7 'mutually reinforcing' strategies to keep Singapore open, focus on innovation and adaptability

SEVEN "mutually-reinforcing" strategies are the key planks to the Committee on the Future Economy's (CFE) vision that should spur quality economic growth for Singapore's economy over the next decade.

In partnering each other, the CFE expects that these wide-ranging strategies can help keep Singapore open and connected, while ensuring that stakeholders can have the ability to innovate and scale up, and to adapt and transform.

"The purposeful implementation of these mutually-reinforcing strategies will give us a competitive edge against larger and better-resourced countries," said the CFE report, which was made available on Thursday.

Expressing regret at the "nativist politics and protectionist economics" that gained ground in 2016, the 30-member CFE urged that Singapore must still remain connected to the world.

Hence, the CFE suggested that Singapore should develop in-market expertise, especially in Asean and the wider Asian region. It also proposed that a Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) be set up so that local education and research centres can partner overseas ones to spark new ideas and innovation activity.

The CFE also recommended that all stakeholders partner each other so that efforts can be multiplied, thus spurring growth and innovation.

As such, the CFE is urging the government and the public service to also relook into how they regulate industries and help companies. The government can also use lead demand to help develop promising industries, "especially where this coincides with our own strategic national needs".

Singapore's tax regime also came under the CFE's radar. While details were scant, it urged the government to maintain a tax regime that is broad-based, progressive and fair. The regime should also be competitive and pro-growth.

Said the committee chairman Heng Swee Keat, who is also Finance Minister, at a press conference on Thursday: "Whether there are specific changes (to the tax regime) that will be implemented - that will be a separate process that will need to be done."

But having this recommendation "shows a certain stance where we look ahead and make sure that whatever we do is sustainable", he added.

Committee on the Future Economy's seven strategies:

 - deepen and diversify Singapore's international connections;

- acquire and utilise deep skills;

- strengthen enterprise capabilities to innovate and scale up;

- build strong digital capabilities;

- develop a vibrant and connected city of opportunity;

Article was first published on The Business Times on 09 February 2017.

AH

- develop and implement Industry Transformation Maps (first outlined in Budget 2016), and;

- partner each other to enable growth and innovation.

Big boys link up with start-ups

PROPERTY

Last month, Savills increased its stake in Pegaxis, a home-grown online B2B platform for property maintenance services, from 8% to 15%, valuing the company at about $2.2 million. Mr Christopher Marriott, chief executive of Savills South-east Asia, said: "Savills has been tracking real estate tech for some years, with the first investment proposals in Asia having been made two to three years ago and the first actual investment in Singapore coming at the end of 2016 with Pegaxis, and in the middle of this year in Britain with Yopa ."

Property giant City Developments Limited (CDL) made its first investment in a technology start-up in 2012, through a subsidiary, taking a controlling stake in a United States start-up known as Whiteboard Labs, which was eventually merged with an existing company within the fold, says CDL deputy chief executive Sherman Kwek.

CapitaLand's serviced residence arm, The Ascott, invested US$50 million in Tujia, an online apartment-sharing platform dubbed China's Airbnb, last year. A joint venture was also set up, allowing Tujia to hand over some of its offline properties for Ascott to manage, showing that such partnerships often lead to win-win situations.

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Banks and insurers have been steadily investing in their own technology and start-ups, as they try to stay ahead of the curve. At the inaugural FinTech Festival here last month, 23 financial institutions opened their fintech labs and innovation centres to visitors.

One of the latest was DBS Bank's Asia X fintech facility at one-north, the newest spot for its staff and start-ups to explore financial technology ideas. DBS has spent $5 billion in the past six years on IT and innovations and wants to improve in areas of online and paperless customer engagement. 

British insurer Aviva set up its new digital facility in Armenian Street earlier this year, after setting up the first such facility in London last year. The company's global annual investment in such facilities and other technology-related activities - including in Singapore - is more than US$150 million, it previously said.

Last year, AIA tied up with Nanyang Technological University to set up Edge Lab, an innovation centre, to discover consumer-centric solutions.

ACCOUNTANTS

EY has committed to a US$500 million multi-year investment in data analytics.

KPMG opened an innovation lab called Digital Village here earlier this year, to help connect businesses to start-ups.

Full article was first published on The Straits Times on 28 December 2016.

AH

Singapore digs deep for tech edge

The push to build more start-ups based on science and "deep" technology - technology that is hard to reproduce - picked up pace with the launch of a new organisation yesterday.

Called SGInnovate, it brings together entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, academics and companies to develop technology-based products at a six-storey facility in Carpenter Street.

Chief executive Steve Leonard said the new entity cannot be pigeon-holed as just a start-up accelerator or ecosystem "curator".

