Launch of $450 Million Co-Innovation Partnership to Develop Innovative Solutions with Private Sector

ESC Recommendation on Co-Innovation will be a New Growth Path for Companies

The Singapore Government today launched the Public Private Co-Innovation Partnership (CI Partnership), to encourage the co-development of innovative solutions with the private sector to meet the government’s longer term needs.

2. Mooted as part of the recommendations of the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC), the CI Partnership is based on the principle that Government can better serve the public by collaborating with and tapping on private businesses to create innovative solutions. The collaboration will also benefit companies, through the strengthening of their innovation capabilities upstream, as well as improving their track record for downstream procurement opportunities. Companies can make use of this programme to develop innovative and competitive products which they can use to grow their business both locally and internationally.

3. The CI Partnership will work on a public-private problem-based approach to innovation. Public agencies will first define Government's needs where there are no identified "off-the-shelf" solutions. Interested companies can then submit their proposals and ideas for projects to the agencies. Depending on the project, promising proposals could be funded to test the feasibility of the concept, develop prototypes or to test-bed the solution.

4. The Government will be committing $450m over 5 years to fund such collaborations. For each of these projects, companies interested in co-developing solutions with the Government can apply for funding to do so. For the development of promising innovation ideas – from conceptualisation to implementation, the Government could provide more than $1.75m in funding for each company at three critical stages. Annex A (49 KB) shows the breakdown of the funding.

5. Companies can apply for up to $250,000 of funding for projects involving demonstrating Proof of Concept, and up to $500,000 for projects demonstrating Proof of Value. For projects involving test bedding of prototypes, companies can apply for $1 million in government funding. For each of these projects, companies will be required to co-share a small part of the cost to ensure that they have a stake in the project, with SMEs getting greater support compared to non-SMEs.

6. Speaking at the sidelines of an LTA industry event this morning, Second Minister for Finance Mrs Lim Hwee Hua said "in today's increasingly complex environment, government faces many challenges and needs that do not have existing solutions in the provision of public service. Most of the time, the expertise to develop workable solutions lies with our companies in the private sector. Companies have the potential to meet these needs."

7. One key feature of the initiative is that the government envisions the funding of a few companies at a time for each project. Ideas that prove suitable will receive further funding for prototyping and test bedding. This competitive environment will lead to the best ideas being systematically selected for further development. Ultimately, in the procurement stage, each proposal would still have to be evaluated to ensure that only cost-effective solutions are procured.

8. Interested companies can log on to the co-innovation website at www.coinnovation.gov.sg for further details.