Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) (a) how many Singapore-based companies have cumulatively invested in the Government's overseas industrial park projects that enjoy G-to-G support such as the Suzhou Industrial Park and Tianjin Eco-City; (b) how many of these are GLCs, SMEs and MNCs respectively; and (c) what evidence has been accumulated by the Ministry as to the spin-off benefits to the domestic economy and local SMEs of these Government-supported overseas industrial parks.

Oral reply (to be attributed to Minister for Trade & Industry (Industry) Mr S Iswaran)

1.  Internationalisation remains an important strategy to sustain Singapore’s growth by helping our companies to develop beyond our domestic market.  Government-to-Government (G-to-G) projects such as the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), Tianjin Eco-city (TEC), Chongqing Connectivity Initiative (CCI) and the Amaravati capital city project in Andhra Pradesh, play an enabling role in paving the way for Singapore companies to enter and scale up in fast-growing markets such as China and India.
2. Over the years, many Singapore companies have tapped on these G-to-G platforms to go abroad. In the case of SIP, about 340 Singapore companies have established a presence there as of end-2016. Of these, approximately 70% are small companies with registered capital of up to S$1 million.  Cumulative contractual investments by Singapore-based companies in SIP amounted to S$9.4 billion by end of last year. The National University of Singapore has also established a Research Institute – the NUS (Suzhou) Research Institute – in SIP which has served as a springboard for Singapore start-ups to incubate and scale up in China.  NUSRI is currently incubating 37 Singapore and international technology start-ups.
3. An example of a company that has benefited from SIP and successfully scaled up is PatSnap.  Founded in 2007, PatSnap is a Singapore company that offers innovative patent data analytics solutions. To overcome the constraints of our small domestic market and to scale up globally, Patsnap expanded into the SIP. PatSnap’s software today has been sold in over 40 countries to more than 1,300 clients.  In March this year, PatSnap announced its plans to invest S$22 million in a Research and Development (R&D) centre in Singapore to further develop its intelligence platform.  To date, the centre has hired more than 10 data scientists.
4. The TEC project was established in 2008, against the backdrop of rapid urbanisation and heightened focus on sustainable economic development in China.  As of June 2017, 42 Singapore companies are registered in the TEC, with a total registered capital of more than S$220 million. The companies include SMEs in a range of sectors such as environmental services, property, education, urban solutions and logistics.
5. Singapore’s newer G-to-G projects continue to bring our companies to new regions and markets to help them gain a first-mover advantage. The Chongqing Connectivity Initiative project, which was launched in 2015, has opened up business opportunities in the less developed western region of China, and facilitates the participation of Singapore companies in sectors such as financial services, aviation, transport and logistics, and information and communications technology.
6. Similarly, the Amaravati project to build a new capital city in Andhra Pradesh, will give Singapore companies the opportunity to export our expertise, in urban solutions and other domains.  With our early involvement in the initiative, our companies including SMEs will be well-positioned to offer their services and participate in projects, within the state of Andhra Pradesh as well as the broader Indian market.