Over the next couple of weeks, we are visiting Singapore to talk innovation with enterprise, and to help the teams we first met at Asia’s first ever sextech hackathon. Singapore is exciting, and not just because it’s currently ranked the third most innovative country in the Bloomberg Innovation Index, and first in the Boston Consulting Group’s International Innovation Index of large and small countries. Singapore is in a unique position, globally. It has one of the most open economies in the world, it has one of the highest per capita GDPs in the world and it is very much focused on future economy strategies.
As a direct result, the opportunities in the region are significant. There is strong interest in deep tech startups and collaboration between government and business, and educational institutions are finding ways that innovation and creativity can be fostered in learning environments. The entire country is positioning itself for resilience in the face of potential disruption.
But while Singapore is strong, there is still a chance to improve it further. The country is strongly dependent on exports, and the escalating trade war between the US and China could impact its economy, so its trade and collaboration relationship with a country like Australia is important to foster. A shortage in skilled labour could be addressed by even stronger ties between our two countries, facilitated by business experience exchanges. And there are chances to challenge the dominant practice of rote learning, by introducing creative skills and thinking both in education and in business.
We have been facilitating innovative thinking through our hackathons and rapid prototyping initiatives in enterprises and for public good for four years now, and we have started to influence thinking in both business and education environments in consequence. Next week we will even be helping young people in Western Sydney to influence the future development of their city, thorugh an event with Landcom and Urban Growth in NSW. And we’d love the chance to executefurther innovation development projects across Australia as well as in Singapore. We are very proud of what we have helped to create and we look forward to doing so much more in innovatin facilitation on a global basis.
This is why we are excited about being in Singapore. There’s nothing like facilitating greatness in problem solving and creativity, and helping business and governments to shape the next generation of innovators. If you or your contacts are in Singapore on Thursday 28 June or Thursday 5 July, come along to #coffeemornings at Pickleville from 8-9:30am. We’ll be talking innovation in Singapore and finding ways that we can help each other be resilient and creative in the face of disruption.