"At A*STAR, our commercialisation arm, ETPL, supports budding technopreneurs from A*STAR's research institutes who desire to spin off their inventions. In March this year, we also introduced Headstart, a programme which grants royalty-free and exclusive intellectual property licenses for the first 18 months to SMEs that collaborate with A*STAR," he said.
Over the past five years, more than 700 SMEs have undertaken close to 2,200 projects with A*STAR, Lim disclosed, adding that the organisation's licensing policies and terms have been enhanced and simplified to allow more SMEs and startups to benefit from A*STAR's research.
Besides providing IP to enable the development of new products and services, the government also helps SMEs and start-ups harness technology for business
improvement.
"At A*STAR, we facilitate technology adoption and upgrading through a variety of initiatives. For example, our Growing Enterprises through Technology Upgrade or GET-Up Programme includes a scheme that seconds researchers to SMEs to work on innovation projects leading to new products and services.
In addition, A*STAR’s Technology Adoption Programme (TAP) offers technology
consultancy to SMEs and subsequently matches them with solution providers," said Lim.
Lim shared that A*STAR’s TAP team has engaged more than 4,600
companies and helped more than 650 companies adopt new technologies since 2013. SPRING has invested S$40 million in 2011 to launch sector-specific accelerators to identify, invest and grow startups in areas like medical and clean technology as well.
