Aspire to be a technopreneur, rather than a doctor or lawyer

What Singapore has achieved today is an amalgamation of attentive economic policy and its move to rise up the value chain of production and services.

What Singapore needs for tomorrow, however, is to push the boundaries of its productive capacity, and this is where technopreneurship comes into play. Technopreneurship can play a role in solving problems and improving the standard of living of a society as a whole.

The recent introduction of taxi-booking mobile applications such as GrabTaxi, as well as those by foreign players such as Uber and Hailo, is only one example of how technology start-ups are helping to improve processes and increase the efficiency of the transport system.

Such innovations and new players challenge conventional practices and norms, and no doubt generate various controversial issues that need to be addressed.

Other examples include websites, such as Chope and HungryGoWhere, that help users make reservations in advance and avoid waiting in long lines at popular dining places.

Technoprenuership, with its emphasis on disruptive innovations and agile processes, will help in the push towards an adaptive economy. Socially and culturally, being at the crossroads of East and West, Singapore has a society that fosters diversity of ideas.

Its strategic position has attracted and will continue to attract foreigners who are likely to contribute to the technopreneurship scene in Singapore. They include Skype co-founder Toivo Annus, who has already made notable investments in Singapore-based start-up companies, and Mr Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook.

DEVELOPING TECHNOPRENEURSHIP

As a forward-looking nation, Singapore has long appreciated the need for developing a vibrant technopreneurship scene.

Back in 1991, the National Science and Technology Board (now the Agency for Science, Technology and Research) had a US$1 billion (S$1.41 billion) Technopreneurship Innovation Fund to push for Singapore’s technopreneurship initiatives.

This interest has continued to the present day, as seen in government-led initiatives such as the commitment to invest S$16.1 billion in research, innovation and enterprise from 2011 to this year, with this sum likely to increase further.

In addition, numerous start-up grants and schemes are available. They include the Early Stage Venture Fund run by the National Research Foundation to partner with venture capital firms to invest in start-ups on a one-to-one basis, and Accreditation@IDA, which aims to help start-ups to obtain contracts with bigger companies.

Most recently, a new start-up facility named BASH (Build Amazing Startups Here) was launched to serve as an integrated start-up space, boasting a prototype lab and community networks.

No government can, nor will want to, claim all the credit, as the private sector has also contributed immensely to the development of technopreneurship.

There is a growing number of highly-active venture capital firms and start-up incubators such as Rakuten Ventures and JFDI, which not only provide the funding and mentorship required to groom technopreneurs, but also help to increase the interest in start-up companies among Singaporeans.

Local bank DBS has also launched a venture debt programme for technopreneurs to provide financing for technology start-ups in their growth stages. Consequently, the number of technology-related start-ups has burgeoned, and a handful of technopreneurs have already managed to clinch international deals.

In 2013, venture capital deals for Singaporean technology firms amounted to a total of US$1.71 billion, placing the country ahead of Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.

Last year, Singapore had around 160 Internet-related firms for every million inhabitants, putting it ahead of countries such as Spain and the Netherlands.

CREATING A CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT

It is hard to say which industries these technopreneurs will shake up the most. Two of the largest venture capital investments made in 2013 were in e-commerce fashion start-ups Zalora and Reebonz, reflecting the huge potential e-commerce has.

The e-commerce trend is likely to continue. For example, SingPost has set up SP eCommerce to provide integrated e-commerce solutions. Other industries likely to flourish are those that are able to capitalise on Singapore’s social, geographical and cultural comparative advantages.

Start-ups related to big data are already discovering the value of applying analytics insights to various industries that have a high growth potential in Singapore, such as healthcare given the country’s ageing population.

The country’s strategic positioning between Western and Asian markets will also allow data analytics companies to play an integral role in providing insights into Asian markets that are of value to Western companies, and vice versa.

It cannot be assumed that the momentum in technopreneurship development in Singapore today will continue in the future.

To ensure its continued development, it is essential for Singapore to nurture an internal technopreneurship sector akin to the Silicon Valley in the US. This will require three key factors: Engaging and retaining top talent; supporting the technopreneurship ecosystem; and changing mindsets.

At present, a key barrier to attracting technopreneurship-related talent to Singapore is that the environment is still at a relatively early development stage. While giants such as Google and Facebook have offices in Singapore, their key product development work remains in Silicon Valley.

If Singapore can shift towards becoming a more significant hub for programming, product design, branding and other key areas, talent who come to the Republic to work are likely to develop their own technopreneurship ideas in the country later on.

The Lion City should continue to further support other key parts of the technopreneurship landscape, including idea incubation, funding, training and mentorship, which it has already done.

Just as how a substantial amount of effort has been placed on attracting foreign direct investment from large multinational corporations, Singapore needs to ensure that the effort to attract international venture capital and incubators is sustained so as to build a stronger technopreneurship network.

It is more likely for Singapore technopreneurship to have an enduring success if, at the start, an endearing culture can be imbued that will motivate its population to want to develop an enterprising mindset.

This involves moving away from the traditional focus on job security and wealth accumulation, and creating a hunger for innovation and impact.

Hopefully, the new generation of Singaporeans will grow up aspiring not only to be doctors, lawyers and bankers, but innovative technopreneurs who will help to create not only a better Singapore, but a better world for all.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

This is a project by the Hooi family. Hooi Den Huan is Director of Nanyang Technological University’s Nanyang Technopreneurship Center and Associate Professor at the Nanyang Business School. His wife Loh Wan Fei is a piano teacher who also held a private pilot licence. Elder daughter Hooi Ren Yi is currently pursuing her MBA at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Younger daughter Hooi Ren Syn is a business analyst at Deloitte Consulting in Singapore. This commentary is adapted from a longer piece in Beyond 50: Re-imagining Singapore, a book of essays by different authors on the country’s future challenges and opportunities. The publication, which is available both in print and online, is supported by the SG50 Celebration Fund. This is part of a series of pieces from the book that TODAY is publishing.