Orient - The Official Magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore - Issue 72 June 2019
In the other direction and further facilitating increasing business flows between Singapore and the UK, the Singapore eCommerce Enterprises Development (SEED) office opened in London with support from Enterprise Singapore to help UK companies expand into Singapore and, from here, into the region. When seen alongside the increasing number of UK-based businesses looking to join trade delegations to Singapore and vice versa, the importance and impact of agreements such as the SG-UK Partnership for the Future is clear.
And the UK government is making it even easier for Singaporean start-ups and entrepreneurs to establish themselves in the UK. A new Start-up Visa for early-stage, high-potential enterprises looking to enter the UK is now available alongside the Innovator Visa that invites more experienced entrepreneurs to expand their presence in the UK.
Public sector agencies have also picked up on the opportunity to pool expertise in tackling shared issues. Meteorological Services Singapore signed a partnership agreement with the UKs Met Office for more efficient climate and weather response. Earlier in the year, the UKs National Biofilms Innovation Centre signed two MOUs with the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering and the Singapore National Biofilm Consortium to facilitate joint R&D programmes.
With governments, corporates and communities increasingly working together to arrive at more efficient and impactful solutions to national challenges, the opportunities for collaboration are many. The SG-UK Partnership is proving to be an effective platform to drive this and is on track to support a successful future bilateral relationship. at www.zuehlke.com/asia/en/