Singapore SME Innovation Support Schemes - PRO INNO Europe

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od of 3 to 12 months. Companies are given the option to license the technology if the development project is successful. Essentially Exploit is taking the risk of proving the technology to a commercial ready state. This can be particularly beneficial if the potential licensees are SMEs as they are generally not ready to take on the commercialisation of a technology unless it is proven. Exploit also operates a business incubation process, which attempts to identify new technologies at an early stage in the research and direct the development of these with commercialisation firmly in mind. These are likely to be technologies which can have multiple and cross-disciplinary applications and have the potential to grow into new industrial sectors. These are referred to as flagship projects and Exploit can provide S$3 – 5 million (€1.8 - 3milliom) to fund the business incubation of these technologies. Researchers can submit a proposal to Exploit for this flagship funding. Exploit also work closely with large multinational companies to translate technologies into application, through a research collaboration agreement. In this case the company would license the technology from A*Star. Exploit maintains and advertises (through Tech Alerts and RSS feeds) a database of A*Star technologies which are ready for commercialisation. Exploit has a standard license agreement which it provides online, and licensing agreements can be concluded in a matter of weeks if companies agree to these standard terms. Exclusive or non-exclusive licenses can be granted, however exclusive licenses might only be granted in cases where technology requires substantial development, or investment. Exclusive licenses might typically be restricted to specific fields of use, geographic areas, and/or time periods. The right to further develop the technology is usually retained by Exploit and typically there is no exclusive access granted to any further future A*Star developments of the technology. Exploit looks at the IP portfolio and examines it for commercial opportunities. In doing this it doesn’t have a particular bias towards the creation of spin-outs or serving SMEs as opposed to large companies as it needs to be aware of its mission to serve all industry through the licensing of IP. Licensing seems to be the more usual route for commercial exploitation, with spin-offs being the more unusual. Licensing terms to industry are generally flexible. In terms of the number of licenses more go to SMEs than large companies, however in terms of the value of licenses large companies account for the greatest share. Licensing is looked at in a flexible manner where the goal is very much financial benefit to Singapore as opposed to benefit to any one research institute or organisation and Exploit would be conscious that there must be a balance struck in this regard. Exploit currently manages a portfolio of over 3000 active patents, have granted over 250 licenses, and have a portfolio of 24 spin-off companies. The estimated business revenues arising from the A*Star licensed technologies is S$500 million (€300 million). The total market value created though A*Star start-ups amounts to more than S$100 million (€60 million). PAGE 22 www.proinno-europe.eu/partnering-forum
5 Good Practices & Transferability The IPF has a focus on learning from best practice in SME innovation support. In the discussion of good practices below we focus on those practices which could be implemented by innovation agencies and which focus on SMEs and entrepreneurs. In particular two of the topics covered by the study visit, namely the focus on youth entrepreneurship and the EnterpriseOne approach to service delivery are considered as good practices and discussed further below. The A*Star research institutes and Exploit are not further discussed in terms of good practices below. Although these are a hugely important part of the innovation system in Singapore their detailed study is beyond the scope of this report, which is focuses on learning for innovation agencies. There are potentially many good practices in the A*Star approach as they demonstrate a very strong focus on working closely with industry. In particular the commercialisation activities of Exploit goes beyond the traditional technology transfer activities and could be compared to the commercialisation programmes run by many innovation agencies, however clearly it is very context specific, dealing, as it does with the commercialisation of the output from the very large, state funded research institute system. 5.1 Integrated Approach to Youth Entrepreneurship The approach to the support of Youth Entrepreneurship in Singapore is found to be a good practice. The good practice is more the integrated approach adopted, which attempts to address not only the funding sources but also the educational and awareness raising. A recent study on the barriers to youth entrepreneurship ii concluded that the barriers include Social and cultural attitudes, lack of entrepreneurship education, access to finance, administrative and regulatory frameworks and lack of business assistance and support. The approach in Singapore seems to address most of these barriers, with a national effort aimed at awareness raising and promoting entrepreneurship among the youth, supported by education programmes, and special youth start-up funding schemes. It seems to have been an important part of the learning process in Singapore that any approach has to be comprehensive and address not just one aspect, such as funding, but also the aspects related to stimulation of entrepreneurship and development of ideas through education, learning by doing, mentorship, etc. The YES Schools programme funded by SPRING is open to all schools from primary schools up so that the cultural attitude to entrepreneurship can be addressed at a very early stage in education. Another good practice is the emphasis on the “learn by doing” as part of the selection courses. This learning by doing aspect of the education has been highlighted as being particularly important iv . The dedicated funding scheme for young entrepreneur’s start-ups is also a good practice, as it supports the education element to be turned into dedicated funding, which according to SPRING still maintains an educational mindset in terms of expectations from the programme. The focus on Youth Entrepreneurship is obviously important for Singapore, because as small country it needs to maximise the sources for successful start-ups and growth companies. Internationally the promotion of youth entrepreneurship is recognised as PAGE 23 www.proinno-europe.eu/partnering-forum
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Singapore SME Innovation Support Schemes - PRO INNO Europe

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