SGC_issuu

Messages
Singapore remains an attractive location for German companies – both for
business with the city state itself and as a gateway to ASEAN and beyond.
Openness to foreign investors paired with friendliness to business and the
well-established rule of law make it a natural destination for companies to
venture and expand across Asia. However, as international competitors do
not sleep, new initiatives are important to always stay one step ahead. Smart
and sustainable approaches are required to remain attractive also for the next
decades. Singapore’s government addresses these challenges inter alia with
the Smart Nation Initiative and the Committee on the Future Economy.
H.E. Dr
Michael Witter
Ambassador of the
Federal Republic of
Germany to Singapore
With Singapore committing itself to becoming a smart nation, science and
business collaborations between Singaporean and German companies
are very important. German companies can tap on the knowledge of their
Singaporean counterparts using the city state as a test bed for Research
and Development (R&D) on smart technologies. Bilateral science and
business collaboration can contribute to achieving Singapore’s goals due
to the technological expertise of German companies in combination with
Singapore’s excellent R&D infrastructure and its ‘living lab’ status.
Germany also feels challenged by the ever increasing international
competition. We cannot take it for granted that we will maintain our current
role as a key industrialised country by simply relying on existing technologies,
in particular regarding the way we organize our factories. For that reason,
the concept of Industrie 4.0 has been designed to stay ahead of the curve
in production technologies. We are convinced that the experiences German
companies are gaining can also be of interest for their Singaporean partners.
With the New Technologies Committee and the R&D Committee, the SGC
organises business meetings focusing — amongst others — on facilitating
exchange of knowledge on smart technologies. Thereby the SGC promotes
Singapore as a business location for companies with a strong R&D and
technology portfolio. These committees also include representatives from
small and medium-sized companies, a traditional backbone of the German
industry as well as Singapore’s economy. They are also represented in SGC’s
Mittelstand Committee, which focuses on specific aspects of that sector.
On the basis of these joint activities, the prospects for further deepening the
Singaporean-German partnership are excellent. The SGC is a key partner of
our Embassy and an essential part of the efforts to stimulate innovation and
expand economic relations even further, for the benefit of both our countries. I
wish the SGC yet another successful business year.
H.E. Dr Michael Witter
Ambassador of the Federal Republic of
Germany to Singapore
SGC Business Magazine 2016/2017
9