Can Singapore Be A Technopreneurship Leader?

Dr. Stephen Turner, CTO and founder of Pacific Biosciences, shares his perspectives on the innovation culture in Singapore.

AsianScientist (Aug. 7, 2014) – “The fire is lit, this wave of Singaporean entrepreneurs is going to either discover that Singapore is a great place for start-ups, or they will learn not to bother”, said Dr. Stephen Turner, chief technology officer and founder of Pacific Biosciences, a biotech company specializing in sequencing technologies.

Dr. Stephen Turner was speaking at the annual Distinguished Technopreneur Speaker Series organized by Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd (ETPL), the technology transfer arm of the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Held on 24th July 2014, Dr. Turner shared with an enthusiastic audience of techentrepreneur-wannabes, scientists, and science business development professionals his Silicon Valley’s perspective on technology entrepreneurship, and how to recreate that scene in Singapore.

“Why get involved in technopreneurship?” Dr. Turner started off by asking the audience.

Afterall, there are other ways to make money, for example by investing in property or setting up retail services, he mused. For him, the reason for becoming an entrepreneur is simple: these methods do not generate social change. According to Dr. Turner, it is technology that has the potential to impact the world and society. But just as society is shaped by technology, so too is technology influenced by the societies that produce them.

“Technologies are imprinted with the culture from which they arose—does Singapore want to have a hand in shaping the world?” asked Dr. Turner.

Dr. Turner believes that Singaporeans are entrepreneurial. When assessing the top twenty global entrepreneurial hot spots,evaluated based on factors such as entrepreneurial mindset and trendsetting culture, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Singapore #17 in 2013.

To further prove his point, Dr. Turner also performed a quick word frequency analysis on LinkedIn based on the keywords “entrepreneur”, “CEO” and “start-up”, looking at locations where entrepreneurship is prevalent, . He found that Singapore ranked closely behind San Diego; a promising sign considering that San Diego is widely regarded for having a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem.


Continuous funding & innovation culture: Singapore’s keys to success

For Dr. Turner, a crucial determinant of success is access to a local venture capitalist (VC) community. Statistics show that VC locations overlap closely with the companies they choose to sponsor. Moreover, ready access to a qualified pool of experienced CEOs and mentors is essential for fledging start-ups.

He also emphasized the importance of ensuring there was a continuous chain of funding, from pre-seed to seed to series funding and eventual bridge financing to an initial public offering. It is critical for entrepreneurs to know that there is a “conveyor belt” of ready financing available, or they would be too discouraged to even begin.

Funding aside, the innovation culture also has a significant impact on entrepreneurship. “Innovation cannot be taught. But it is often said that Silicon Valley has a culture of innovation. This is irreconcilable, because by definition, culture is taught; it is not innate and instinctual,” Dr. Turner pointed out.

Because of this, he felt that it is important to educate the younger generation about Singaporean technopreneurs and not just focus on Western innovators like Einstein. He gave the example of Mr. Sim Wong Hoo, founder, CEO and chairman of Creative Technology (a designer and manufacturer of products for personal computers and personal digital entertainment devices). He also highlighted Mr. Henn Tan, CEO, chairman and executive director of Trek 2000 International, the company which invented the ThumbDrive (the USB flash drive which phased out the floppy disk and revolutionized the portable media storage industry).


Fighting the fear of failure

Although young entrepreneurs in Singapore have no lack of positive role models, one other cultural obstacle could be the fear of failure, Dr. Turner said.

“Singapore is excellent at linear execution, and is almost a victim of its own success. That success has blocked ‘benign neglect’, so there is less opportunity for people to come up with unique solutions to solve things.”

Benign neglect is widely known as a type of laissez-faire policy, where lack of regulation is allowed and/or encouraged, in the belief that it will improve (or at least not hurt) the interests of the neglected group.

From his interactions with Singaporeans over the course of a few months, he observed that Singaporeans had a “need to have permission to do things”. This mentality could be a hindrance towards true entrepreneurship and innovation, he said.

“Above all, the single hardest thing as an entrepreneur is to keep going; you need tremendous amounts of conviction to persevere”, Dr. Turner concluded.

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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine; Photo: opensource.com/Flickr/CC.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Sarah has a PhD degree in biomedical sciences. She hops on a plane or dive boat every chance she gets, and firmly believes that “one’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

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