During September, Taylor Vinters welcomed a delegation of British companies including up and coming stars of the tech world such as Blippar (augmented reality) and Brandwatch (social media analytics) and investors including UK angel investor of the year, Michael Blakey. The British companies formed the UK pavilion at the TechVenture 2015 conference, where the delegates mingled with local investors and tech companies, and visiting UK IP Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe met the UK contingent before signing an MoU with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.
At Eden Hall on 22 September, the British High Commissioner hosted the TechConnection reception for over 130 people. Steve Leonard of Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) outlined the latest updates on Singapore’s transformation into a ‘Smart Nation’, a hyper-connected, sophisticated business gateway to the 620 million consumers of Southeast Asia. WIPO’s Director in Singapore, Denis Croze, then presented the latest edition of the Global Innovation Index, which is produced annually in association with INSEAD Business School and Cornell University, with the UK and Singapore retaining their second and seventh place, respectively, in this year’s global innovation rankings. After an overview of the British tech investment trends by Patrick Farrant, a lively panel session was moderated by John Fitzpatrick of Amazon Web Services and featured NRF Director Pauline Tay as well as Blippar, British online fitting room pioneer Metail and TradeGecko, a local star in the Singapore tech scene.
The following day saw another visiting British Minister, Martin Donnelly of the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, open a High Commission briefing session at which speakers from the Economist Corporate Network, PwC and Cambridge Consultants provided their in-depth analysis of the political, economic and business trends in the region, as well as their and their clients’ experiences of doing business in Asia.
Taylor Vinters' third TechConnection event proved that there is a high level of interest in the quality of British tech companies among the Singapore technology and investment community, and the feedback from both UKTI and IDA as well as visiting delegates has been very positive. Many of the British companies made useful Singapore contacts and progressed investment discussions with government and private sector investors.
If you would like to see any of the slide presentations from the Eden Hall reception or the briefing at the High Commission the following day, you can find them here.
Delegate feedback:
“TechConnection provided a great platform on which to gather information on the market, foster relationships and collaborate with investors and businesses in ASEAN and Asia. As a med-tech start-up, we see this region as an integral part of our growth strategy and Taylor Vinters understand the opportunity and challenge it offers” – James Gough, Cydar
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