Singapore's Lack of Technology-Based Entrepreneurial Activity

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Singapore has great technology potential but little technology-based entrepreneurial activity. This is keeping it from achieving higher rates of economic growth and stronger export demand in the high technology space. The major problem is the lack of involvement from researchers, including professors. For example, only one professor has successfully spun off technology-based startups and only one more is actively pursuing commercial applications at the technology-focused Nanyang Technological University . To better facilitate the creation of technology-based companies, The Singaporean government should redirect some of its funding allocation from student entrepreneurship programs to create new initiatives encouraging researchers’ exploration of commercial applications of technologies in universities.

In the late 80s, the Singaporean government started concentrating more of its efforts on improving the country’s research and development capabilities and providing a favorable environment for entrepreneurship in hopes of increasing Singapore’s number of technology-based startups, which can lead to the development of a thriving technology industry in Singapore and contribute to significant economic growth. The government started many initiatives and created favorable policies that led to the creation of cutting-edge technology—especially in biotechnology and water technologies—and Singapore’s consistent top international rankings in business environment for start-ups . However, despite these advances, Singapore ranked ninth-lowest in early-stage entrepreneurial activity out of 42 countries included in the 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, and the country continued to experience low rates of technology-based entrep...

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...e form of reforming and bolstering the institutions’ intellectual property and technology transfer functions . Through providing these additional resources, SPRING would be able to encourage university researchers to be more open to the idea of advancing their projects beyond the laboratories, thus facilitating a potentially significant contribution from these institutions to Singapore’s economy.

Significant economic gains can be made through an increase in Singapore’s level of technology-based entrepreneurial activity, something that requires the active participation of professors as well as students. While current programs address student incentives, the government needs to also encourage researchers to take part in entrepreneurial activities through creating valuable programs and establishing the necessary infrastructure for bringing technologies to market.

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