What Singapore needs to become next Silicon Valley

What Singapore needs to become next Silicon Valley

SINGAPORE - Singapore is known for its good infrastructure, economic stability, rule of law and ease of setting up business, all of which make it conducive for growing enterprises - but why have we not seen a home-grown Google yet?

Part of the reason is a lack of venture capital.

It is a chicken-and-egg problem: Venture capitalists (VCs) shy away from Singapore because there is a lack of promising start-ups with potential for significant global impact.

But that results in a gap in Series A funding, which prevents many high-potential Singapore start-ups from ever taking off and becoming what VCs seek.

How, then, do we attract VCs? The first step is to grow an entrepreneurship ecosystem - much like what is in place in San Francisco.

We can build this ecosystem in three ways: training our talent, providing physical capital and growing the entrepreneurship community.

I mentioned in a letter last year ("Don't neglect computer science education"; Forum Online, July 17, 2013) that we should place more emphasis on computer science in our curriculum, as programming enables entrepreneurs to build their own tech start-ups.

We can also have boot camps that help mid-career professionals transition into tech entrepreneurship.

Such boot camps are usually three months long and provide trainees with real-world technical knowledge to launch their own start-ups.

Such boot camps are abundant in San Francisco, with notable ones such as Hack Reactor and App Academy.

We can also provide physical capital through workshops with state-of-the-art facilities such as laser cutters, hydraulic trainers, and even 3D printers, and rent them out to entrepreneurs. Workshops like these are also abundant in San Francisco, with the most notable one being TechShop.

Hacker houses can help grow our community of entrepreneurs. These are short-term rental options for like-minded entrepreneurs to connect and bounce ideas off one another.

We already have a few in Singapore, such as The Enclave in Clementi, near Ayer Rajah's Block 71, Singapore's largest entrepreneurial hot spot.

But we have to go further to establish a culture of hacker houses to attract visiting hackers to network here as well.

For Singapore to attract more VCs and even become the next Silicon Valley, it is imperative that we build a strong entrepreneurship ecosystem to facilitate the success of aspiring entrepreneurs.

This article was published on May 19 in The Straits Times.

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