

Ask HN: Startup scene in Singapore - raghava

Greetings fellow HNers.<p>Was researching on startup scene in Singapore and found that though it's a highly convenient place to setup and run a business, the numbers (of startups) are still not that large.<p>Any comments/inputs/opinions on the trend? Do you see any reason why it has not become big yet?<p>Thanks.<p>Ref: http://startuplist.e27.sg/
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dlf
That's a really interesting question. Singapore has a robust economy that is
heavily centered around technology. However, from the little I know about the
Singaporean economy (case studies, economic development, etc.) it seems to be
an economy that is still heavily centered around technology clusters that
cater to foreign direct investment. One interesting point that's been raised
before is that the Singaporean education does an excellent job at teaching
mathematics and other technical skills, but does not necessarily lend itself
to individual exploration of ideas and independent learning (Fareed Zakaria
wrote a piece mentioning this phenomena as a competitive advantage of the U.S.
education system a couple years back). I also wonder how Singaporeans, as a
whole, view failure.

Building an innovation economy is probably the single hardest problem in
economic development. What seems to support such an economy is a large number
of flagship technology companies, some successful local entrepreneurs to act
as mentors and angels, research-focused universities (which Singapore has in
spades) and a culture that welcomes failure as a key ingredient to success.

I think that Singapore has taken some very important steps in moving up the
value chain and is well positioned to become a center of entrepreneurship in
SE Asia. A class project I had during my graduate work was to determine how
Singapore could make the next step up the value chain. We ultimately settled
upon focusing on building out and supporting the burgeoning bio-tech industry,
but doing so is almost too obvious, as it leverages two sectors that are
already quite entrenched in Singapore - medicine and tech. I'd like to see
more individual entrepreneurship and think that Singapore is probably best
situated to make the leap to an innovation economy of all the countries in SE
Asia.

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raghava
Thanks for sharing your views.

>> Fareed Zakaria's piece mentioning this as a competitive advantage of the
U.S. education system

I guess you are referring to the one where he mentions "Most of the world
teaches the students how to take tests. American education teaches people how
to think, how to solve problems. This is much more useful in the real world."
That's true.

>> wonder how Singaporeans, as a whole, view failure

Though Singapore comprises of people with Asian ethnicity (where usually it's
not the idea but the person that's considered a failure!), am told that people
have a totally different and far-from-conservative outlook. Guess I will have
to see it for myself and see.

>> think that Singapore is probably best situated to make the leap to an
innovation economy of all the countries in SE Asia

Yes. The situation seems to be conducive, and immigration too should not be
too fussy an issue.

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jianxioy
Hi raghava, I'm Singaporeans and I could connect you with some people who can
help you in your research. Send me an email if you are interested. :)

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raghava
Thanks! Would mail! :)

