Deep Tech: Unlocking New Engines of Growth for Singapore

Singapore stands at a pivotal moment. We must find new ways to grow our economy amid an increasingly complex global environment and to address critical challenges like energy transition and an ageing population.

As Prime Minister Lawrence Wong emphasised in his inaugural National Day Rally, we must “work even harder to stay competitive and push the frontiers of innovation and productivity.”

Deep tech — advanced technologies based on scientific research and focused on complex problems — presents us with the opportunity to push the bounds of innovation.

By leveraging technologies to solve the world’s most pressing issues and fostering sustained STEM investments from both public and private sectors, Singapore can unlock new engines of economic growth.

 

A Strong Foundation

Singapore has a strong foundation to build on.

In 2024, we are ranked the 4^th most innovative country and 7^th top startup ecosystem in the world, recognised for our favourable business climate, strong intellectual property protection, world-class universities, and a highly educated talent pool.

With over 500 venture capital firms and more than 220 incubators and accelerators, Singapore has emerged as the premier startup investment destination in Southeast Asia, accounting for over 70 per cent of all venture capital raised in the region.

We host several corporate labs established by multinational companies in collaboration with local institutions, such as Applied Materials’ partnership with A*STAR. Other MNCs have also anchored their corporate innovation labs here, like global leader in crop nutrition Yara, which launched its open innovation hub in Singapore earlier this year.

In addition to our research strengths in materials and life sciences, Singapore is gaining recognition in emerging technology fields. The Centre for Quantum Technologies at NUS, for example, is ranked 6^th globally based on the h-index, a metric of publication impact.

All these factors have enabled Singapore to become a global hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. But what will it take for us to cultivate a deep tech ecosystem on par with Boston, Silicon Valley and the UK?

 

Small Numbers, Large Impact

First, deep tech will not be a numbers game.

Singapore is now home to over 4,500 tech startups, with more than 75 per cent in the digital and internet economy sectors. The early efforts of then-SPRING Singapore seeded a conducive environment for startups to grow and flourish, driven by the sheer entrepreneurial spirit of founders armed with enterprising ideas and ace programming skills, for instance, to build e-commerce businesses.

There is a natural synergy for such startups to thrive in Singapore, given our position as a business services hub and proximity to the growing markets in Southeast Asia. This continues to be important to Singapore’s economy and a source of great business innovation.

Deep tech startups are of a different nature. They require long development periods and substantial capital investment, especially at the growth stage, such as for production lines, industrial scaling, or clinical trials. Thus, we can expect relatively fewer deep tech startups to emerge and grow from Singapore. However, their potential for impact is substantial.

Consider Amperesand, which develops efficient and intelligent solid-state transformer systems with applications for electric vehicles, microgrids, and data centres. Incubated at NTU and invested by Temasek’s Xora Innovation along with global investors TDK Ventures and Material Impact, it raised US$12.4 million (S$16.2 million) in a seed round in February 2024, significantly exceeding the median seed round value in the region.

For the government, this means we need to make a careful assessment of which specific domains to prioritise that have the greatest potential for growth. The selection of the domains will require rigorous techno-economic analysis, a deep understanding of the scientific and technological developments, and a convening of global experts and corporates from the field.

Still, it will not be an exact science but will call for visionary and bold decision-making.

 

An Ecosystem Approach

Second, deep tech startups require extensive support.

Access to robust venture-building resources significantly increases their chances of success. Venture builders are a niche group of firms which provide the “zero-to-one” support for founders, including initial funding, mentorship, assembling teams, and advice on technology and product development.

Notably, leading global venture builders can connect startups with scientific experts and corporate networks from around the world, facilitating technological breakthroughs and securing follow-on funding.

Enterprise Singapore is actively collaborating with a small number of deep tech venture builders, which play an important role in translating intellectual property from public research institutions into viable products and businesses.

For example, we work with Xora, Wavemaker Impact, and Matter Venture Partners together with EDB in the physical sciences and engineering domain. We have also signed an agreement with Temasek and Breakthrough Energy, a climate tech organisation founded by Bill Gates, to source for and support groundbreaking technologies from Singapore and the region that address climate change.

Commercialising deep tech is complex. Startups must advance their research through prototyping and productisation stages, often facing prolonged developmental timelines. Strategic partnerships with industry and domain experts are vital to expediting this process.

In AI, partnerships with tech giants Google Cloud, AWS, and Nvidia provide startups with an acceleration platform as well as valuable insights and networks. Government initiatives, including the Startup SG Tech grant, further support technology development and commercialisation efforts.

Open innovation also plays a crucial role, allowing large corporates to source technologies from startups while offering real-world test environments for technology refinement. For instance, EDP Renewables recently collaborated with Singapore startup EtaVolt to pilot technology aimed at extending the lifespan of solar panels.

One significant challenge for deep tech startups is securing sustained financing throughout the longer commercialisation journey.

To address this, SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, has increased its co-investment cap for deep tech startups from S$8 million to S$12 million and expanded its investment mandate to early growth-stage startups. In 2025, SEEDS and EDBI will merge to form SG Growth Capital, enhancing our expertise in deep tech financing and support across the various stages of growth.

 

Go Big or Go Home

Third, deep tech startups will need to compete on a global scale and have a global presence. Because of the intense global competition and the scale of the challenges facing the world today, it is imperative that we build startups that are able to scale internationally.

One of Singapore’s biggest strengths is our strategic location in Southeast Asia. We are at the heart of one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, with untapped potential in deep tech areas like renewable energy and agri-tech.

Given our natural constraints, the attraction of deep tech startups is also an important strategy. We must actively court the best and have more international startups and talent land in Singapore to add depth and diversity to our ecosystem. For example, US-based Ambiq Micro established its Technology Design Centre in Singapore in 2022, bolstered by the efforts of EDB, and has since expanded its operations.

The Global Innovation Alliance further enables connections with leading innovation hubs worldwide, enabling co-innovation partnerships and market access for Singapore-based startups. It also provides deep tech international startups a pathway to enter our market as a gateway into Southeast Asia.

 

Industries and Enterprises of the Future

Creating a deep tech ecosystem that will give rise to the growth industries and enterprises of the future will be a challenging task. But this is not new to Singapore.

We started our Biomedical Sciences initiative in the early 2000s and today are seeing the fruits of our investments — a thriving biotech sector with companies making waves internationally, a pool of dynamic and innovative talent, and investments from global investors, including Coronet Ventures of Cedars-Sinai and Flagship Pioneering.

“Far and away the best prize life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing,” Theodore Roosevelt said in a speech made 121 years ago. Whether it is in curing diseases or discovering a continuous green energy source, the contributions that a deep tech ecosystem can make to Singapore’s economic progress or to humanity at large is surely a worthwhile endeavour.

 

The writer is the assistant managing director for innovation and enterprise services at Enterprise Singapore.

This article was first published in The Business Times ©️ SPH Media Limited on 3 October 2024.