Mr S Iswaran at TECHINNOVATION 2012

​Speech by Mr S Iswaran, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade & Industry at TECHINNOVATION 2012 on 16 Oct 2012, 9.50am, Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

            Good morning.  I am happy to join all of you this morning at TECHINNOVATION 2012.  This inaugural event by Intellectual Property Intermediary Singapore, or IPI, brings together internationally-renowned research institutes, as well as local technology providers, to offer ready-to-market enabling technologies for deployment by companies.

Introduction

In today’s globalised hyper-connected economy, the generation of knowledge and creative solutions has no boundaries. As Thomas Friedman observed, CEOs rarely talk about “outsourcing” anymore because the concept of “in” or “out” no longer applies. The example of the iPhone is well-known – it is designed in California, assembled in China, using parts from nine major suppliers in five countries.  We are moving towards a future where this will apply not just to components which go into products, but to ideas and intellectual property which underpin the design and development of new products and services.  This means opportunities for Singapore, and for Singapore companies.

Singapore’s open economy, strong fundamentals, diverse corporate eco-system of large companies and SMEs, and strong support for R&D and innovation place us in an ideal position to capture and translate global IP and knowledge flows.  However, even as we commit resources to do this, regional competitors are doing the same.  We will therefore have to ensure that we put in place not just the resources and structures, but also the facilitating processes to help our companies gain early and quick access to new ideas and technologies to drive competitiveness and growth.

Our companies will need to refine their operating models for growth and expansion in this new environment.  Ideas to grow the business can come from many sources, within the company or beyond its natural setting.  The extent of global and regional competition means that there is no room for the Not-Invented-Here (NIH) syndrome or a bias against an idea because it was originated externally, and not internally developed.  In fact, the converse is more the case - collaboration is the basis of innovation.  With the rising costs of technology development and shorter product life cycles, companies will need to recognise the importance of not just being innovative, but also to be more collaborative and outward-looking in that  endeavour.  Companies need to actively seek out innovations from external sources to complement internal efforts and aid in their quest for new growth opportunities.

Taking Basic Research into Commercialisation

R&D and innovation will be the key differentiator in enabling productivity gains and boosting the competitiveness of companies. Recognising this, one of the key thrusts in Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2015 plan is to strengthen our support for commercialisation of R&D outputs from public sector research and spur the development of new products and services by companies.  To do this, we have set aside $1 billion over a five-year period from 2011 to 2015, to help take more ideas from basic research to commercialisation. These resources support Proof-of-Concept and Proof-of Value programmes that de-risk the development of IP into new products and services, as well as build up translational infrastructure, such as the Centres of Innovation (COIs) at the polytechnics, to help companies, particularly SMEs, prototype, test-bed and productise ideas.

At my Ministry’s Committee of Supply Debate in March this year, I highlighted the establishment of IPI and what it was set up to achieve.  As a non-profit company, IPI proactively reaches out to SMEs to help source, assess and acquire enabling technology and know-how to meet the technology and business needs of these enterprises.

I am happy to note that since its inception, IPI has engaged more than 200 companies and assisted over 65 companies, with another 30 or more active discussions in the pipeline.  For example, one of the local SMEs that IPI has helped was Wintier Technologies. Wintier identified a business opportunity in mobile retail advertisement in shopping malls and events, and it was interested in developing an indoor location tracking technology. IPI looked at expertise from around the world in the field of location tracking technology and narrowed down the selection to a Swedish company, a local company and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Wintier decided to work with NTU as the solution offered met its needs. This led to a collaboration between the two parties to co-develop and commercialise the technology.

Apart from engaging the local enterprises directly, IPI also makes use of other avenues to facilitate the matching of Intellectual Property (IP) for SMEs.  An excellent example is TECHINNOVATION, the reason why we are gathered here today.  More than 200 technologies and know-how from more than 20 technology providers across the world are featured at this event.  These technology providers are making their technologies available for licensing or development collaboration. 

In fact, you will hear later from several renowned corporations including Evonik and Philips, on how enterprises can collaborate with them in innovating and developing new products and services.

Conclusion

In this rapidly evolving and increasingly connected world, continuous innovation has become indispensable for businesses to differentiate themselves and stay ahead of the competition. 

This is especially true in Singapore where developing the networks to access IP and innovations, irrespective of source, will enable our local enterprises to ascend the value chain, achieve greater productivity and become more competitive.

I hope all of you will take the opportunity to scout for new ideas and establish useful contacts for business opportunities that can grow and transform your companies. On this note, I wish you all a fruitful day ahead.  Thank you.