Startups need international exposure

AT a Cisco event in the US earlier this year, the chief information officer of Shell said that his company was a technology company first and an oil company after that. What he meant is that technology was central to Shell's operations. Indeed, it has become central to every business, be it in the petroleum sector or in selling pizzas online. The Singapore government is well aware of the tectonic shift that is occurring due to the ubiquitous nature of technology. One key indication of this is the Smart Nation initiative. A Smart Nation runs on a technology backbone, tapping the potential of infocomm to enhance the quality of life of residents.

Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information, noted at the opening ceremony of Technventure 2014 on Wednesday that Singapore's innovation and enterprise landscape has evolved greatly. He noted that the Smart Nation future will usher in exciting times for tech startups to devise innovative solutions in urban planning, healthcare services, and safety and security.

One common refrain has been that high quality and sustained innovation - the sort we see in places such as Silicon Valley in America - is not possible in Singapore due to its small population. However, not everyone are of the view. Recently, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck observed that there are some countries that have populations that may be just slightly bigger than Singapore's and yet have a very innovative approach towards how they build businesses and companies - and these countries have global brands and products.