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Agilent Technologies and Keppel China worked with Singapore SMEs to drive innovation, enhance productivity, and expand into new markets. Learn how they stood out from the competition by working with Singapore businesses.
Singapore's 286,000 SMEs, approximately 4,500 tech startups1 and network of R&D players including around 78 public research institutions in Singapore2; offer MNCs a rich pool of potential partners to solve pressing business challenges.
MNCs can also benefit from the range of open innovation platforms in Singapore.
Read about two successful partnerships:
THE PARTNERSHIP
Agilent Technologies (Agilent), a California-based company specialising in analytical and clinical laboratory technologies, has had a significant presence in Singapore since 1999. In 2014, Agilent formed a strategic partnership with ETLA Limited, a Singapore-based contract manufacturer specialising in precision engineering.
Guided by its customer-centric approach, Agilent recognised the need for greater flexibility and responsiveness in its manufacturing operations and found a valuable partner in ETLA. ETLA produces metal parts for Agilent's cutting-edge scientific instruments, and has implemented design enhancements for improved manufacturability, material quality improvements through grain refinement, and robotic welding for precise fabrication.
THE PARTNERSHIP
In 2023, Singapore enterprise Keppel’s subsidiary in China was on the lookout for partners to help with its sustainability push for managed properties, especially in the areas of energy conservation and indoor air-quality management.
They were introduced by Enterprise Singapore to Singapore-based R&D company, Aqua3I. The two companies teamed up and received funding under the PACT scheme (see boxed content “More about the PACT Scheme” above for more details).
The two companies first collaborated on the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City project which saw Keppel China introduce Aqua3I’s patented antimicrobial coated patches to cassette air-conditioners in indoor office spaces to reduce air pollution. These patches work by emitting negative oxygen ions that bind to pollutants. This increases the mass of pollutants and accelerates their removal from the air.
Separately, Aqua3I’s solution was also applied to reduce formaldehyde levels indoors to 0.06mg/m3, which is lower than the acceptable threshold for such spaces; around 0.08mg/m3.
With the solution, there was no need for Keppel to adopt the usual airing or “off-gassing” process, that typically takes months. “Off-gassing” is a process where items which contain formaldehyde such as pressed-wood furniture, carpets, and certain fabrics, are subjected to cross-ventilation — a process where airflow is enhanced using exhaust fans while leaving windows and doors open to expel air pollutants more effectively.
Following the successful implementation in Tianjin Ecocity, Keppel also plans to expand the application of Aqua3I’s innovations to customers in other Chinese cities, such as the Jinan Startup Area (JSA) in Shandong. The JSA, which has been operational since 2021, is a commercial area housing companies operating in emerging industries such as clean energy, smart manufacturing, and more.
MORE ABOUT THE PACT SCHEME
Companies keen to collaborate with Singapore enterprises can benefit from the enhanced Partnerships for Capability Transformation (PACT) scheme, a funding initiative by government agencies — the Economic Development Board and Enterprise Singapore — that now covers more types of partnerships across industry segments.
PACT can help MNCs localise solutions, enhance supply chain resilience and pursue innovation for growth in Asia. More than 2,500 Singapore-based firms have benefited from PACT since it was launched in 2010.
HOW IT WORKS
PARTNERSHIP COSTS
PACT defrays part of costs incurred by global companies and their local suppliers or partners, for activities arising from approved partnership modalities. This includes the following costs:
Read about PACT
Keen to learn more about MNCs that have partnered with Singapore companies for success?
Footnote:
1 Startup Genome. "Singapore." Startup Genome, https://startupgenome.com/ecosystems/singapore. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.
2 Agency for Science, Technology and Research (ASTAR). "Research, Innovation and Enterprise in Singapore." ASTAR, 2021,
https://www.a-star.edu.sg/docs/librariesprovider1/default-document-library/rie/2021-rie-survey-publication_finalforpublication_amended.pdf. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.
