Vidal Solution: Tackling Indoor Air Health with Intelligent Environmental Monitoring
Sheam Kannan
Haze is a familiar and recurring challenge for Singapore. During the dry season, forest and peatland fires in Indonesia, particularly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, send smoke drifting across the region, and 2026 has been no exception. Singapore’s air quality first entered the unhealthy range on 4 September, and the haze returned in force in early October: by 16 October, Singapore had recorded its 12th consecutive day of unhealthy air, the longest stretch since the 2015 haze crisis. Outdoor air quality has dominated the headlines, but with growing concern about the health risks of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), at MedTech Actuator we have been asking an equally important question: how safe is the air inside the buildings where we work, learn and receive healthcare?
It is a question one of our own alumni is working to answer. Vidal Solution, a Singapore-based HealthTech and ClimateTech startup, first joined MedTech Actuator through our Global Navigator (Australia) program in 2024 and returned in 2026 for the Accelerator Singapore. Across both, the team has been building SafeAir Healthy Room, an intelligent environmental health platform that combines IoT sensors, real-time monitoring, environmental risk intelligence and air purification technologies to help buildings respond to changing indoor air conditions.
Exposure to PM2.5 is associated with respiratory inflammation, aggravated asthma and cardiovascular disease, with older adults, children and people with existing health conditions particularly vulnerable. For Vidal Solution, protecting indoor environments is part of preventive healthcare, and that prevention-first thinking is exactly what we look for in the founders we support.
A real-world test during the haze
On Thursday 15 October, the SafeAir Healthy Room installed in a BeyondX meeting room was put to the test during Singapore's haze episode. At 9:45 AM, SafeAir recorded an indoor PM2.5 concentration of 129 µg/m³ in a 137-cubic-metre meeting room with 20 occupants. Two ceiling-mounted Micro-Electrostatic Precipitator purifiers, with a combined rated Clean Air Delivery Rate of 1,100 m³/hour, were activated shortly afterwards. Indoor PM2.5 had dropped to 47 µg/m³, a 63.6% reduction in just 100 minutes.
Despite this substantial improvement, PM2.5 remained above Singapore's published 24-hour ambient air quality target of 37.5 µg/m³. While that target is not a compliance threshold for an instantaneous indoor reading, it provides useful context. Outdoor haze entering through ventilation systems, building gaps and frequent door openings, alongside occupancy and airflow conditions, likely kept levels elevated. Running the purifiers for longer, or activating them before the room was occupied, could have reduced exposure further, which makes a strong case for managing indoor air proactively rather than reactively.
SafeAir's real-time monitoring dashboard captured the full picture. When the meeting ended the purification system was switched off, PM2.5 levels fluctuated and rose again, showing how quickly indoor air quality can deteriorate as conditions change.
For the Vidal Solution team, the takeaway was clear: air purification alone is not enough. Buildings need the intelligence to continuously monitor environmental risks, support the right interventions and verify that those interventions are working.
From insight to a market-ready platform
That insight sits at the heart of SafeAir's four core capabilities: SENSE, to monitor environmental conditions; INTERPRET, to identify potential health-related risks; PROTECT, to support air treatment and ventilation interventions; and ASSURE, to continuously track environmental performance.
Turning strong technology into a product that workplaces, hospitals and eldercare operators will adopt is the challenge our programmes are designed to support. Through Global Navigator (Australia), the Vidal Solution team spent time in Melbourne alongside fellow founders from Japan, Spain and Singapore, and met with Monash Innovation Labs to explore a potential partnership. In 2026, the Accelerator Singapore has helped the team build on that foundation with tailored guidance and industry connections as the team brings SafeAir Healthy Room to market.
Reflecting on its time with MedTech Actuator, Vidal Solution said: “We are grateful for the opportunities, guidance and industry connections provided through these initiatives, which have supported our journey in developing and bringing SafeAir Healthy Room to the market.”
What's next for Vidal Solution
Beyond haze, Vidal Solution is developing more advanced environmental intelligence capabilities, including occupancy-aware controls, predictive modelling and airborne transmission risk assessment. These developments aim to support healthier indoor environments across workplaces, hospitals, eldercare facilities and other occupied spaces.
The company is also pursuing scientific validation and research collaborations to strengthen its environmental health models and develop repeatable Healthy Room applications for healthcare and other building environments. As the BeyondX demonstration shows, the opportunity goes well beyond reducing airborne particles: it is about making buildings an active part of preventive healthcare.
“The haze outside may be beyond our control, but the air inside our buildings should not be. Our vision is to create intelligent indoor spaces that can understand environmental risks, respond to them and continuously support the health of the people inside.” – KT Wu, CEO & Co-founder, Vidal Solution.
As Singapore continues to confront environmental and public health challenges, Vidal Solution is working towards a future where healthy indoor environments are not simply an aspiration but a measurable and manageable reality. We are proud to have supported the team on that journey and look forward to seeing SafeAir Healthy Room in more of the spaces where people live, work and receive care.
Want to learn more about our programs or connect with Vidal Solution? Get in touch with the MedTech Actuator team or follow us on LinkedIn.