Innovation Powerhouse: Why Leica Microsystems, LightSpeed Studios and Univers are pushing boundaries from Singapore

In a global landscape where innovation is crucial for market competitiveness, Singapore's supportive policies, funding opportunities and thriving R&D ecosystem stand out. Today, the country is home to over 60,300 registered enterprises, the majority of which are foreign-owned. Many are deepening their innovation footprint here, encouraged by Singapore's sustained investments in driving R&D.

Singapore has committed S$25 billion in research, innovation, and enterprise between 2021 to 2025—and recently announced a further S$3 billion—for research and related investments in national priorities, such as advanced manufacturing, sustainability, the digital economy, and healthcare.

Companies also get direct support through initiatives like the Corporate Venture Launchpad or Tech@SG programme, to access venture-building support and critical talent to grow and scale their ventures.

In this second instalment of the "Innovation Powerhouse" series, we look at how Leica Microsystems, LightSpeed Studios and Univers are harnessing innovation for growth in Singapore.
 

LEICA MICROSYSTEMS

When Leica Microsystems, a surgical microscope manufacturer, first made the decision to establish a base in Singapore in 1974, its leaders sought to leverage Singapore's strategic location to access Asia-Pacific markets. Fast forward to today, the German company has four global sites and houses its product development and manufacturing in Singapore. Leica’s Singapore hub is a critical site, responsible for the development of sophisticated surgical microscopes and single-handedly contributing 40 per cent of the company's total revenue.
 

Building an innovation roadmap from Singapore

The decision to deepen Leica's roots in Singapore was driven by several factors. The city state's thriving biomedical research and innovation ecosystem, advanced healthcare sector and high-tech talent pool, made it an ideal ground for Leica to develop, test and validate new products. These elements collectively enabled Leica to innovate and maintain a competitive edge in the market. 

This strategic integration of different functions has helped Leica develop a range of sophisticated microscopes catered for minimally invasive surgeries, such as eye or neurological procedures. One such product is Leica's Proveo 8 Ophthalmic Microscope, which was conceptualised and commercialised in Singapore. The groundbreaking microscope, enhanced with Leica's proprietary FusionOptics technology, allows for better texture view in retina and cataract surgery and leads to improved surgical outcomes.

Singapore's healthcare system ranks among the best in the world. According to the 2023 Legatum Institute’s prosperity index, Singapore ranks first out of 104 countries when it comes to both health and access to healthcare resources. For Leica, being in Singapore means getting access to the local ecosystem of leading healthcare specialists and key opinion leaders.

From the pre-commercial development phase to the post-launch market surveillance phase, Leica is able to work closely with experts and stakeholders to gather feedback, identify issues, and continually improve their medical devices for real-world use. For example, various clinicians and ophthalmologists from the Singapore National Eye Centre are engaged during Leica's new product development to provide feedback for usability and validation testing. This helps to refine the product and ensure global success.

In October 2023, Leica opened a new US$60 million (S$82 million) medical manufacturing and R&D facility focused on developing end-to-end digital imaging chain capabilities for medical microscopy. These capabilities will allow for more detailed, high-definition and real-time views of surgical procedures. Leica’s decision to continue innovating in Singapore is a vote of confidence in the ecosystem, and will further advance the medical microscopy space globally from Singapore.

LIGHTSPEED STUDIOS

A young population, high mobile penetration rate and growing disposable income—these statistics reveal the potential in Asia-Pacific's gaming industry. But they are not the only contributing factors to LightSpeed Studio's global success.

The game developer has established itself as an innovator in the gaming industry. From its Singapore hub, LightSpeed drives R&D projects and operations for the Asia-Pacific market—exploring artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, augmented reality, and cloud gaming technologies to enhance gaming experiences. Singapore is part of the studio’s 10 global offices, working closely with teams from China to the United Kingdom and the United States, to produce popular immersive titles like PUBG MOBILE and Last Sentinel, an upcoming AAA-level, open-world game.
 

Fostering close links with Singapore’s local ecosystem

Singapore’s friendly business environment—bolstered by policies and schemes to support innovation and business growth—and ability to attract top talent, particularly in the fields of advanced engineering and gaming innovation, have been instrumental in LightSpeed Studio’s decision to anchor its innovation roadmap in the city-state. The game developer believes a multidisciplinary team of talented individuals is essential for developing innovative games with better gameplay. Singapore's ability to bring together a pool of strong local talent and complementary global talent has facilitated LightSpeed's innovation efforts. 
 

To further develop local science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) talent and ensure a robust pipeline of employees, the studio actively participates in various public and private sector programmes, such as the AI Apprenticeship Programme.

