Overview
Innovation and Research & Development powerhouse
The average lifespan of Fortune 500 companies has fallen dramatically from 50 to 15 years. To remain competitive, research and development (R&D) and innovation are key, and Asia promises to be a key driver in both fields.
Asia emerged as the top region for corporate R&D spend, overtaking Europe and the United States, in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Strategy & Global Innovation Study 2015.
Dedication to innovation
Singapore is pushing the boundaries of innovation to solidify its position as an innovation hub and realise its ambition of becoming the world’s first Smart Nation. The city state is fuelling a strong ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship to reimagine and redefine our world. In the recent International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Talent Report 2017, Singapore ranked 13th, based on factors such as investment and development, appeal and readiness factors4.
Singapore also punches above its weight with its ability to attract the world’s foremost thought leaders in the field. It has hosted many research, innovation and technology conferences, bringing together industry leaders to discuss globally relevant ideas, inspire change and promote the exploration of new concepts. In the annual Global Innovation Index 2017 jointly conducted by Cornell University, INSEAD business school and the World Intellectual Property, Singapore was top in Asia. As the gateway to Asia, Singapore is an extremely attractive location to create innovative solutions that will transform lives in the region and beyond.
R&D as a pillar
Research centres such as A*Star’s Fusionopolis and Biopolis, National Research Foundation’s Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (Create), CleanTech Park, Tuas Biomedical Park, and Science Park are home to over 1,000 research collaborations with leading players such as Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu, BASF, Mitsui Chemicals and Nitto Denko.
The Committee of Future Economy report 2017 outlined the importance of innovation and adoption of digital technology (particularly data analytics and cybersecurity) in solutions and business models across all industries. The report highlighted Singapore’s leadership in digital maturity and network readiness , which the country must build on.
Innovation Business Events: Opportunities for growth
Current business events landscape
According to Startup Ecosystem Ranking 2017 report, Singapore has overthrown tech centre Silicon Valley as the world’s number one for start-up talent5. It has also hosted a growing number of thought-leadership events on technopreneurial best practices, showcases of emerging technologies and forums on business re-invention and innovation. Business events on entrepreneurship and innovation such as Smart Nation Innovations Week (including innovfest unbound), Echelon Asia Summit and EmTech Asia by MIT Technology Review are among the many industry-matching platforms and marketplace for emerging technologies and enterprises regularly hosted in Singapore. The inaugural Singapore Week of Innovation & TeCHnology (SWITCH) was held in 2016, and was the first platform in Singapore to aggregate varied public and private sector partners in the innovation and enterprise ecosystem in a concept week to showcase the industry.
Opportunities
As Asia’s most innovative economy, Singapore provides event organisers with a stimulating environment to connect with innovative leaders, new content and ideas across a variety of industries. There is keen interest in trade conferences that inspire change, promote exploration or risk-taking and cultivation of the entrepreneurial drive. On the technology front, there is also growing demand for events in new frontiers such as wearable technology, big data and how the next generation of digitally and socially connected enterprises can leverage new business concepts such as crowdsourcing and crowdfunding.
Did you know?
- Between 1,500 and 2,000 patents are filed worldwide every year as a result of research and development conducted in Singapore1.
- Singapore had committed US$12 billion in continued support of research, innovation and enterprise activities between 2011 and 20152.
- Another US$14.2 billion is committed to spur the country’s R&D capabilities, enterprise innovation and entrepreneurship through the Research, Innovation & Enterprise (RIE) 2020 Plan3.
1http://www.asiaone.com/print/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120814-365221.html
2https://www.nrf.gov.sg/rie2020/
3https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/govt-commits-s-19b-to-new-5-year-plan-for-r-amp-d-initiatives-ri-8214052
4https://www.imd.org/wcc/world-competitiveness-center-rankings/talent-rankings-2017/
5https://www.forbes.com/sites/chynes/2017/08/09/singapore-tops-new-list-of-best-startup-cities/#523ac0b1167d
