“This physical centre will bring innovators and community builders to spark connections and help new players join the ecosystem,” DPM Heng said.
Meanwhile, DPM Heng also announced the expansion of the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) network to the Netherlands.
Launched in 2017 by Enterprise Singapore, the GIA strengthens Singapore’s connections to major innovation hubs around the world.
With the new nodes in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam and Eindhoven, the GIA network will now run acceleration programmes in 23 cities. Enterprise Singapore has supported over 600 tech startups through the GIA since 2019.
Enterprise Singapore will partner with Dutch startup accelerator Startupbootcamp to run the 12-week GIA acceleration programme in Amsterdam, offering Singapore-based tech startups a series of virtual masterclasses and coaching sessions to build market knowledge and refine entry strategies.
This will be followed by an in-market immersion, including business meetings and pitches to Startupbootcamp’s corporate partners, such as Alliander and Shell.
Dutch startups looking to expand into Singapore can collaborate with Startupbootcamp to learn more about Singapore’s innovation ecosystem and tap the infrastructure here to scale their solutions across Southeast Asia.
DPM Heng said: “Startups in Singapore will benefit from the strong logistics infrastructure and connectivity that the Netherlands provides into Europe, and partnerships with Dutch corporates like Alliander, ASML, Philips, and Shell.”
Dr Mark Lim, founder and chief executive of space tech startup Aliena, told The Straits Times that the S$440 million funding top-up will be beneficial for deep tech startups.
His firm recently closed a funding round under the Startup SG Equity scheme, where it raised S$7.42 million from investors including Seeds Capital and venture capital firm Wavemaker Partners.
“The capital provided from Seeds Capital in our funding round has allowed us to transit from deep research and development that took place in our existing facility, to producing systems and components at scale for their international customers,” he said.
“Our company is looking forward to establishing a presence internationally, and we believe that the establishment of this new node (in the Netherlands) would allow for us to tap a greater strategic pool of customers as we continue to scale and produce our systems globally.”
DPM Heng also announced the launch of the inaugural AI Open Innovation Challenge, the inaugural Nordic Open Innovation Challenge and the sixth edition of the Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge.
Through these challenges, large corporations will identify problem statements in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, and advanced manufacturing, and local startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can apply to address these challenges and scale their solutions.
