SeaX Ventures taps healthcare veteran for biotech push. SeaX Ventures, a deep-tech venture capital firm based in Southeast Asia and the US, said on June 19 it appointed Stacey Chang as a venture partner. She will advise on its healthcare and biotech investments and support portfolio founders. Chang previously led IDEO's global healthcare practice. She was also the founding executive director of the Design Institute for Health at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, and later founded New Origin Studio. SeaX said the appointment would strengthen its healthcare and biotech capabilities as it focused on connecting US deep tech with Southeast Asia. Recent seax Ventures developments. Stay updated on the go with our mobile app. Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app. How would you feel if you could no longer use Tech in Asia? Share, tag us, and land on our Wall of!

IDEO, the design agency that pioneered human-centred design, is reinventing itself amid declining demand for traditional design services. The San Francisco-based firm has cut a third of its workforce and seen revenue fall from $300 million to under $100 million in four years. New CEO Mike Peng is shifting IDEO's focus from designing individual products to teaching clients how to build innovation capabilities internally. The agency released its first Innovation Quotient survey, finding companies in the top quintile for innovation culture generated 50% higher profits than average firms. IDEO is expanding work with Chinese companies going global whilst helping Japanese firms enter North American markets. Peng believes AI's biggest threat to design isn't replacement, but homogenisation, arguing that finding competitive edge remains fundamentally human work.