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GROWTH in Singapore's deep tech sector is expected in the coming years, with opportunities opening up in the spacetech industry, sustainable materials industry and more, showed a report from deep tech ecosystem builder SGInnovate.

According to the report, the deep tech startup industry peaked in 2019, with the number of startups incorporated in the sector growing to 87, from 57 in 2017.

However, with the onslaught of the pandemic, all 4 of the verticals that SGInnovate classified under deep tech were impacted in the following years. The total number of startups incorporated across the agrifood, advanced manufacturing, sustainability and health and biomedical sciences verticals dropped to 68 in 2020 and 36 in 2021.

SGInnovate's executive director of investments Tong Hsien-Hui told The Business Times that deep tech startups faced limitations during the pandemic. As their work requires having access to laboratories and physical testing with equipment, safe distancing rules and group size restrictions had capped the scope of allowable activities in innovation and research. This led to fewer startup incorporations during the period.

Despite the effects caused by Covid-19, SGInnovate sees improvements for the industry as pandemic rules ease in the country.

Within the spacetech sector, at least 8 startups have been newly incorporated since 2017. More startups are expected to emerge in this sector as the industry is set to grow with the space accelerator programme by Singapore Space & Technology, SGInnovate noted.