MPA tops up maritime innovation and tech fund to S$200 million

THE maritime regulator is topping up and expanding the scope of a fund that supports research and testing of maritime technologies in Singapore, it said in a press release on Tuesday.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) will commit an extra S$50 million to the Maritime Innovation and Technology (MINT) fund, bringing its total amount to S$200 million, and extend its term to 2021, it said.

It also said it would introduce a new MINT Product Development scheme to promote the local development of products and solutions for the maritime industry, enhance its funding policies and guidelines to "encourage higher-quality projects" and expand the fund's focus areas to include research in topics such as data analytics and autonomous technologies.

MPA set up the MINT fund in 2003 with an initial S$100 million and a 10-year term. In 2013, it added S$50 million to the fund and extended the term to 2018.

The fund co-funds up to 50 per cent of project costs and has supported more than 290 R&D projects, MPA said.