Partnering with AI Singapore in the past year, the studio explored the potential of AI in game development, leading to a Text-to-Speech system project that enhances game accessibility for native Malay speakers.

Another noteworthy local partnership is LightSpeed’s collaboration with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). This focused on employing Text-to-Motion technology to achieve more realistic in-game character movements, bridging the gap between academic research and practical application in the gaming industry.
 

UNIVERS

Decarbonisation software leader Univers chose Singapore for its innovation hub, citing the country's support for green initiatives and access to a region with significant opportunities to decarbonise. 

Southeast Asia is set to become the world's fourth-largest economy in 2030 and has an outsized role to play in the global push for decarbonisation. The region derives 80 per cent of its energy needs from fossil fuel and already, eight out of 10 ASEAN countries have Net Zero or carbon neutrality commitments. There is immense potential for renewable energy development, especially in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, and Singapore is already positioning itself as a hub for carbon and renewable energy services. This has synergies with Univers’ vision and mission.
 

Commercialising and scaling from Singapore

Univers opened its research and innovation hub, the Net Zero Centre of Excellence (NZ CoE), in Singapore in 2023. With over 200 staff focusing on technology and R&D, the NZ CoE aims to promote sustainability across sectors like green finance, transportation, and large-scale real estate portfolios.

Singapore's vibrant business ecosystem—with companies from diverse industries and parts of the value chain—has given Univers easy access to a pool of partners and customers. Leveraging Univers' EnOS^TM Ark platform, Enterprise Resource and Carbon Management technology, the decarbonisation software provider can consolidate first-hand sustainability data from green financing regulators, banks, certification bodies, and organisations. This serves as the single source of truth and has enabled a green financing partner ecosystem, accelerating the adoption and approval of organisations' Green Loans and Sustainability-Linked Loans. 

Singapore's technological capabilities in real-time IoT also enables the capturing and processing of granular, high-fidelity data. The NZ CoE is able to streamline and improve the speed and accuracy of tracking carbon emissions, resulting in high quality carbon management and allowing Univers to better serve its 800 partners and customers worldwide. These carbon management efforts also contribute to Singapore's overall sustainability goals.

Through the NZ CoE, Univers has been able to support clients both locally and globally. For example, it worked with local energy company SembCorp to support Southeast Asia's largest 285MWh battery energy storage system on Jurong Island, with the Singapore team also involved in a project with the Government of Spain to build the first Net Zero Industrial Park in Europe.
 

Singapore's support for companies seeking to innovate and test-bed green technologies has also been a boon for Univers. For example, the push for green financing from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore-based banks and organisations helped Univers incorporate monitoring green financing KPIs into its EnOS^TM Ark platform, after jointly developing and validating them with banking partners in Singapore. The proprietary platform is continuously enhanced in Singapore to include latest SBTi targets, new carbon abatement initiatives and updated Product Carbon Footprints.

This is the second instalment of EDB's "Innovation Powerhouse" series. In the first part, we speak with global MNCs Dell Technologies, Evonik Industries and dsm-firmenich to learn how they have leveraged Singapore's unique innovation ecosystem to stay ahead of the competition.

Asia-Pacific’s most innovative city

Here’s a quick look at why Singapore is ranked as the most innovative city in Asia-Pacific in the 2023 Global Innovation Index.
 

Commitment to advancing R&D

• Singapore has made sustained investments into R&D and innovation. Businesses can get support from open innovation programmes, tax incentives and cash grants like the Research Incentive Scheme for Companies (RIS(C)).
• Adopting a sandbox regulatory approach to test innovations and create market-ready products and solutions. Read about the businesses that were part of Singapore’s first Gen AI Innovative Sandbox AI Trailblazer and the FinTech Regulatory Sandbox that have helped innovative startups like ADDX and BondEvalue.

Access to a robust ecosystem of partners

• National R&D platforms and programmes offer shared facilities and support to accelerate the translation of research into commercially-viable products and services. For example, AI Singapore’s 100 Experiments (100E) programme, MedTech Catapult, and the National Robotics Programme (NRP).
• Numerous initiatives by A*STAR, AI Singapore and Open Innovation Network to encourage partnerships between industry-academia and public-private sector to drive research and innovation.

Access to a wide pool of skilled talent

• Singapore’s competitive talent landscape and allure to top global talent, ensures businesses have the necessary human capital to drive their innovation and growth strategies forward. Learn more about our facilitative talent policies here.
   

Create new products and services that make a global impact. Learn more about how to kickstart your innovation journey here.