"We are going to work hard to resist specific tags - we want to be flexible and nimble. Our goal is to take the great research that's already occurring and the big base of investors that's already here and go create some exciting companies," said Mr Leonard, who was previously executive deputy chairman of the former Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).

Infocomm Investments, IDA's venture investment arm, has been subsumed under SGInnovate, which is a private organisation wholly owned by the Government.

It was unveiled as part of Budget 2016, along with a $4.5 billion plan to develop innovation and robotics.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said at the launch that Singapore has laid strong foundations over the years to "make the ground fertile" for innovation, such as investing in a strong education system, developing talent in science and technology, and funding research.

However, more can be done to translate these research efforts into commercial output. "Many start- ups in Singapore replicate proven technologies and business models to take advantage of regional growth, rather than deploy new technologies," he noted. "There is nothing wrong with this approach, and it is part of the journey. But to sustain the journey, and create sustainable advantage, we need to create value through innovation."

SGInnovate will do this by boosting links between researchers, start-ups and investors, he added.

Mr Leonard agreed, saying: "Singapore has a great legacy for research in deep tech... (but while) many researchers are comfortable in a research environment, when you start talking about customers and investors, that's less comfortable for them. Our challenge is... helping them be comfortable bringing that (research) out."

One of SGInnovate's partners is London-based Entrepreneur First, which runs a six-month programme bringing individuals with technical skills together to build deep-tech companies from scratch.

It is eight weeks into its inaugural Singapore programme, which is run out of SGInnovate's Carpenter Street facility. The first cohort has 55 people and is expected to yield 12 to 15 companies in March when the programme finishes, said director Anne Marie Droste.

Teams are working on ideas such as communicating with satellites using lasers, and automated vision correction in virtual reality headsets.

Ms Droste said Singapore has "all the ingredients" to build "really good world-class technology companies". However, top technical talent here often aspire to work for Google, Facebook or JP Morgan instead of starting their own company.

"What Entrepreneur First is good at is helping to make starting a company the No. 1 career preference for the very best potential founders in a society," she added.

Article was first published The Straits Times on 23 November 2016.

AH

Road map to boost Singapore's role as global logistics hub

Logistics - the art and science of moving stuff around in a fast-paced economy - is the latest industry to face a bold makeover in the Government's $4.5 billion Industry Transformation Programme.

The goals are: to be operationally excellent, to be leaders in innovation, and to build up a strong core of local logistics talent and firms.

They were set out by Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S. Iswaran at the launch of the Logistics Industry Transformation Map (ITM).

The road map for logistics, aimed at reinforcing Singapore's position as a global logistics hub, follows ITMs for the food and beverage and precision engineering sectors.

The logistics transformation is set to add $8.3 billion in value to the sector and create 2,000 jobs for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) by the end of the decade, said Mr Iswaran.

He noted that the industry is a "critical enabler" of the economy and is expected to continue on a growth trajectory, fuelled by global trends. "The Logistics ITM will support enterprise-level efforts to transform and grow through productivity and innovation. It aims to nurture a strong Singaporean core through talent development," said Mr Iswaran at the ground-breaking ceremony of the JTC Logistics Hub @ Gul in Tuas.

"This in turn will help our companies, in particular, the small and medium-sized enterprises, to scale up and internationalise."

Under the road map, the Government will work closely with key firms in implementing technologies that "push the frontier of productive operations in Singapore", he added. It will invest in next-generation facilities offering opportunities to deploy automation, such as the new JTC Logistics Hub @ Gul.

Mr Iswaran noted that it is key for companies to specialise and deepen their capabilities in key sectors, including food and healthcare logistics, e-commerce fulfilment and aerospace service logistics. Centres of innovation and centres of excellence will be set up to help firms build differentiating capabilities.

To drive innovation across the industry, the Government will also work with research institutions and universities to bring about new approaches in areas such as digital supply chains and e-commerce logistics, he said.

Mr Iswaran added that the transformation of the industry will spell "exciting opportunities" for the workforce, as "rank-and-file jobs will require more skills, while new professional roles will emerge".

He noted that the demand for specialist roles will likely increase in the next few years. One such role is that of solutions engineer Pang Jin-Zhou from Bollore Logistics, whose job involves working with Bollore's clients to drive productivity gains by designing and implementing automation systems.

Opportunities for career progression are also expected to improve. The Logistics Professional Conversion Programme under the Adapt and Grow initiative will help those making a mid-career switch transit smoothly into the industry, while Workforce Singapore will help the current workforce acquire niche and emerging skills through the Industry Catalyst Programme.

By mid-next year, the Government will launch the Skills Framework for Logistics, a guide for individuals and companies on career pathways, job roles, requisite skills and wages in the industry, he said.

Article was first published on The Straits Times on 17 November 2016.

AH