Posted: Sep 28, 2010

Singaporean platform for harnessing collaborative research, innovation and enterprise strategies

(Nanowerk News) With the Singapore Government injecting S$16.1 billion on Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) from 2011 to 2015, the entire RIE ecosystem has been set abuzz. Singapore's long-term goal is to be among the most research-intensive, innovative and entrepreneurial economies in the world to generate high value jobs and prosperity for Singaporeans.
The Innovation and Enterprise Week (IEW) 2010 conference, in its second year running, is organised by Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd (Exploit Technologies), the strategic marketing and commercialisation arm of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). IEW 2010 is taking place from 28 September to 30 September 2010 and this year, it is aptly themed, "Harnessing for Impact".
With the spotlight on research, innovation and enterprise, IEW 2010 is poised to be the Innovation and Enterprise platform for MNC managers, SME owners, technopreneurs, investors, incubators, and technologists, both locally and internationally, to convene and collaborate for the promotion of technology adoption and innovation, and support entrepreneurial activities as well as encourage industry partnerships.
IEW is a three-day extravaganza comprising the 'Technology Market Place', plenary talks, industry roundtable sessions, workshops and networking activities. The 'Technology Market place' is an exhibition featuring a whole suite of products and technologies from A*STAR's Research Institutes (RIs) and the Technology Transfer Network (TTN) founding members, in areas relating to infocomm technology and electronics; engineering and manufacturing; materials, chemicals and energy; as well as biomedical sciences. This first-of-its-kind technology showcase offers companies the opportunity to 'shop' for technologies to boost their product offerings.
The Research Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC) had also announced that the government is placing added emphasis on promoting collaboration between industry and public research institutions to foster greater commercialisation of R&D. Testament to its drive to promote cohesive RIE strategies, Exploit Technologies is signing license agreements with four companies namely PJI Contract Pte Ltd (PJI), iTwin Pte Ltd (iTwin), Pfliq Pte Ltd (Pfliq) and XYZ Wave Pte Ltd (XYZ) at IEW 2010.
PJI licensed the production process to manufacture photocatalytic "self-cleaning" coating from A*STAR's Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech). iTwin, Pfliq and XYZ are local start-up companies which licensed technologies from A*STAR's Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R). In its collaboration with the industry, Exploit Technologies facilitated the commercialisation of these technologies into industrial applications, thus, serving as the catalyst to bridge the gap from mind to market. Pfliq licensed the Snap2Search image recognition, classification and retrieval software to enhance the functionality of its web-based discovery services, whilst XYZ licensed I2R's real-time gesture tracking software to develop interactive out-of-home solutions for the local and the Japanese market.
"We are indeed heartened by the consistent good response to IEW over the two years. This year, about 600 people have registered their participation. This is a positive indicator of IEW's relevance to the technopreneurship landscape in Singapore and we hope that IEW will grow to become the Innovation and Enterprise platform for the industry to leverage and help nurture a knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy, "said Mr Tan Gee Paw, Chairman of Exploit Technologies. "To meet Singapore's long term goal, we should work together as an integrated RIE community. We need to focus on shared outcomes, foster closer collaborations, and inculcate the entrepreneurship spirit to generate more vibrant start-ups."
Frost and Sullivan is the Exclusive Knowledge Partner of IEW 2010. Other supporting partners include the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), SPRING Singapore, Singapore Manufacturers' Federation (SMa), Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), Indus Entrepreneurs Singapore Limited (TiE Singapore), Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC), Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), IP Academy (Singapore), Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), and the TTN founding members.
Source: A*STAR