S'pore incubators want start-ups from India, Korea
"A group of Indian entrepreneurs is keen to establish an incubator to assist start-up companies coming from India to Singapore," said Economic Development Board (EDB) director for operations strategy Seto Lok Yin yesterday.
"Very soon, we'll hear news about an incubation center, an Indian center, being set up." He was speaking at a press conference for the TechVenture Asia 2001 forum.
The event is one of the government's efforts to promote start-ups and to make the island into "a compelling place for start-ups, for technopreneurs and for venture financing." Organized by EDB arm TIF Ventures, the forum will be held from September 17 to 19.
Seto also revealed that a Korean incubation center would be established in September. "The Korean government has identified a few start-ups that will move over into Singapore as part of their globalization process," The Business Times quoted Seto as saying.
He added that Singapore is attractive to start-ups because of its physical, legal and communications infrastructure, the availability of venture capital and the presence of 6,000 multi-national corporations.
Currently, there are 40 incubators in Singapore. As of end 2000, the island has 100 venture capital firms managing S$11.5 billion (US$6.56 billion) of funds. Incubators generally provide star-ups with physical space, financial services, management advice, marketing support and industry contacts.