Singapore’s NRF to launch third instalment of early stage fund

• Singapore-UK initiative for SMEs to collaborate on future city tech
• LUX Photonics Consortium to tap technical expertise in universities

SINGAPORE’s National Research Foundation (NRF) will soon be launching the third instalment of the Early Stage Venture Fund (ESVFIII) to encourage local enterprises to establish their own venture funds.
 
The NRF is expected to have an open call for applications from eligible local enterprises in October.
 
The ESVFIII aims to drive startup growth through co-investment with local enterprises, according to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan (pic above), Singapore’s Minster of Environment and Water Resources, and also Minister-in-Charge of its Smart Nation initiative.
 
This co-investment serves as an avenue for local enterprises to grow their technology base by accessing new technologies through investment, he said in his opening keynote for the TechVenture 2015 conference, organised by the NRF to showcase innovation and technology in Singapore.

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The ESVF was initially launched in July 2008 to finance venture capital funds in providing early stage investments for Singapore startups.
 
Dr Balakrishnan also announced the Singapore-United Kingdom Test-bedding Initiative, under which small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from both countries can collaborate to develop technologies under the theme of ‘Future Cities.’
 
The initiative is being supported by Singapore government agencies such as Spring Singapore, Intellectual Property Intermediary (IPI), the NRF, and Jurong Town Council (JTC), as well as Innovate UK and the British High Commission.
 
Finally, the minister also announced the formation of the LUX Photonics Consortium, consisting of the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technical University, the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*Star), and companies such as Technolite, Denselight Semiconductor, II-VI Singapore, Finisar Singapore, Stelop, Coherent Singapore and DSO National Laboratories.
 
The consortium will focus on the photonics industry and ecosystem. Photonics is the science of light (photon) generation, detection, and manipulation through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and detection/ sensing.
 
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