduate experience will be enhanced to one which is innovation-backed and anchored to real-world challenges.

A key part of DIVE is the DIVE Mentor Network, which connects student teams with experienced innovators as they build their solutions. Innovators on the DIVE journey can tap on these mentors at any stage, drawing on their expertise as they work towards turning their ideas into impact. This network provides access to mentors with diverse backgrounds who would typically be out of reach to early-stage innovators.

Mr Jeffrey Paine, Founding Partner Golden Gate Ventures and Honorary Mentor of the DIVE Mentor Network, said: “DIVE is an important driver of innovation because it opens new possibilities and reshapes how students learn. It goes beyond knowledge transfer — enabling students to apply what they learn in real-world contexts where impact truly matters. At its core, DIVE nurtures character development, cultivating individuals who are bold, tenacious, and resilient. These are the reasons I strongly support the platform. It is a vital endeavour in shaping and cultivating the innovators of tomorrow.”

Among the programmes available to students through DIVE is StartSomething, which serves as a launchpad into the world of innovation. Through hands-on workshops, students can explore the innovation ecosystem, address real-world challenges and discover their own identities as innovators. Students who are ready to take their ideas further can tap into the Baby Shark Fund, which offers seed funding to pursue ground-up innovations, empowering them to experiment, validate, build and transform early ideas into initial prototypes, with a focus on learning through doing.

The first DIVE team to go through both StartSomething and the Baby Shark Fund is DAIdalus, an agentic AI solution video production assistant that turns plain-text instructions into professional video edits within the Adobe software suite. By turning natural language into instant edits, it eliminates time-draining tasks and enables creators to work faster, push creative boundaries and stay fully in control of their craft. Tristan Fong, a first-year student behind DAIdalus, said: “Having completed StartSomething and currently participating in the Baby Shark Fund, DIVE has boosted my confidence in tackling real-world challenges through constant exploration and experimentation. Our solution has gone through various iterations, and we are working towards delivering the solution to users within the next month!”

As DIVE teams mature and find a fitting solution for the market, the Design-2-Venture (D2V) Grant empowers graduating students and recent alumni to take their ideas beyond experimentation into real-world implementation. The Grant provides early-stage funding to support initial operations along with sustained access to the DIVE Platform which offers a vibrant community and mentorship. Through D2V, aspiring founders are better equipped to transition into entrepreneurship.

About DIVE