SGInnovate launches initiatives to tackle biotech, deep tech talent shortage

DEEP tech investor SGInnovate on Friday (Jan 13) launched two new initiatives to nurture more highly-skilled talent in Singapore, especially in biotech, addressing the sector’s persistent manpower challenges.

One initiative, the Helix Immersion Programme (HIP), will provide a year’s worth of on-the-job-training for research and academic professionals in fields such as biochemistry, pharmacology and life sciences.

This initiative is expected to train over 100 fellows and place them with biotech companies and startups by 2025.

The effort comes as the shortfall in biotech talent in Singapore is set to widen by about 30 per cent over the next decade, according to a recent white paper by SGInnovate.

Key roles facing shortage include research and development, production, regulatory affairs and business management.

Talent is a critical resource for innovation, especially in deep tech where very specific expertise is needed, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who spoke at the launch event at SGInnovate’s office on Friday.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Monday, 3.30 pm

Garage

The hottest news on all things startup and tech to kickstart your week.

Sign Up

“The Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced our conviction in investing in innovation and deep tech. Deep tech will play an even bigger future role in addressing the many global challenges, including Disease X, climate change and ageing,” he said.

Disease X refers to a hypothetical pathogen that could cause a future pandemic.

The HIP’s inaugural run is with five partner companies: Allay Therapeutics, Carcell Therapeutics, Hilleman Laboratories, Hummingbird Bioscience and the National Health Innovation Centre Singapore.

Besides the HIP, SGInnovate also announced a second initiative, the Deep Tech Talent Central (DTTC).

This will broadly focus on training deep tech talent and growing the jobs marketplace.

The government-backed investor will work with public and private-sector partners to curate training programmes and facilitate domain-specific sharing with industry experts.

Overall, SGInnovate expects to onboard over 500 emerging tech startups by 2025, almost triple the 174 companies in 2022.

Its various talent programmes – the Summation programme, the Infinity Series, Power X and the HIP – will also be scaled up to nurture more than 900 apprentices and trainees during the same period.

SGInnovate’s operating philosophy is premised on talent, community and investment, said Dr Lim Jui, CEO of SGInnovate.

He said at the event: “In my 2.5 years at SGInnovate, I often face questions about our work. Are we an investment company, are we a talent company, or are we a community-building company? “It’s an interesting question, because the answer has always been all of the above… DTTC is the fruit of this integrated approach that we’ve taken to build a deep tech ecosystem, where investments not only create new jobs, but importantly create new types of jobs,” he added.

The partners that SGInnovate will be working with on the DTTC include Enterprise Singapore, the Economic Development Board and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, as well as venture firms, corporates and startups.

“With the launch of DTTC, we expect to catalyse more than 10,000 connections between talent and our partner companies each year, giving these companies unprecedented access to the critical talent they need at all levels,” said Juliana Lim, executive director of talent at SGInnovate.