Singapore SME Innovation Support Schemes - PRO INNO Europe

Figure 1: Growth and Development of the Singapore economy over the past 50 years.
Singapore has been very successful in attracting Foreign Direct Investment, with currently
more than 3000 Multi National Corporations (MNC) located in Singapore. SMEs
are also a very important part of the economy as they account for 99% of the total enterprises,
60% of employment with a value added contribution of 46% (2007).
From 1990 onwards there has been a very active push by the government to make Singapore
into a knowledge intensive economy which has been very successful. Between
1990 and 2009, Singapore’s GDP has grown by 3.7 times and R&D expenditure has
grown from being 1% of GDP to a present figure of 2.3% of GDP. The approach to policy
development in Singapore could be characterised as being holistic with very much a
“planned capitalism” system. The government has invested in and owns a share of many
large companies which are closely related to the Singapore economy through its investment
company Temasek Holdings.
The development of Science, Technology and Innovation is planned according to a series
of Five year plans. The current 5 year plan, termed Research, Innovation, Enterprise
2015 (RIE2015), runs from 2011 to 2015 and promises a S$16.1 billion (approximately
€9.8 billion ) investment in R&D over the 5 years. This represents a 20% increase
in funding over the previous 5 year plan.
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