Maritime R&D fund to raise co-funding to up to 70% after S$15m MPA top-up

THE Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) will top up S$15 million to a fund that supports maritime research and development (R&D) and product development, as Singapore aims to be the Silicon Valley for maritime technology, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Chee Hong Tat on Friday.

The Maritime Innovation and Technology Fund will have S$100 million available following the S$15 million top-up, and will offer co-funding support of as high as 70 per cent for projects both by maritime technology small and medium enterprises (from 50 per cent) and by industry consortiums.

Speaking in Parliament during the ministry's Committee of Supply debate, Mr Chee said: "We will partner and support maritime technology SMEs to push research and technology boundaries, scale up and team up, and turn challenges into new opportunities for growth."

The fund was created in 2003, and the authority has since allocated a total of S$265 million to expedite industry technological innovation and capability development, supporting more than 350 industry projects to date.

He also said Singapore has set a target to bring in S$20 billion in total business spending commitments from maritime companies from 2020 to 2024 to create more jobs and opportunities for locals.

Further, the government aims to more than triple the number of maritime tech startups supported under the innovation platform PIER71 (Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined @ BLOCK 71) funding programme from 30 to 100 by 2025.

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Updating Parliament, Mr Chee said the authority is on track to complete the first phase of land reclamation works by the end of 2021.

When Tuas Port is fully operational in the early 2040s, it will be able to handle up to 65 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) a year, 50 per cent more than the current capacity. It will also be a greener port, with a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions intensity.