By Tan Chuan Seng, Centre Director, A*STAR Partners’ Centre
Singapore and China have long recognised the mutual benefits of collaboration, establishing a multi-faceted bilateral relationship that spans political, economic, industrial, and cultural domains. Over the years, this partnership has evolved into a deep strategic cooperation, setting the stage for innovative technological ventures.
In today’s complex and ever-changing geopolitical landscape, Singapore’s small and medium-sized technology enterprises face numerous challenges in their quest for international expansion. The robust bilateral cooperation framework between Singapore and China offers a powerful platform to address these hurdles. It helps Singaporean companies navigate and penetrate the Chinese market while simultaneously attracting Chinese enterprises to use Singapore as a springboard for expansion into the ASEAN region.
This strategy has proven successful for several Chinese tech giants. Companies like Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, Huawei, and Xiaomi have all established significant regional headquarters or operational bases in Singapore. These companies leverage Singapore’s strategic location, robust infrastructure, and favorable business environment to expand their reach across the ASEAN market and beyond.
Milestone Achievements: Suzhou Industrial Park and A*STAR Partner Centre
2024 marks a significant milestone: the 30th anniversary of the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP). As a flagship project jointly developed by the governments of Singapore and China, SIP has consistently served as a pathfinder for innovative cooperation models between the two countries. Capitalising on this success, the A*STAR Partners’ Centre (A*PC) was established to further promote collaboration in Research, Innovation, and Enterprise.
A*PC, an overseas initiative from Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), serves as a launchpad for scientific and technological innovation. By fostering exchanges and cooperation between technology enterprises from both nations, A*PC has become a catalyst for bilateral innovation. Since its official launch at the Singapore-Jiangsu Cooperation Council meeting in November 2020, A*PC has successfully introduced 37 Singaporean technology startups to the Chinese market, with investments reaching nearly 28 million RMB (about S$5.2 million).
Focus Areas: Life Sciences and Green Economy
A*PC focuses on two key areas that align with both countries’ strategic priorities: life sciences and green economy. These sectors represent joint exploration in scientific research and innovation between Singapore and China, promoting Singaporean enterprises’ R&D innovation and business development in China.
In the life sciences sector, A*PC has been instrumental in helping Singaporean companies enter the Chinese market. It connects resources from major research institutions, universities, hospitals, multinational companies, and innovation platforms in China, fostering a collaborative scientific research ecosystem. This aligns with Singapore’s RIE2025 plan, which identifies human health and development as one of its four strategic domains.
For instance, Vivo Surgical, a company developing flexible endoscopic robots for advanced endoscopic surgeries, successfully entered the Chinese market through SIP with the joint efforts of Enterprise Singapore and A*PC. By leveraging the multi-dimensional business partners of Singaporean government units in the Yangtze River Delta region, Vivo Surgical achieved its business development goals.
Life science companies incubated by A*STAR, such as Biocheetah and Auristone, are actively expanding their operations through A*PC’s local industry network. At the same time, Chinese companies are leveraging A*PC to connect with Singapore’s innovation ecosystem, collaborating with technologically advanced Singapore companies to explore the Southeast Asian market with Singapore as their regional headquarters.
Both Singapore and China view advanced manufacturing as a key pillar for driving economic development. Currently, both countries are actively seeking to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of this sector through green technology and automation innovation.
JM VisTec, a company with nearly 20 years of experience in the machine vision industry, exemplifies this collaboration. With A*PC’s support, JM VisTec made breakthrough progress in advanced visual inspection technology R&D for the automotive field. By jointly applying for the Singapore-China YRD (Jiangsu) Joint Innovation Call with local partners, the company expanded its business into new industries such as nanomaterials and biomedicine.
Future Prospects and Initiatives
The cooperation between Singapore and Suzhou is poised to enter a new stage, with increased investment in life sciences and green economy. Research institutes under A*STAR are exploring industry-university-research cooperation with China’s national technology innovation platforms. These initiatives use scientific forums and technical seminars as bridges to promote R&D cooperation and talent exchange between the two countries.
In the field of sustainable development, A*PC, as Singapore’s Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) partner in Suzhou, is promoting cooperation between Singaporean and Chinese enterprises. Using tools such as the Green CompassTM and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) developed by A*STAR, it encourages exploration in carbon footprint management, green materials, energy management, and energy storage solutions.
A Bright Future for Singapore-China Cooperation
In March 2023, the relationship between Singapore and China was elevated to an All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership. Under this new paradigm, high-quality cooperation has become the hallmark of Singapore-China relations, particularly in economic and trade fields.
As collaboration strengthens in various innovative sectors, interactions between Singapore’s and China’s technology communities are set to increase. We look forward to more Singapore companies partnering with A*STAR and entering the Chinese market with the support of A*PC. The growth of A*PC demonstrates the potential of Singapore-China science and innovation cooperation, marking a new leap in “Research, Innovation, and Enterprise” between the two countries. This collaboration is poised to profoundly influence both nations’ science and technology innovation ecosystems, paving the way for shared prosperity and technological advancement.