Budget 2021: New launchpad for innovative ventures; help for global tie-ups

TO support businesses in nurturing creative ideas, the Singapore government will invest in three platforms: a new Corporate Venture Launchpad, as well as the existing Open Innovation Platform (OIP) and Global Innovation Alliance (GIA).

Businesses need to innovate and collaborate on a global scale, so as to remain competitive, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Tuesday while unveiling Budget 2021.

The Corporate Venture Launchpad will be piloted this year to drive new innovative ventures, said Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister.

The launchpad will provide co-funding for corporates to build new ventures through pre-qualified venture studios. "This is especially useful for larger businesses which want to rekindle a startup mindset within their organisations," Mr Heng noted.

Meanwhile, the OIP will be enhanced with new features such as a cloud-based Digital Bench for accelerated virtual prototyping and testing.

Through OIP, problems faced by companies and public agencies can be matched with solution providers. The platform also co-funds prototyping and deployment.

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The GIA catalyses cross-border collaboration between Singapore and major innovation hubs across the globe. Its network has 15 city links, including four South-east Asian cities: Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta and Manila. This will be expanded to more than 25 cities around the world over the next five years, Mr Heng said in Parliament.

In addition, the Co-Innovation Programme will be included in GIA. The programme will support up to 70 per cent of qualifying costs for cross-border innovation and partnership projects.

Mr Heng noted that two major changes in the post-Covid-19 economy will be a shift from physical to digital modes of transactions across geographical borders and a shift from tangible to intangible assets (IA) in value creation.

Such IA include the knowledge, networks and data that businesses can use to create new technologies and innovations.

As businesses innovate, Mr Heng said, they will create IA and intellectual property (IP), and will need to identify, protect, value, manage and commercialise these.

The government is thus developing the Singapore Intellectual Property Strategy 2030 to support businesses in commercialising the fruits of their innovation, he added.

This strategy will include equipping businesses with tools to value their IP and IA, and training skilled professionals in these fields.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore will announce details of this strategy on World IP Day in April.