IDA's internationalisation effort aims to groom Singapore infocomm enterprises to be well-known players in the global arena. Some of the initiatives to assist Singapore infocomm enterprises to establish economic links to global markets include:
-
Establishing overseas offices in Shanghai (China), Bangalore (India), San Francisco (USA) and Middle East (Doha) to help our infocomm enterprises penetrate overseas market and exploit overseas opportunities, be it business opportunities, access to IT talents or identification of technology collaboration etc. Our offices also provide assistance to companies in the areas of market intelligence, government-to-government interface, business matching services, and a launch pad service, an area where Singapore infocomm enterprises can make use of these office facilities while conducting market research in the overseas market.
-
Keeping watch on the ICT developments in regions where we do not have an overseas presence, such as ASEAN, Middle East and other emerging markets. IDA Singapore provides assistance to the Singapore infocomm enterprises in the form of identifying market opportunities, providing market intelligence and interface between governments and IT associations.
-
Identify specific overseas projects, tradeshows or seminars to provide opportunities for Singapore infocomm enterprises to meet with partners and potential customers overseas.
-
Build a growing network of contacts with the government, IT associations and local partners to widen IDA's network in the region.
-
Focused business missions and "Made by Singapore" Road Shows to overseas Markets, which include promoting cluster solutions to targeted sectors e.g. eGovernment, healthcare, logistics, education, telecoms, etc.
US Office
IDA's US office was opened in Apr 2001. In particular, the Office is a resource for US companies wishing to explore business and partnership opportunities in Singapore, and Singapore as a launch pad to Asia. We provide business development information and can facilitate networking and contacts with Singapore companies. The SFO also helps Singapore infocomm companies looking to expand into the United States.
Some of our activities include:
- Building networks of contacts, this can be tapped on for strategic alliances or introductions, or to serve on the boards of Singapore infocomm companies.
-
Working on specific projects and missions that bring US companies to Singapore, and help Singapore companies expand and meet partners in the US.
-
Provide market intelligence on trends, issues and news in the US that will provide Singapore companies with information for their business decisions.
India Office
India's emergence as an IT hub has been well documented in the international media. Currently, half of the Fortune 500 companies outsource development work to India (including GE, Citibank and Texas Instruments), taking advantage of the skilled labour and cost savings. IDA's engagements with India aim to leverage on India's software capabilities and link them with Singapore infocomm companies to address the regional and global market.
Some of our activities include:
-
Helping Singapore companies to identify and leverage on the infocomm opportunities and capabilities in India and attract Indian infocomm companies to use Singapore as its gateway to the Asia-Pacific region as well as a testbed for their products and services;
-
Creating a continuous flow of infocomm-savvy talent from the Indian IT community in India and Silicon Valley that will meet the demands of the local industry;
-
Positioning Singapore as the centre for capital among South Asia IT firms either looking for investments to fund new innovative products and services or for funds to expand into the rest of the world; and
-
Creating stronger awareness of India's opportunities and capabilities in the local IT community as well as brand Singapore's ICT capabilities in South Asia.
China Office
IDA's Shanghai Office (SHO) was opened in 2001 in response to the tremendous growth opportunities presented by the Chinese market. It serves as a platform for IDA to facilitate Singapore infocomm businesses to venture into the huge China market.
Some of the activities will include:
-
Enabling Market Access
With IDA Singapore, SHO will leverage on Government relationships in relevant China cities to organize business missions for Singapore infocomm companies in China. These activities serve to facilitate Singapore infocomm companies' investments, operations and partnerships in China.
It will also serve as a platform to encourage Chinese infocomm companies to venture into Singapore. To further strengthen relationship and facilitate networking, SHO will identify and invite distinguish visitors from China to Singapore for networking sessions. These platforms will forge strategic alliances that promote bilateral infocomm business investments between the two countries. Such bilateral alliances allow both countries to draw upon their comparative advantages to compliment each other. And the bilateral alliances may extend towards multilateral partnerships that utilize Singapore's connections with infocomm companies around the region and the world.
-
Promoting Singapore Infocomm Brand
SHO represents IDA in Shanghai which includes branding Singapore as an IT hub in Asia, along with qualities that will enhance the Singapore branding. As such, SHO will organize activities to profile and positioning Singapore and our infocomm's qualities and competencies in the China market.
Till date, SHO had facilitated companies to gained traction and success in the China market, across industry verticals such as e-Government, e-Healthcare, e-Port, Digital Media, BPO etc.
Middle East
The Middle East region has experienced strong growth over the recent years; this has been the strongest growth for the ME region in the last decade. The economic boom is mainly fuelled by the substantial increase in oil revenue in recent years. Future growth prospect is also positive, as many Middle East countries are taking various measures to attract foreign investment and liberalise their economies to benefit from international trade.
It is the third fastest growing ICT market in the world after China and India. The ICT spending in the ME region is expected to grow at double-digit rates for the next few years.
The thrust of the Middle East office is to:
- Strengthen relations with key government agencies and trade bodies across the region
- Facilitate collaboration and exchanges between governments and businesses
- Promote Singapore's infocomm industry and companies
- Facilitate Singapore-based companies in Qatar and possibly throughout the Middle East region.
IDA's office in Doha will be fully operational by early 2007.
Singapore Solution Centre
Singapore Solutions Centre (SSC) is jointly set up by SiTF and IDA in 2004. Initiated in Shanghai, as of November 2006, SSC had expanded to Hangzhou (city in Zhejiang). The SSC were formulated with the intention to accelerate bilateral collaborations and information exchanges in all areas of infocomm between China and Singapore at the business to business engagements.
The SSC aims to serve as a "first and one stop" for Singapore infocomm companies seeking to venture into China, and need consultation. Within its value propositions for its members, it includes provision of hot-desking, virtual office, meeting rooms facilities. Beyond real estate, SSC also provides the proposition for its members to approach relevant China infocomm trade associations, who will be able to facilitate match-making and introduction to partnerships. Till date, there has been 9 MOUs signed with various trade associations across various cities and provinces to facilitate such functions.
For those members who need more services, the likes of market intelligence, updates and marketing exposure are all within SSC folds. For the purpose of marketing, it serves to provide an umbrella Singapore branding for Singapore infocomm companies venturing overseas.
As a one-stop platform, SSC has a Singapore Solution Showcase that highlight Singapore infocomm companies which have contributed significantly to our infocomm development and regional hub status in sectors as Transport, Logistics, Healthcare and Financial Services. This serves the purpose for companies across the 2 countries to deepen relationship and understanding towards fruitful collaborations.
Till date, SSC has facilitated over 25 Singapore infocomm companies, and induce over 400 visitors to the Singapore Solution Showcase and numerous activities to facilitate networking, partnerships and insights.
For more information, please see the internationalisation programme.