Three ways Singapore can help global businesses with international expansion in 2025

Here are three ways Singapore can support business expansion for global and regional companies in 2025 and beyond.

1: A robust and high-integrity carbon market to help businesses achieve sustainability ambitions

As climate change persists at the forefront of consumers’ and governments’ minds, companies are prioritising sustainability and actively managing their carbon footprints.

Access to high-quality Article 6 carbon credits is one of the viable decarbonisation pathways for companies, especially those in hard-to-abate sectors. Singapore takes a multi-pronged approach to drive the development of these carbon credits to help companies achieve their sustainability goals.

Earlier this year, Singapore introduced the invitation-only Singapore Carbon Market Alliance to connect prospective buyers in Singapore with leading international sellers and developers of high-quality Article 6 carbon credits.

At COP29 in November 2024, Singapore announced the Carbon Project Development Grant where leading Singapore-based companies can receive funding support for early-stage carbon project development and financing activities, to generate high-quality Article 6 carbon credits. Through the grant, EDB seeks to address early-stage project financing gaps, and spur the development of and investment in more carbon projects, including those in the region.

Funding will cover feasibility studies on carbon projects that can be used under Singapore’s international carbon credit framework, for large emitters in Singapore to then access the carbon credits from successful projects to offset against their carbon tax.

A new set-up called the Carbon Markets Academy of Singapore will also train carbon services and trading professionals to support Singapore’s ecosystem of more than 120 carbon services companies—the largest of such ecosystems in the region.

Singapore’s efforts to diversify its energy sources and create an ecosystem to support businesses on their decarbonisation journeys, despite accounting for less than one per cent of global emissions, were highlighted by Zhang Jianyu, Executive Director of BRI Green Development Institute, at the Caixin Asia New Vision Forum 2024.

He pointed to Singapore’s plans to import green electricity generated from neighbouring islands in Indonesia through undersea cables, and from wind farms in Vietnam. The event, held in Singapore in September, convened over 400 decision-makers as well as thought and government leaders from more than 10 countries and regions.

2: A vibrant ecosystem to scale innovative ideas for commercialisation

New tech startups and innovations are constantly being launched across the region. According to a report by EDB and Founders Forum Group, Southeast Asia’s tech startup ecosystem has tripled in value in the past five years and produced 55 unicorns.

In Singapore, the region’s most innovative city according to the Global Innovation Index 2024, the growing community of international venture builders, investors and more than 4,000 tech startups are coming together to ride on this innovation momentum. For example, pet-tech is thriving, with pet-tech startups expected to hit US$29billion in market value by end-2024, according to Pitchbook data. This is a sector that Nestle Purina is focusing on from Singapore, where it has its Asia, Oceania and Africa headquarters.

Corporate-led initiatives like JLABS Singapore, Johnson & Johnson’s flagship incubator for early-stage companies and its first in SEA, has incubated 35 innovative life sciences companies across areas including digital health since launching a year ago. L'Oréal’s Big Bang Beauty Tech Innovation Program is among several open innovation platforms in Singapore, which offers startups connections to partners, access to capital and talent, and government support to innovate and grow their business. This year, Google also expanded its AI Trailblazers initiative, with the aim of empowering up to 150 more organisations to rapidly build their own gen AI solutions.

EDB also supports multinational companies, large local enterprises, regional family businesses and high growth companies in Singapore to drive venture creation and startup partnerships, through the Corporate Venture Launchpad (CVL).Since the launch, EDB has supported 24 companies in launching 14 new ventures, six of which are focused on opportunities in new growth areas including Artificial Intelligence. Now in its third edition, more ventures are in the pipeline.

Speaking at the Caixin Asia New Vision Forum 2024, Cindy Khoo, Managing Director, Enterprise Singapore, shared that companies may experience difficulties translating great ideas into solutions that can be commercialised. “That’s where a lot of governments [in the region] are coming in to really try to build up a strong innovation and startup ecosystem,” she added.

“We would like to welcome more [international investors and startups], particularly those who are actually already very strong in their home countries, to connect with a network that goes beyond Singapore.” This, she added, enables the exchange of ideas, capital and resources, and gives startups a better chance of success on the global stage.

3: Finding local partners for business growth

Localisation is becoming a key strategy for businesses seeking global expansion. Here in Southeast Asia, where its growing population and increasing disposable income continue to fuel the region’s growth, building a network of local partners across business and R&D activities can be the winning formula for companies.

In Singapore, leading global companies are collaborating with local enterprises for mutually beneficial outcomes. For one, working with a local supplier greatly enhances supply chain resilience and shortens time-to-market. Semiconductor giant STMicroelectronics partnered with local precision engineering firm ELH Tech for its 3D-printed parts and components needs. Leading microscopy and laboratory instruments company Leica Microsystems (LMS) has also sourced complex precision machining and sheet metal components from local enterprises, such as PLC Industries and Grand Venture Technology.

Our local enterprises and research institutes also bring with them unique capabilities to co-innovate solutions with global companies. Coca-Cola Singapore for instance worked with local systems integrator SME Kowa Skymech Pte Ltd, and A*STAR Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (Kowa Skymech), to integrate a cobot solution into its manufacturing plant's existing line. Sanofi worked with local startup Magorium Pte Ltd to use recycled plastic from insulin pens, to build roads at Sanofi’s latest manufacturing site at Tuas Biomedical Park, Singapore.

Singapore-based companies are also helping other global companies here expand their reach to Asian markets. Flex Health Solutions has helped Original Equipment Manufacturers in the MedTech space connect with local partners in China to better understand regulatory requirements and the demands of end consumers including government hospitals. Koh Meng Hwee, Senior Director and Head of APAC Business Development at Flex Health Solutions, said local partners can help businesses build relationships in-market, providing the knowledge and expertise to navigate different cultures and market dynamics.

Applied Materials, building on years of R&D with partners here, recently expanded its partnership with A*STAR’s Institute of Microelectronics, alongside Singapore universities —National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University Singapore and Singapore Institute of Technology—to progress advanced chip packaging technologies from Singapore.

Government grants, mentorship programmes, and industry networks can provide additional boost to speed up such partnerships. For example, the Partnerships for Capability Transformation (PACT) scheme helps defray part of costs incurred when a multinational corporation partners with a Singapore-based SME. Since 2010, PACT has benefited more than 2,500 Singapore-based firms.