On the morning of May 24, the first meeting of the Singapore-Shanghai Comprehensive Cooperation Council (SSCCC) [1] was held in Shanghai. The launch of the SSCCC on Friday was graced by its Co-Chairmen, Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat, and Mayor of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government Ying Yong.

During the meeting, Shanghai and Singapore signed five Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) among government agencies, arbitration institutions, financial institutions, and enterprises.

Among them, XNode and Enterprise Singapore signed a Memorandum of Understanding to stimulate the China-Singapore startup and innovation ecosystem. The two sides have reached a consensus on collaboration and will organize and establish an innovation launchpad in China. By connecting Singaporean companies (including start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprises) to talent pools, venture capitals, customer resources and potential partners in China, XNode and Enterprise Singapore will help to integrate them into China’s business and innovation ecosystem. Meanwhile in Singapore, the two sides will also continue to invest resources to open channels for Chinese companies entering the Singapore market, aiming to internationalize Chinese companies and bring Chinese innovation to the global scale.

At the 2019 Pujiang Innovation Forum - Startup Conference held on May 25th, Mr Jonathan Lim, Director of Global Innovation Network in Enterprise Singapore, shared about the experience of leveraging Singapore as a strategic beachhead gateway into the ASEAN market. The population of Southeast Asia is about half of China's population, with a booming internet industry and an active venture capital environment. Meanwhile in Singapore, the government has invested 10-15 years building an active entrepreneurial environment. Many multinational corporations have also just begun to transform and are seeking partnerships with external innovation. These conditions combined present a golden opportunity for any enterprise in Singapore hoping to venture out.

The forum, which was held at Shanghai Zhangjiang International Innovation Harbour @Naxian 800, gathered healthcare/biomedical and urban solutions technology enterprises from Singapore and Shanghai. During which, the participants shared about their businesses in depth, discussed about each other's potential cross-border cooperation, and learnt from the rapid development of Chinese start-ups. The Singapore delegation of 17 enterprises were the first to experience the innovation launchpad in Shanghai.

Open innovation in China steers towards a trend for enterprises to create new value for themselves, their customers and the society. This concept, together with the lean startup methodology, will be used to create a customized and systematic cross-border acceleration program, so that participating enterprises can quickly localize their products, identify their beachhead market, and deliver unique value to the market. Not only will this grow the economy, it will also promote the development of related industries and reward customers with new technologies and services.

The highly dynamic market environment created by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government provides supportive policies and a broad development space for overseas companies to innovate or venture into China. At the same time, under the support of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, the China-Singapore Innovation Launchpad will accelerate the cross-border development of Singapore and Chinese enterprises, so that in the future, more outstanding enterprises can achieve cross border innovations and scale their businesses in China and Singapore.