Now the second is rapid technological advancements.
In particular, advances in AI are disrupting business models, companies and even entire industries.
With AI’s potential to magnify and entrench competitive advantage, competition over technology is also increasingly taking on geopolitical dimensions.
The third reason for the importance of technology and innovation is the need for businesses to address climate change.
For us in Singapore, a low-lying island state, climate change is existential.
Some studies project that the global economy could face 50% loss in GDP between 2070 and 2090, unless global climate action is stepped up urgently and at scale.
For enterprises, sustainability is not just about a responsibility to society, but about the long-term viability of your business, the stability of your supply chains, and consumption patterns.
Harnessing technology and innovation, to build new products, solutions and systems, and to do it at scale will be critical.
So let me take this opportunity to commend SICC for expanding the SICC Awards to new categories like “Best Technological Collaboration”, “Most Sustainable Collaboration” and “Most Scalable Collaboration”.
I also appreciate that the SICC Awards provides not only a platform to compete, but also to share their ideas with one another, and with others.
Dawn earlier mentioned about building a “learning component” to these awards.
Doing so enables the spirit of innovation behind the collaborations we recognise this evening to also inspire others in the business community.
To borrow a social media term, let us make innovation viral.
I have spoken on the importance of staying open to globalisation, and harnessing technology and innovation.
Putting these together, it means we need to achieve scale to make an impact.
Building on SICC’s initiative in recognising and promoting collaborative innovation, to achieve greater impact, we must scale this further – within Singapore, and across borders.
I believe that a central pillar of Singapore’s future economic strategy, and our future economic value, is to position Singapore as a Global-Asia node, connecting the world to Asia with a very clear focus on technology and innovation.
We must continue to work with innovation nodes around the world to deepen innovation, to find new growth sectors and tackle common challenges.
Businesses, both foreign and local, and across all sizes and scales, can make useful contributions in this area.
The Government has initiated several schemes to encourage collaboration across sectors, borders and even regions.
One way is by building purposeful partnerships between businesses and our Research, Innovation and Enterprise or RIE ecosystem to harness innovation and solve targeted problems. I am glad to see a few of this year’s finalists featuring such cross-sector collaborations!
The National Research Foundation, EDB, and A*STAR and other agencies have supported the establishment of various Corporate Labs between industry players and our universities and research institutes.
Over the years, we have set up more than 20 such corporate labs including with SICC member companies like ST Microelectronics and ExxonMobil. I invite others who are keen to also consider a similar tie-ups.
During this year’s Budget Debate a few weeks ago, I announced that we are developing new RIE Flagships and Grand Challenges as part of the next bound of building our research ecosystem and driving Singapore’s future growth.
These platforms will pull together research and translational capabilities across our universities, research institutes, public agencies and the private sector to create value in new economic sectors and to address real-world problems and needs.
The first Flagship will focus on semiconductor and microelectronics R&D and the first Grand Challenge will look at healthy and successful longevity.
We welcome SICC members who are engaged in these domains to work with us on these platforms. We will be announcing more Grand Challenges and Flagships in the years to come.
Another way that we are fostering collaboration is by facilitating stronger connectivity between larger firms, SMEs and startups.
Since 2017, Enterprise Singapore has supported innovation partnerships between large corporates and smaller enterprises through Open Innovation. Over the year, more than 350 matches have been catalysed through this platform.
SICC members like Olam and Shell, for example, have been matched with SMEs and startups from Singapore and overseas to develop new solution in sustainable agriculture and clean energy distribution.
A third way is by connecting innovators more closely across borders, with one another as well as with investors and partners, to jumpstart collaborations.
Strong networks with other ecosystems provide enterprises with local insights and partnerships to make the most of new opportunities.
In this regard, Enterprise Singapore’s Global Innovation Alliance or GIA connects Singapore startups and enterprises with established innovation hubs worldwide, facilitating market access and cross-border R&D collaborations.
So far, the GIA has empowered more than 600 startups with market access across 24 cities, and catalysed cross-border research with over 40 countries.
We also host the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology or SWITCH to strengthen linkages between our enterprises and those globally and to deepen our innovation capabilities, particularly in deep tech.
SWITCH offers good opportunities for enterprises, including SICC members, to network and better understand the latest developments in emerging technologies like climate tech, advanced manufacturing, and AI.
