Internationalisation Programme

Overview

IDA's internationalisation efforts seeks to assist Singapore infocomm local enterprises (iLEs) to establish economic links to global markets, and  to groom the iLEs to be well-known players in the global arena.

IDA Headquarters

The IDA HQ in Singapore monitors the trends and developments in the targeted or growing regions such as ASEAN, Middle East, China, South Asia and new emerging markets to identify potential business opportunities. The IDA HQ office in Singapore will: 

• Provide market intelligence on industry trends, government directives and focuses in the targeted regions. 
   
• Identify specific projects, tradeshows or dedicated roadshows and missions to provide opportunities of infocomm local enterprises to meet 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.
   
• Explore new emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Russia and South America.
   
• Provides support to the IDA overseas offices

IDA HQ also keeps a close watch on the infocomm technological developments on the strategic regions which IDA currently does not have an overseas presence, like ASEAN. IDA provides assistance to the infocomm local companies in the form of identifying market opportunities and intelligence, and provides the interface between foreign governments and IT associations.

ASEAN

ASEAN is the natural first overseas expansion spot for the iLEs when they want to venture overseas, due to its geographical proximity and familiarity of the ASEAN market.

A market of 560 million people, and with foreign direct investment into ASEAN surged 48 percent on-year to a record high of US$38 billion in 2005, ASEAN still has a vast amount of potential that is yet to be tapped upon, especially with potential new ICT markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, which has demonstrated strong growth potential in recent years.

Overseas Offices

IDA has overseas offices in China, India and U.S. that can help our iLEs  to penetrate overseas market, as well as to exploit overseas opportunities and resources, such as access to foreign ICT talents, identification of technology collaboration, market leads and intelligence, and potential overseas partners etc. These offices provide:

• Assistance to infocomm enterprises in the areas of market intelligence, government-to-government interface, and business matching services. 
   
• A launch pad service - a place for showcasing the iLE's products, and an incubation area. 
   
• Access to office facilities while conducting market research in the overseas market. 
   
• Organised business missions and "Made by Singapore" Road Shows to showcase Singapore's brand name and IT expertise to overseas markets.

United States - San Francisco Office
IDA's US office was opened in Apr 2001.  Being located in the Silicon Valley, its role is to tap into the world's ICT pulse and leverage on its location to further IDA's objectives and initiatives.  In particular, the Office is a resource for US companies wishing to explore business and partnership opportunities in Singapore, and use Singapore as a launch pad to Asia.  We provide business development information and facilitate networking and contacts with Singapore companies.  The SFO Centre also helps our iLEs who are looking to expand into the United States.

We achieve our objectives by the following activities:

• Building networks of contacts, this can be tapped on for strategic alliances or introductions, or to serve on boards of Singapore infocomm companies.
   
• Work 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 possible through outsourcing work to India. India is also heavily featured in our plans to roll out the Asian Belt of IT Cities. IDA's engagements with India hope to leverage on India's software capabilities and link them with the hardware capital cities of Taiwan/China/Japan, and to the broadband Internet hubs in Korea, leveraging on Singapore's strategic position as a international hub and digital exchange centre.

The India/Singapore Infocomm Strategy is focused on:

• Help 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;
   
• Create 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;
   
• Position Singapore as the centre for capital among Indian 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
   
• Create stronger awareness of India's opportunities and capabilities in the local IT community as well as brand Singapore's ICT capabilities in India.

The Bangalore office will leverage on its strategic presence in the Indian IT hub as follows:

• Market Access
  With the help of IDA HQ in Singapore, BGO will coordinate effort in and organizing business missions and bring iLEs Singapore local enterprises into South Asia to meet up with their potential business counterparts.  BGO will also assist suitable South Asia companies to expand their business in Singapore and promote bilateral infocomm business investment between the two countries.  To promote Singapore infocomm market in South Asia and encourage South Asian companies to visit Singapore with the assistance of IDA HQ.
  
  

• Market Intelligence
  BGO will gather market information locally and feedback to IDA HQ in Singapore.  Activities include sourcing of new project opportunities in South Asia so as to benefit our local enterprises in their effort to access the South Asia market.
  

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 utilise 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. 
   
• Providing Market intelligence
  SHO will gather market information which includes sourcing of new project opportunities, partnership and other necessary business navigation for Singapore infocomm companies to access the Chinese 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 Middle East region in a 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 India and China. The ICT spending in the Middle East 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 in 2007.

Singapore Solutions Centre (SSC)
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.