Overview

Our support for Industry (Futurescape programme) seeks to mobilise the industry, targeting 3 groups in particular – major international companies, local flagship companies and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) – to engage in IDM R&D in Singapore by:

• attracting major international companies to conduct R&D here;
• encouraging significant investment by key or “flagship” industry players to develop new open access platforms that will in turn stimulate demand for applications, products and services;

Recognizing that IDM is a fundamental enabler that could provide the competitive edge of sectors across the economy, we also endeavor to stimulate demand in various sectors and seed IDM R&D in them.

Read Futurescape Support Scheme Application Guideline

Key Achievements – Poised for Growth

A recent study by Deloitte reveals healthy signs of growth for the IDM sector where the core IDM sector generated a VA of close to S$798 million in 2008. The study estimates that the sector has grown at an estimated 22% CAGR since 2005, adding some S$360 million VA and 3500 new jobs in the process.

For the period studied (2007-2008), the Core IDM sector value add (VA) had grown at a rate of 25%, from an estimated S$640m to S$798m, whilst revenues grew at a rate of 24.7%, from an estimated S$1bn to S$1.3bn. The sector also added around 1,500 jobs, growing to an estimated 7,400-strong employment and the study estimates that there are now around 585 businesses in Singapore that are conducting an IDM activity. Overall, exports made up 43% of revenues, complemented by strong business-to-business consumption of IDM services within Singapore, and suggesting intense investment activity over the period.

We are supporting some 40 industry R&D projects in total. EDB has been engaging several cutting-edge international labs, some of which are well-known names. The larger games and animation industry in particular, has received a big boost with the world’s largest players such as Lucasfilm, Ubisoft and Koei here.

We have incentivised our local flagship media companies such as MediaCorp, ST Electronics and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to integrate R&D as a key component of their business strategies, setting up substantive R&D centres. For example, this year, the ST Electronics set up the R&D Centre in Interactive Media (CiM) to develop IDM technologies for Simulation, Animation, Games and Edutainment domains.