Singapore Budget 2019: More funding support to send Singaporeans abroad for working experience

THE Singapore government will work with firms to send more young Singaporeans abroad to gain working experience, said Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat on Monday.

Students in institutes of higher learning can look for enhanced funding support under a single Global Ready Talent programme for overseas internships with Singapore firms.

The programme will also support high-growth Singapore firms to send Singaporeans with up to three years of working experience, for postings in key markets such as Southeast Asia, China, and India.

The Singapore government will as well look to build global partnerships, so that firms can build new areas of collaboration with other innovation centres. This comes as nine "nodes" have been set up as global startup hotspots, including Bangkok, Beijing, Jakarta and San Francisco, under the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) that was started as part of Budget 2017.

There are also opportunities for the global innovation community to gather in Singapore. Singapore has held the world's largest fintech event, the Singapore Fintech Festival for three years now, and will do so again in November. To maximise impact, the Singapore Fintech Festival this year will be held in the same week as the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology, with the aim of drawing more entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators from around the world.

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