Nurturing innovation and value creation

LATE last year, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat observed that Singapore needs to shift from a value-adding economy to a value-creating economy. His message was clear - while a value-adding focus has served the country well for many years, now is the time to tilt that focus. The finance minister expanded on this message through Budget 2016 by challenging local businesses to innovate, scale up and internationalise. Paying tribute to Singapore's founding father, Mr Heng challenged all Singaporeans to do as Lee Kuan Yew did: to dream, plan and build for the next 1,000 years.

Singapore's Budget 2016 is the start of targeted measures to transform the Singapore economy and nurture value creation in a series of tax incentives, grants and measures to deepen the partnership between the government and private sector. These strides are designed to enhance existing infrastructure in Singapore that rewards risk-takers and innovators.

Creating and anchoring innovation, value creation and intellectual property in Singapore offers our city state many benefits - the economy should grow more quickly, there will be even more higher-paying quality jobs for Singaporeans, the tax base should expand and, as places such as Silicon Valley demonstrate, successful innovation breeds more successful innovation, leading to a virtuous cycle.