Dr. Elias Willemse is the co-founder and CTO at Waste Labs, a deep tech startup that uses AI to modernise waste management and recycling. He was previously a research fellow at SUTD and a lecturer at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, where he grew up exposed to the repercussions of the poor delivery of municipal services. Motivated to make a difference, he made the leap from academia to entrepreneurship by joining Entrepreneur First in Singapore. He met his co-founder and together, they created Waste Labs to solve the problem of poor waste management in cities. Elias holds the belief that more scientists and researchers should take the same plunge as he did and become entrepreneurs to solve problems that they are passionate about.