4 pillars of a startup ecosystem—Enterprise Singapore

ESG's initiatives focus on talent, financing, innovation, and collaboration.

Enterprise Singapore's (ESG) CEO Peter Ong enumerated the four pillars that the group focuses on for a startup environment, during the speech at the Slingshot 2021 Grand Finals.

Talent 

ESG's Innovation & Enterprise Fellowship Programme prepares local research talents for commercialisation work through attachments with industry leaders. More than 700 founders have also been trained by venture-build partners through the improved Startup SG Founder venture building programme. 

Global talent is also focused on, with initiatives like Tech@SG and Entrepass.

Financing 

The SEEDS Capital, a subsidiary of ESG, was highlighted by Ong. 13 new co-investment partners, adding to a total of 47 active co-investment partners, were appointed under the Startup SG Equity Scheme. These partnerships are expected to bring over $150m worth of investments in startups. 

Demand-led innovation

ESG focuses on open innovation challenges through the Open Innovation Network. Over 350 challenge statements have been worked on in partnership with ESG, with 177 being matched. 

National Innovation Challenges are also in place to solve industry-wide challenges. An instance Ong cites is an integrated solution for unmanned building facade cleaning, inspection and repair. Two innovators thought of a solution that reduces the risk of working at height, whilst also improving manpower productivity through automation. The awarded innovators will work closely with JTC, City Developments Limited, Frasers Property, and HongKong Land. 

Co-innovation

Under the Co-Innovation Programmes, ESG supported 78 bilateral innovation projects from 2019 to September of this year. Partners from Europe, Israel, and China were included. 

For example, Singapore-based startup Vflowtech worked with Nanyang Technological University and a German-based university to develop an alternative to traditional energy storage solutions. 

Ong also featured over 300 participants from the Global Innovation Alliance as these cross-border collaborations would help companies build connections in 16 GIA cities around the world.