Technical Committee

Dr Desmond Rodney Lim has spent the past three decades developing and translating “deep-tech” (semiconductors, space-tech etc) from laboratory research in academia and start-ups, to deployment in operational systems.  At the National Space Agency of Singapore (NSAS), Dr Lim leads the national space science, technology and capability development programs, as well as the operations of Singapore’s national space assets.

Prior to his role in NSAS, Singapore’s defence and security R&D organisation, Dr Lim made key contributions to Singapore’s national capabilities through large-scale system development and supporting technology programmes.  Teams under his leadership have won several Defence Technology Prizes.

Dr Lim led several successful R&D satellite projects. These include Singapore’s first commercial earth-observation satellite (TeLEOS-1), launched in 2015. For the work on TeLEOS-1, Dr Lim was part of the team that received the President’s Technology Award.

Dr Lim is a member of NRF’s Competitive Research Panel, Manufacturing, Trade and Connectivity Programmatic and IAF-PP Panels. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committees of several national research programs, including the National Semiconductor Translation and Innovation Centre.

Dr Lim co-founded a silicon photonics start-up in 2000; a spin-out of his PhD work at MIT. His work on silicon photonics has been reviewed in Science and the Wall Street Journal. Dr Lim was Singapore’s first science International Olympiad gold medallist (Physics) in 1989, was awarded the National Science and Technology Awards (Young Scientist Award), and named to the MIT Technology Review top young inventors list in 2003. He is the inventor of over 20 US patents.