'Before you become successful, there's no reward and no recognition. Apart from the difficulties you face from the work itself, you also encounter cynicisim and people who don't believe you. You need a strong mind to keep going.'

--Dr Shi

Diamond films proved to be his best friend

Being an innovator is like riding a roller-coaster -- it's not for the faint-hearted, says Innovation of the Year winner Shi Xu.

But the former Nanyang Technological University lecturer decided to give up his job and take the plunge after five gruelling years of research, because he believed in his product.

He is now chief executive officer of Nanofilm Technologies International in Ayer Rajah industrial estate, which uses his patented techniques to produce ultra-hard, ultra-thin diamond films.

This has many applications, such as coating computer hard disks and their readers. Because it is super smooth, it can reduce wear, prevent corrosion and prolong the life of the product.

Despite knowing he had a superior product, there were times when he faced obstacles. Dr Shi said: "Sometimes the pressure is tremendous, so you need to believe in yourself and have a strong mind."

In 1999, during the first year of his company, he had to leave his two-day-old baby and his wife in hospital to rush to Japan to see one of his first clients, a multi-national company which had bought a coating system from Nanofilm.

He had no choice -- this was a big client and it would have been a vital business breakthrough if he won them over. He recalled:"They told me that their company was not an experimental ground, and I had better make sure that everything was working well."

The same year, Japanese multi-national Shimazu Corporation signed a multi-million-dollar exclusive agreement with Nanofilm to supply Shimadzu with the key component to produce the coating for disk-drive readers, or slider heads.

The Company has been profitable from Year One, he added, and is planning to go public in one or two years' time.

A PhD holder, he said the better-educated are sometimes less likely to innovate:"The better educated you are, the more comfortable you get because you lose the drive and guts to take a risk."