'Reinventing tomorrow' with SWITCH and new tech consortia

Singapore

DEPUTY Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean kicked off the inaugural Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) on Tuesday by unveiling two national-level consortia in cybersecurity and synthetic biology, as part of Singapore's efforts to further strengthen integration between the industry and R&D community.

DPM Teo told a crowd of global entrepreneurs, technologists and investors at SWITCH: "While we have invested significantly in innovation inputs, such as enhancing human capital and creating a pro-business environment, we can do more to bring innovations from R&D to market, seeding and growing enterprises, and further expanding high-tech exports."

The chairman of the National Research Foundation (NRF) and coordinating minister for national security added that the two new consortia would connect industry partners and researchers, help focus applied research to develop new products, and facilitate the growth of startups with deep expertise and adoption of such te…