Speech by SMS Koh Poh Koon at TechInnovation 2018

​SPEECH BY DR KOH POH KOON, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE, MINISTRY OF TRADE & INDUSTRY AT TECHINNOVATION 2018, 18 SEPTEMBER 2018, 9:15 AM AT SANDS EXPO & CONVENTION CENTRE

Deputy British High Commissioner Ms Alexandra McKenzie

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

1.             Good morning. I am delighted to join you this morning at TechInnovation 2018 organised by Intellectual Property Intermediary (IPI). As one of the key events for the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH), TechInnovation offers a technology marketplace which brings together local and international technology providers and enterprises to explore collaboration opportunities.

2.             When the inaugural TechInnovation was launched in 2012, it was the first of its kind in Singapore, with 24 exhibitors and 500 delegates. I am happy to note that TechInnovation has since grown from strength to strength. Over the next two days, we will welcome over 160 exhibitors and 4,000 participants comprising SMEs, large corporations, research institutes, and technology centres coming together with the common objective of partnering to achieve business growth through innovation and technology adoption. 

Innovation is key to helping enterprises build differentiating capabilities, scale up and compete in a challenging environment 

3.             Today, we are witnessing an unprecedented confluence of political, economic and technological trends with far-reaching impact on the way we live and work. Technological advances are disrupting business models and altering the nature of jobs, within the context of a global environment of anti-globalisation and protectionist trends. It is increasingly challenging to anticipate which sector, business model or job type will experience a major transformation. Perhaps we should say that all businesses and jobs will undergo some degree of transformation and contend with technological disruptionin the near future.  For instance, five years ago, it was difficult to imagine how the sharing economy model would revolutionise the way we hail a taxi, order food delivery or book a hotel room, but just look at where we are now. 

4.              To thrive in an uncertain future, our enterprises must continue to build capabilities and stay relevant to customer needs.Technology and innovation will be key in enabling our companies to improve productivity and grow their revenue, through developing new products and services that offer a differentiated value proposition and give us an advantage over our competitors.

5.             The Government is committed to developing a vibrant innovation ecosystem in Singapore. Under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 (RIE2020), the Government has set aside $19 billion to develop deep research capabilities in key areas of competitive advantage for Singapore, enhance the translation of public sector research to industry outcomes, and develop a pool of researchers with deep capabilities in both the public sector and industry.  

6.             I am heartened to note that Singapore has moved up two spots to fifth-place in this year’s Global Innovation Index, while remaining the most innovative country in Southeast Asia as well as Asia Pacific. In the face of strong competition, Singapore is well-positioned as a centre of innovation, research and development at the heart of the world’s most dynamic economic region. However, we must not rest on our laurels.

Government is committed to supporting businesses in accessing talent and resources in their innovation journey.

7.             Helping our companies, particularly SMEs, innovate and grow is a key economic imperative. SMEs are an important part of our economy, accounting for about 65% of our workforce, and nearly half of our GDP.  They are crucial to Singapore’s economic resilience and vitality.

8.             The Government is proactively supporting SMEs by providing resources and platforms that can help SMEs realise their business goals. In this regard, IPI plays an important role as an intermediary and connector, to help our SMEs identify, assess and source for technologies and know-how to meet their needs. Since its inception in 2011, IPI has engaged over 1,200 companies through various platforms, and has facilitated over 570 technology transfer and R&D projects between technology providers and seekers.

9.             One of the key challenges that many SMEs still face today is the lack of resources to fully undertake long term R&D or innovation projects, such as hiring domain experts to solve their technical challenges. To address this in-house expertise gap, I am happy to announce that IPI will be rolling out a one-stop TechExpert matching platform, to enable enterprises to engage technical experts from various industry sectors in their innovation projects.

10.          Enterprises will be able to tap on the expertise of industry experts to support product design, prototyping, hardware development and testing. For a start, IPI is collaborating with the Institution of Engineers Singapore whose members have strong industry experience and domain knowledge, to come onboard as technical experts to help our companies. IPI is also working with JTC to engage the startup community at the LaunchPad at One-North. Startups can make use of the platform to identify the relevant expertise for their innovation projects. Interested technical experts and companies seeking technical experts can now register online.

TechInnovation provides a technology platform to complement the Industry Transformation Maps and encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas and growth of new sectors.  

11.          Besides supporting SMEs in their innovation journey, IPI also works closely with lead agencies to drive the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs). For instance, IPI is supporting the ITMs’ efforts through thematic tracks at TechInnovation. 

12.          I am pleased to note that ESG and AVA are leveraging the TechInnovation platform this year to host the Food Innovation and Urban Agritech themes. These innovation themes aim to showcase new technologies in these areas and encourage co-innovation among the industry players. I hope you can all visit the Urban Agritech pavilion to learn more about how the food of the future will be produced.

13.          The growing affluence and rising middle class in Asia has led to more sophisticated tastes and higher demand for healthier, safer and more premium food products. This creates new business opportunities for our food manufacturers. There is a window of opportunity for Singapore to leverage technology to transform food production into the next high-tech manufacturing sector through adoption of automation, robotics, and Internet of Things (IoT). If you have a chance to check out an urban farm, you will realise that modern farming is actually data-driven, advanced manufacturing. It is food manufacturing, no longer growing. We also need to support our entrepreneurs who bring with them multi-disciplinary expertise in engineering, food sciences, infocomm technology to design and pilot new ways to produce and deliver safe and nutritious food to consumers. We hope that the technological advances introduced by our home-grown innovators will eventually help to contribute to improving food systems in the region and beyond. 

Conclusion

14.          TechInnovation offers an excellent opportunity for our participants to exchange innovative ideas, strengthen partnerships, and explore new collaborations. I look forward to seeing new initiatives seeded by the discussions at this platform, as well as the other events which are being held as part of SWITCH. I wish you all a fruitful conference and exhibition over the next two days.  Thank you.