Tech start-ups in Singapore are developing new areas of research, and
as the country pushes towards building a Smart Nation, these new
technologies would play an important part in the transformation of the
economy.
SynPhNe, a healthcare tech start-up, said that technologies such as cloud services can allow greater medical research to meet the needs of an ageing population. An example would be using various devices to track one’s health; with information fed to healthcare professionals, a person can get medical advice via virtual consultation.
For SynPhNe, one key challenge is that technology tends to have short shelf life. In addition, training talent - even while still in school or higher institutions of learning - means more than just imparting knowledge.
Dr John Heng, the firm's co-founder, explained: “To equip the students to upkeep themselves with the developments is one thing. The readiness to adapt or adopt such technologies is another. Many times the fear is that because the economy or the knowledge or the technology is accelerating too fast, the shelf life of this technology is very short.
“So sometimes, when the student invests several years of his life learning this technology, you have this fear that within three, five years, the skill set that you've learnt becomes obsolete, it has been superseded by something else. We have to take it as the part of the change of this new accelerating economy we are facing."
A technopreneur in the financial technology (fintech) start-up industry is calling for more spaces for collaboration. Call Levels - a real-time financial monitoring app - said that encouraging partnerships between start-ups and bigger players can help to create a better ecosystem.
Ms Cynthia Siantar, co-founder of Call Levels, said: “Just like how the Singapore Government has been giving a lot of support for the biotech and high growth technology, having all of them situated in one location at one-north, I think the same needs to be done for the fintech ecosystem being based near the city centre itself, where all the financial institutions are.”
Mr Prakash Somosundram, CEO of Pealo - an SME-focused fintech platform - said that the Government could do more to offer better clarity in navigating regulatory challenges. He said the Committee on the Future Economy will allow those in the start-up space to see the direction the Government is intending to take, and he hopes the Government will continue to engage with society to generate and leverage new ideas.
The Committee on the Future Economy comprises 30 members, of whom 25 are business and industry leaders.
Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore/start-ups-could-lead/2370254.html
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