France, Singapore sign slew of deals to spearhead innovation

SINGAPORE — Singapore and France on Monday (March 27) agreed to strengthen cooperation in innovation through greater collaboration in areas such as space technology, smart cities planning, biomedical sciences and financial technology.

This was spelt out in a joint declaration by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and French President Francois Hollande, following a meeting between the two leaders at the Istana as well as an innovation forum where both countries signed a slew of 
agreements.
 
“Both leaders shared the view that the two countries have much to learn from each other’s experience and approach to foster innovation,” said the declaration released by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday, the second and final day of Mr Hollande’s state visit to Singapore. 

“They also agreed that there are considerable synergies and complementarities between the two countries in the area of innovation that could be harnessed for mutual benefit and for the benefit of the world.”

Both leaders declared 2018 as the France-Singapore Year of Innovation, the statement added.

“Events will be held in both France and Singapore, either jointly or separately, during the course of the year to encourage further reflection on how the two countries could work together to mutually reinforce each other’s efforts to attain their innovation goals.”

Mr Hollande’s is the first state visit to the Republic by a sitting President of the European nation. 

The President and Mr Lee reaffirmed the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries, said the PMO statement.

It added that the two countries have prioritised the strengthening of their respective innovation ecosystems, including programmes to promote research and development (R&D) and support entrepreneurship in innovative sectors.

This is evident in each country’s national strategy, including the Committee on the Future Economy report released by Singapore in February and France’s National Commission for the Evaluation of Innovation Policies for the next 10 years.

French and Singaporean agencies, companies, universities and research institutes are already working together in projects involving advanced engineering, transport, urban management, nuclear safety and satellite technology. 

The France-Singapore Innovation Forum held in the morning on Monday will also advance cooperation in innovation, said the declaration. Among the new initiatives is a research centre called SystemX@Singapore, where industrial partners and academia will collaborate in the fields of complex systems digital engineering, future mobility and smart urban solutions.

Another agreement inked on Monday between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Autorite de Controle Prudentiel et de Resolution (French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority) aims to foster the development of new technologies in financial services in France and Singapore.

The two countries signed a Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership in October 2012 and enjoy good cooperation across a wide spectrum of areas, including defence, cyber security as well as in the cultural sectors.