2019 may have been a challenging year but that didn’t stop Singapore enterprises from stepping up and pushing forward with their transformation efforts.
Last year, we saw more than 11,000 enterprises embark on over 13,000 projects covering productivity, innovation and market access. These projects will support companies to build resilience, strengthen competitiveness and better position themselves for the future.
All these efforts are expected to create $17.3 billion in value added and 21,700 PMET jobs.
We doubled down on working with companies to upgrade capabilities, strengthen innovation, and accelerate internationalisation – the three priorities we announced in our Strategic Plan. These enterprise development strategies gained significant traction over the past year, with both the number of enterprises and projects supported increasing (43% and 52% respectively) year-on-year.
Third-party logistics provider GKE is working with us on a process redesign project to digitalise manual documents such as delivery orders and packing forms. When completed, this will link its warehouse management systems with mobile devices for faster and more accurate updates via online dashboards.
Robotics firm Senserbot exemplifies how innovation enables enterprises to disrupt traditional sectors and ways of doing things. The firm developed a shelf-reading robotics solutions for libraries to locate and identify mis-sequenced books, thereby revolutionising a manpower-intensive process that was prone to errors. Senserbot is currently speaking to potential customers in Japan and Korea to deploy its solutions there.
International platforms, such as SFF X SWITCH and SLINGSHOT, bring the startup community together. In 2019, SFF X SWITCH drew 60,000 participants from over 140 countries, while marquee startup competition SLINGSHOT received 2,400 startup applications from over 120 countries.
Premium chocolate manufacturer Benns Chocolate made their first foray into the Philippines after participating in the Singaporium pop-up in Manila. They formed a partnership with local Filipino distributor FDI to sell their products at 900 supermarkets, hypermarts and convenience stores across Metro Manila.
Given that the large and diverse local business landscape, we couldn’t have managed to do what we did all by ourselves. Our network of partners and intermediaries played – and will continue to play – an important role in amplifying our reach and engagement with local enterprises.
Industry-level projects uplift sector capabilities and result in win-win partnerships for all involved. By tapping complementary synergies and pulling together expertise and networks, both large corporates and small firms can accelerate their pace of growth.
A comprehensive global network of trusted partners also makes it easier for Singapore companies to grow. That’s why we’ve been working to expand our network of in-market partners to better facilitate the flow of technologies, ideas and opportunities.
KrisShop is working with close to 20 brands to develop travel-retail ready products for its online store. One of these brands is Brass Lion Distillery, which worked with KrisShop to develop a gift-able 700ml bottle of gin to sell in-flight and online – marking the first time Brass Lion Distillery sold their gin outside of Singapore.
We know companies face many uncertainties on both the external and domestic fronts. Even so, we urge all firms to maintain their momentum in business transformation and we will continue to support their journey. This step in the right direction will enable your business to better compete amid intensified competition when the economy picks up. Together, we can make Singapore a vibrant economy with competitive local enterprises.
Click here to read our 2018 Year-in-Review.