Successfully Commercialised Ideas from SMEs' Partnerships with Local Institutes of Higher Learning

14 Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) how many SMEs have engaged with Centres of Innovation in local Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to support their research and development efforts; (b) whether the Ministry can provide a breakdown of the successfully commercialised ideas by SMEs in partnership with IHLs according to industry sectors; and (c) how can SMEs' engagement with IHLs be boosted to better tap on the expertise and technological capabilities of IHLs.

The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Low Yen Ling) (for the Minister for Trade and Industry): Mdm Deputy Speaker, over the period 2016 to 2020, approximately 3,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged with the Centres of Innovation (COIs) in the local Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and A*STAR Research Institutes (RIs). These engagements have resulted in about 300 innovation projects conducted, ranging from technology translation and adoption to Intellectual Property (IP) licensing, product co-development and co-innovation.

The feedback from SMEs has been very positive. An example of a local SME that has benefited from its partnership with a COI is You Tiao Man. The Food Innovation and Resource Centre (FIRC) COI which is located at Singapore Polytechnic helped refine the company's frozen "you tiao", that is, fried dough, manufacturing methods to improve the product's taste and quality, which then led to its successful commercialisation. The company is now supplying the frozen "you tiao" to many hotels, restaurants, airlines and food service companies. In addition, it has expanded into the B2C market by selling frozen "you tiao" directly to customers online and at retail outlets island-wide.

As announced in Budget 2022, the Government has increased support for local SMEs and, in particular, for R&D and innovation activities. More SMEs will now be able to tap on the higher capacity and research capabilities of over 80 Technology, Innovation and Enterprise (TIE) centres, including the eight COIs.

Over the next five years, these centres are expected to undertake close to 2,000 innovation projects across five pilot sectors: agri-tech, construction, food manufacturing, precision engineering and retail.

Besides the COIs, SMEs can also leverage our IHLs' capabilities by participating in technology collaborations and joint projects conducted by the academia and industry partners.

Through such partnerships, our SMEs can strengthen their technical competencies, stay up-to-date and learn the latest research trends and developments. Our SMEs also have the opportunity to work with IHLs and the A*STAR RIs via the Industry Alignment Fund – Industry Collaboration Project, in short, the IAF-ICP scheme. This programme encourages and enables research collaborations between the public sector and the industry to bring promising technologies to market.

Mdm Deputy Speaker: Mr Desmond Choo.

Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines): I would like to thank the Minister of State for her reply. I have two supplementary questions. The first one is: how do these Centres of Innovation serve, assist and benefit the SMEs? The second would be: how does MTI intend to reach out to more SMEs to accelerate the pace of innovation and to foster greater innovation amongst SMEs?

Ms Low Yen Ling: I want to thank the Member Desmond Choo for his supplementary questions – I believe there are two. And I want to assure him that MTI and ESG will certainly give our strong support to SMEs that want to embark on technology innovation.

SMEs can tap on a wide range of resources at the eight COIs, or Centres of Innovation. Each of the Centres of Innovation is a one-stop hub that supports our SMEs' technology innovation efforts, based on a sectorial approach. For example, I talked about the Food Innovation and Resource Centre (FIRC) that is located at Singapore Polytechnic. We have other COIs that focus on environment and water technology, supply chain management – which is located at Republic Polytechnic – and electronics and the Internet of Things.

On his question on how a COI can assist and serve the SMEs, besides access to laboratory facilities, consultancies and training courses, SMEs can also receive help in feasibility studies and productivity improvements.

I also want to assure the Member that MTI and ESG work very closely with A*STAR. Because each COI takes a sectorial approach. In terms of outreach, the COI staff will work very closely with ESG to extend outreach to SMEs, especially the trade associations and chambers, the industry associations.

FIRC that is located at Singapore Polytechnic has very close links with the Singapore Food Manufacturers' Association. As for the Republic Polytechnic's COI that focuses on supply chain management, I know that they hold a monthly industry outreach event for their SMEs, showcasing the technologies that they have developed, and also past projects.

I want to assure the Member that MTI, ESG and A*STAR will work closely with COIs to support our SMEs' technology innovation efforts.

Mdm Deputy Speaker: Mr Leon Perera.

Mr Leon Perera (Aljunied): I thank the Minister of State for her explanation. Just a few supplementary questions.

Firstly, is there a mechanism whereby our local SMEs can very easily access the IPs, the patents, for example, that are available – from COIs, IHLs, RIs and RCs under A*STAR? Is there perhaps an online mechanism where they can access these patents and see whether they can enter into negotiations to license these patents for their own operations? Notwithstanding that there are occasional meet-ups, gatherings and so on, is there this easy, online matching mechanism, for example?

Secondly, is there a mechanism for SMEs to inform IHLs and so on about their commercial priorities, so that they can influence the direction of R&D projects?

Thirdly, in the view of the Government, are these mechanisms working well right now to generate commercial impact?

Lastly, does the Government regularly benchmark the performance of other IHLs and innovation ecosystems around the world which are noted to be very good at bridging between academic research and commercial impact? I understand the Israelis, for example, are very good at this. They tend to generate very high commercial impact from academic R&D.

Ms Low Yen Ling: Mdm Deputy Speaker, I want to thank the Member Mr Leon Perera for asking these questions.

I want to reassure him that ESG and MTI, as well as A*STAR, work very closely with not just the COIs. I talked about the 80 Technology, Innovation and Enterprise (TIE) centres.

For SMEs that want to embark on technology innovation, if they want to develop new innovation and new IP that will open up new revenue streams, expand their market opportunities the COI team will work very closely with them on projects with potential that may result in new IP, which can then lead to new revenue streams or even new jobs created.

It can translate into a few things. It can translate into technology translation, IP licensing, product development, R&D, prototyping of solutions, proof of concept (POC) and also collaboration with larger enterprises.

On one of the questions the Member asked, yes, certainly, we work very closely, between A*STAR and EDB. I believe we have the Singapore-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation (SIIRD). We collaborate with Israeli's R&D side, sharing our best practices and so on.

MTI, ESG and A*STAR will assess very regularly the effectiveness of these TIE centres, including the COIs. For example, we will assess if they are effective at enhancing our enterprises' competitiveness. ESG will commission an impact study. The last impact study, I believe, for the Research Innovation Enterprise (RIE) 2020 tranche, found that the eight COIs collectively helped to generate an Economic Value Added (EVA) of $150 million through working with local SMEs.

To the Member's question on whether there is a repository, other than a portal, it is best that for SMEs that are keen to take the first step in technology innovation and explore how they could work with A*STAR or any of the research institutes to potentially commercialise their IP into a product, to help them open up revenue streams, they can approach A*STAR.

ESG will work very closely with A*STAR to facilitate the discussion and to help them navigate the various RIs. Whether it is in the area of sustainability or electronics, there are sectoral RIs to support their technology innovation efforts. We can take the discussion further, like what I have mentioned, using the COI as an example.