Over the years, Singapore’s investments in startups, research and innovation have transformed it into a technology and startup hub not just for Singapore, but for the entire Southeast Asian region. In 2022, Singapore tech startups raised close to US$11 billion, representing about 64% of the deal value across Southeast Asia.
A pillar of this transformation is the Global Innovation Alliance (“GIA“), a technology- and innovation-focused network of Singapore and overseas partners in key demand markets and major innovation hubs. Led by Enterprise Singapore, the GIA helps Singapore companies venture beyond the domestic market to access global markets. Since 2019, nearly 500 Singapore companies have been supported to tap into market opportunities in key innovation hubs and scale globally.
On 10 October 2023, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong launched a new GIA node in New York City (“NYC“) as part of his working trip to the US. The new NYC node will offer Singapore tech startups opportunities for innovation collaboration and to connect with business partners to co-develop, testbed and commercialise their solutions in the US. With the addition of the NYC node, the GIA network now operates across 18 cities globally, extending beyond the US to China, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, among others.
In this Update, we provide an overview of the GIA and the support it provides Singapore-based tech startups and small-medium enterprises (SMEs). The leading partners of Rajah & Tann Singapore are well-placed to assist your business in its journey from incorporation to overseas expansion, with our own Rajah & Tann Asia network across the ten jurisdictions of Singapore, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as regional desks in Brunei, Japan and South Asia. The Rajah & Tann Asia network is also geared towards providing integrated solutions with expertise across various practices so as to address the multi-disciplinary issues you may encounter throughout your expansion journey.
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